Hinds v. General Motors Corp.

• Decision Date: 16 March 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-7006,91-7006
• Citation: 988 F.2d 1039
• Parties: 38 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 516, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 13,445 Clyde W. HINDS and Mary Lee Hinds, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1039

988 F.2d 1039

38 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 516, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 13,445

Clyde W. HINDS and Mary Lee Hinds, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 91-7006.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

March 16, 1993.

Mary Quinn-Cooper (Bert M. Jones of Rhodes, Hieronymus, Jones, Tucker and Gable, Tulsa, OK, and Michael D. Jones of Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, with her on the briefs) of Rhodes, Hieronymus, Jones, Tucker and Gable, Tulsa, OK, for defendant-appellant.

Anthony M. Laizure (Rick Paynter with him on the brief) of Stipe, Gossett, Stipe, Harper, Estes, McCune & Parks, Tulsa, OK, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before ANDERSON, BARRETT and TACHA, Circuit Judges.

BARRETT, Senior Circuit Judge.

General Motors Corporation (GM) appeals from a judgment entered in a manufacturer's product liability action following a jury verdict in favor of Clyde W. Hinds, who was severely injured when a pickup driven by one Lloyd Comer crossed over the center line and collided with Clyde's 1983 Buick Le Sabre.

In their complaint, the Hindses alleged that: Clyde suffered serious and permanent personal injuries as a direct and proximate result of the collision, notwithstanding the fact that he was wearing his seat belt; the Buick was defective, unreasonably dangerous, and/or not fit for its intended purpose because its hood had a tendency to buckle and contact the windshield during foreseeable driving occurrences, such as this accident; the Buick contained a defective and inadequate restraint system for the protection of its occupants; and, Clyde suffered painful and permanent injuries as a result of these unreasonably dangerous conditions and as a result of the accident. Clyde sought $3,000,000 in damages for his injuries, medical care and treatment, lost wages, and impairment to earning capacity. Mary sought $500,000 for loss of consortium. GM answered with a general denial, reserving the right to assert affirmative defenses upon the completion of discovery.

The pretrial order summarized the Hindses' allegation that the restraint system in the Buick was "defective and rendered [the] vehicle unreasonably dangerous because it ... incorporate[d] [a] tension relief device which allows excessive slack to develop in the seat belt and impairs the restraint systems [sic] ability to protect occupants from serious injury." (Appellant's Addendum, Vol. I, p. 0007-08). The pretrial order also summarized GM's response that the "restraint system operated properly in the subject accident," "[t]he comfort feature in no way caused or enhanced the Plaintiff's injuries," and the "sole and proximate cause of the Plaintiffs' injuries was the negligence of Lloyd Comer." Id. at p. 0009.

The pretrial order contained issues of fact to be resolved at trial, including, "[w]hether the alleged defects in the restraint system of the 1983 Buick Le Sabre caused or enhanced the Plaintiff's alleged injuries." (Appellant's Addendum, Vol. I, pp. 0010-11) (emphasis supplied). At trial, the Hindses limited their case to the theory that the Buick's restraint system was defective and unreasonably dangerous and was the cause of their injuries. The Hindses developed this theory through the testimony of Mark William Arndt and Dr. Leon Lowery.

Arndt, an expert in accident reconstruction and occupant kinematics, (R., Transcript I, at pp. 45 and 72), testified to the manner in which the accident occurred and the movements of Clyde's body inside the Buick following its collision with Comer's pickup. Arndt testified that the Hindses' vehicle was traveling at forty to forty-three miles per hour and the Comer pickup was traveling at forty-five to forty-seven miles per hour at the time of the impact. Id. at p. 52. Arndt concluded, from the injuries sustained by Clyde, that Clyde's upper torso was not restrained in any way by the belt. Id. at p. 84. Arndt also concluded that, although a collision of this nature typically causes the rubber-like grommet through which the belt slides to melt when the belt loads up, resulting in a deposit and deformation on the belt, his examination of the belt revealed "nothing consistent with that kind of force or force direction." Id. at p. 89.

On cross examination, Arndt testified that: the accident was, in terms of accident severity, in the top one percent of all crashes in the country, id. at pp. 99-100; a person would, in an accident of this severity, even with a snug seat belt, "expect to hit some of these structures [windshield, dash, steering wheel]," id. at p. 109; and, the lap belt appears to have held. Id. at p. 123.

