Heath v. Suzuki Motor Corp.

• Decision Date: 05 November 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-9092,96-9092
• Citation: 126 F.3d 1391
• Parties: , 47 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1442, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,127, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 702 James H. HEATH, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION; American Suzuki Motor Corporation, Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1391

126 F.3d 1391

38 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1179, 47 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1442,

Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,127,

11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 702

James H. HEATH, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION; American Suzuki Motor Corporation, Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.

No. 96-9092.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Nov. 5, 1997.

James E. Butler, Jr., Lee Tarte Wallace, Robert David Cheeley, Patrick Alan Dawson, Joshua Sacks, George W. Fryhofer, III, Cale H. Conley, Albert M. Pearson, III, Butler, Wooten, Overby, Cheeley, Pearson & Fryhofer, Atlanta, GA, Joel O. Wooten, Jr., Jason Crawford, Butler, Wooten, Overby & Cheeley, Columbus, GA, Joseph L. Waldrep, Hatcher, Stubbs, Land, Hollis & Rothschild, Columbus, GA, John C. Bell, Jr., Bell & James, Augusta, GA, Robert P. Killian, Lissner Killian & Cunningham, Brunswick, GA, for Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee.

Michael J. Goldman, Freeman & Hawkins, Atlanta, GA, Lisa Sue Godbey, Wallace Eugene Harrell, III, Wallace Eugene Harrell, Gilbert, Harrell, Gilbert, Summerford & Martin, P.C., Brunswick, GA, David J. Lewis, Gene C. Schaerr, Tamara R. Parker, Sidley & Austin, Washington, DC, Martin D. Beirne, Jeffrey R. Parson, David A. Clark, Sawnie A. McEntire, Robert R. Watson, William F. Conlon, Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, Houston, TX, W.G. Scranton, Jr., Page & Scranton, Columbus, GA, for Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Before BIRCH, Circuit Judge, FAY, Senior Circuit Judge, and COHILL ^*, Senior District Judge.

FAY, Senior Circuit Judge:

James Heath, Jr., a resident of Georgia, brought this action against Suzuki Motor Corporation, a Japanese corporation, and American Suzuki Motor Corporation, a California corporation, claiming that the 1987 Suzuki Samurai is dangerously defective in its design and that the defendants failed to adequately warn him about the alleged defects. At the district court, a jury rendered a verdict in defendants' favor on liability. Plaintiff now appeals from this verdict. Plaintiff argues that the district court erred by improperly charging the jury under governing Georgia products liability law and by allowing defendants to introduce evidence in violation of controlling state authority and the Federal Rules of Evidence. Defendants cross-appeal and claim the district court erred by not granting defendants' motion at the close of the evidence for judgment as a matter of law. We find no reversible error in any of these claims and, accordingly, AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I. Statement of the Case

On September 24, 1991, Heath was driving his father's 1987 Suzuki Samurai when he collided with a Jeep Wrangler while traveling on St. Mary's road near Kingsland, Georgia. Following this contact with the Wrangler, the Suzuki Samurai rolled over several times. ¹ Heath was thrown from the vehicle. As a result of this tragic accident, Heath is a paraplegic. On December 12, 1994, Heath commenced this products liability suit against Suzuki Motor Corporation and American Suzuki Motor Corporation (collectively "Suzuki"). Heath's case against Suzuki went to jury trial on June 3, 1996. The district court divided the trial into three phases: (1) liability, (2) amount of compensatory damages, and (3) amount of punitive damages. On June 11, 1996, a seven-person jury rendered a verdict for Suzuki on liability. Thereafter, the district court entered the jury verdict as the final judgment in the case. Heath moved for and was denied a new trial. Heath now appeals the jury verdict, citing errors in the trial court's jury instructions and evidentiary admissions.

II. Discussion

A. The Jury Instructions

Heath raises three principle challenges to the district court's jury instructions. ² First, Heath challenges the trial court's application of Georgia's law of products liability as articulated in Banks v. ICI Americas, Inc., 264 Ga. 732, 450 S.E.2d 671 (1994), in drafting the jury instructions. Second, Heath contends that the trial court mischarged the jury, in light of Banks, with regard to the "rollover rate" charge which instructed the jury to compare the "rollover rate" of the Suzuki Samurai with that of other sport utility vehicles (SUV's), as opposed to comparing the Samurai to other passenger vehicles. ³ Finally, the plaintiff argues that the trial court's "rollover rate" charge improperly instructed the jury to consider statistics despite the court's pretrial prohibition of such statistical evidence. Because the first two jury charge challenges require a different standard of review from the statistical evidence objection, we analyze the first two separately.

1. Banks Test Objection and "Rollover Rate" SUV Objection

At trial, Heath was given the opportunity to object to the jury instructions. In fact, Heath did object to the "rollover rate" charge. Heath, at trial, properly challenged the use of the word "rate" in the "rollover rate" jury charge because, Heath contends, proving a "rate" inherently requires the use of statistical evidence, and the trial court, through a pretrial order, barred the use of such evidence at trial. On the other hand, Heath never objected at trial ⁴ to the jury instructions on the specific grounds that the jury charges violated Banks. Similarly, Heath never objected to the language of the "rollover rate" instruction on the grounds that the charge improperly limited the comparison in the "rollover rate" charge to SUV's. Failure to object to the instructions on these grounds before the jury retired constituted a waiver by Heath of these objections; there is no indication in the record that Heath ever asked the trial court for a ruling on these legal issues or that the trial court was ever aware of the need for such a ruling. See McClow v. Warrior & Gulf Nav. Co., 842 F.2d 1250, 1253 (11th Cir.1988); Fed.R.Civ.P. 51 ("No party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless that party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter objected to and the grounds of the objection.") (emphasis added). We will depart from this rule of waiver "only in narrow circumstances when an error is so fundamental as to result in a miscarriage of justice or when the district court's instruction amounts to plain error." Osterneck v. E.T. Barwick Indus., Inc., 825 F.2d 1521, 1533 (11th Cir.1987), aff'd sub nom., 489 U.S. 169, 109 S.Ct. 987, 103 L.Ed.2d 146 (1989) (citations omitted). We now turn our analysis to the question of plain error.

Heath's briefs to this court plainly indicate that the law in Georgia is not clear with regard to the requirements of the Banks risk-utility test. ⁵ It is for this reason that we decline to find the jury instructions drafted by the trial court constituted plain error. As we noted in Osterneck, a court's reasonable interpretation of the contours of an area of legal uncertainty hardly could give rise to plain error when those contours are, as they are here, in a state of evolving definition and uncertainty. See 825 F.2d at 1533, citing City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U.S. 247, 256, 101 S.Ct. 2748, 2754, 69 L.Ed.2d 616, (1981). There is every indication that the district court acted within the bounds of the Banks test in drafting the jury charges, ⁶ including the "rollover rate" charge. Accordingly, we find no plain error by the district court with regard to plaintiff's first two challenges to the jury instructions.

2. The "Rollover Rate" Charge--Statistical Objection

Plaintiff's final challenge to the jury charges must be analyzed using a different standard of review, since a proper objection was made at trial, and the issue was properly preserved for appeal. In this challenge, Heath asserts that in the "rollover rate" charge, the trial court compelled the jury to consider statistics, despite the court's pretrial order prohibiting the introduction of statistical evidence. Heath alleges this instruction confused the jury and effectively directed a verdict against him. We find no merit in this argument.

Our review of the trial court's jury instructions is ultimately deferential. "This Court examines jury instructions as a whole to determine whether they fairly and adequately addressed the issue and correctly stated the law." Christopher v. Cutter Laboratories, 53 F.3d 1184, 1190 (11th Cir.1995). So long as the jury instructions as a whole reflect pertinent substantive law, "the trial judge is given wide discretion as to the style and wording that he may employ." Andres v. Roswell-Windsor Village Apartments, 777 F.2d 670, 673 (11th Cir.1985); see also Goulah v. Ford Motor Co., 118 F.3d 1478, 1485 (11th Cir.1997). Mindful of our deferential posture, we conclude that Heath's challenge to the trial court's jury instruction comparing the "rollover rate" of the Samurai to other SUV's and not passenger cars is not meritorious.

Heath's objection is essentially based on how "rollover rate" is defined. He argues that "rollover rate" can only mean statistics, and that statistical evidence indicating such a rate was excluded from the trial in light of the district court's pretrial order limiting the use of statistics to those reflecting substantially similar conditions. We disagree with the limited interpretation of the word "rate" that Heath espouses. As the district court aptly pointed out in its order denying plaintiff's motion for new trial, "rate" is not synonymous with "statistics", but can readily be taken to mean "proportion." Additionally, we find compelling that the plaintiff's expert, Wade Allen, in his testimony made frequent mention of the "roll rate" of the Samurai as compared to other vehicles. Given that statistics were not an issue at trial, we find no evidence in the record that the jury took, or could take, the word "rate" to mean only statistics. ⁷ Therefore, we...