Lowery testified about seat belts for thirty minutes or so without objection. During this time, Lowery testified that although the forces in accidents like this one typically result in markings on the belt and spool-engaging mechanism, he only observed "minimum marks." (R., Transcript I, at pp. 144-46). When Lowery was questioned about the presence of slack in the belt, GM objected on the basis that Lowery had not been qualified as an expert on retractors and that he had no qualifications whatsoever in kinematics or biomechanics. Id. at p. 148.

Following GM's objection, the court, after indicating that Lowery had "sufficient expertise ... to give his opinion about these matters," and that GM did not "object up to now and he has been giving his opinion for thirty minutes or so," id. at pp. 149-51, allowed Lowery to continue testifying about the Buick's seat belt. Thereafter, Lowery testified that: the seat belt system in the Buick was defective and "as dangerous as can be," id. at p. 154; the defect in the belt rendered it unreasonably dangerous to a person like Clyde involved in this type of collision, id.; and the shoulder belt did not restrain Clyde's face or upper torso in any way before he reached the windshield. Id. at p. 155.

Lowery acknowledged that the Buick owner's manual warned that seat belt slack should be kept to a minimum since excessive slack could reduce the belt's ability to properly restrain in an accident. Id. at pp. 157-58. However, Lowery also testified that under the Federal Motor Safety Standards no more than one inch of seat belt webbing is supposed to spool out in a collision of this magnitude before the seat belt retractor locks. Lowery believed that in this case the belt spooled out to its full extent in violation of the standards, id. at pp. 158-59, and that if the seat belt had been equipped with a dual sensitive device, Clyde would not have hit his face on the windshield or dashboard. Id. at p. 167.

After the Hindses rested, GM moved for a directed verdict. Although the Hindses had limited their case to the theory that the Buick's restraint system was defective and unreasonably dangerous and the cause of their injuries, GM's motion for a directed verdict was predicated upon the Hindses' failure to establish that the Buick's seat belt system had enhanced the injuries suffered by Clyde:

In essence, Your Honor, they have not shown evidence that had the restraint system operated properly, the plaintiff would have received only minor injuries. Because of the restraint system's behavior in this accident, the plaintiff received severe injuries.

Dr. Lowery testified using the magic words for products liability lawsuits that the seat belt was defective and unreasonably dangerous.... What the plaintiffs failed to present is that somehow the seat belt system enhanced the injury suffered by Mr. Hinds in the accident.

* * * * * *

No evidence has been presented thus far, Your Honor, to show that those injuries were in anyway enhanced by the restraint system. Dr. Lowery, the closest he got was to say that slack aggravates the situation. That's a direct quote from Dr. Lowery's testimony. Nowhere did Dr. Lowery state that if the restraint system or seat belt system had operated properly, Mr. Hinds would have received a broken collarbone or a separated shoulder or some minor injury, but because it did not operate properly, he received these severe injuries. He did not offer nor is he qualified ... to offer any testimony concerning enhancement of injuries, or the difference in injuries received with a seat belt that works properly as opposed to the alleged defects in this seat belt.

(R., Transcript, Vol. II, at pp. 422-24).

Thereafter, the court inquired of Hindses' counsel:

THE COURT: And you agree that it's an enhancement case.

MR. LAIZURE: Your Honor, I think the evidence has shown that obviously the seat belt did not cause the first collision, but the defect in the seat belt system is what caused the injuries that we're complaining of in this case. [A]nd that is what I say.

Id. at p. 426.

After noting that a directed verdict is proper only when the evidence and the inferences to be drawn therefrom are such that reasonable minds could not differ as to the conclusions to be drawn therefrom, the court denied GM's motion.

GM defended on the basis that the Buick's restraint system functioned properly and that the sole and proximate cause of the Hindses' injuries was the negligence of Lloyd Comer. GM called a number of expert witnesses, including Joseph Rice, an expert in automobile engineering and safety and accident reconstruction, who testified that this was a "very, very severe accident," and in "the top one percent, less than one percent [in terms of severity] of accidents." (R., Transcript, Vol. III, at p. 532). GM also called Robert Lange, an expert in engineering and statistical analysis, who stated that the comfort feature in the GM restraint system gave rise to a much greater usage of seat belts and that the "effectiveness of the seat belt with comfort and without comfort feature is virtually the same." Id. at p. 574.

GM presented Murray Mackay, an expert in automotive and mechanical engineering, automotive safety, restraint systems, and biomechanics, (R., Transcript, Vol. III, at p. 619), who testified that at the...