Hinkamp v. American Motors Corp., 86-44-CIV-3.
| Decision Date | 17 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-44-CIV-3.,86-44-CIV-3. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina |
| Parties | Edward M. HINKAMP, Walter Hinkamp, and Ruthene Hinkamp, Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN MOTORS CORPORATION, a foreign corporation, and Jeep Corporation, a Nevada corporation, Defendants. |
Herbert H. Thorp, Thorp and Clarke, Ronald E. Winfrey, Rose, Ray, Winfrey & Gregory, Fayetteville, N.C., for plaintiffs.
Joseph W. Yates, III, Yates, Fleishman, McLamb & Weyher, Raleigh, N.C., for defendants.
This matter is before the court upon Defendants' motion for summary judgment. The motion was made orally after Plaintiffs waived notice at the hearing on their motion to vacate the court's previous order granting partial summary judgment for Defendants. The court now finds, for the reasons stated below, that Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on all of Plaintiffs' claims.
On the night of November 21, 1981, Edward H. Hinkamp, an 18-year-old freshman at Western Carolina University, was driving alone on Highway 107 when his 1981 Jeep Scrambler left the road on an icy curve near Sylva in Jackson County, North Carolina. The Jeep rolled over and Hinkamp was thrown from the vehicle, resulting in serious and permanent injuries to his brain. There were no eyewitnesses to the accident other than Hinkamp, who only remembers that he was driving at a speed of approximately forty to forty-five miles per hour and that there was "a lot of play" in the steering wheel. A sample of Hinkamp's blood drawn several hours after the accident revealed an alcohol level of 0.10. The undisputed evidence shows that Hinkamp began drinking with friends the preceding afternoon in Sylva, then drove to Asheville where he and his friends continued to drink at a bar. He vomited twice at the bar, and his general behavior exhibited a clear state of inebriation. Hinkamp nevertheless attempted to drive the approximately forty miles back to Sylva. He was within a mile of his destination when the accident occurred.
Edward Hinkamp and his parents, Walter and Ruthene Hinkamp, brought this action against the Jeep's manufacturer, alleging that the vehicle's improper design made it difficult to steer and susceptible to inadvertent loss of control. Plaintiffs do not contend that the initial loss of control was due to the Jeep's design. Rather, they claim that the allegedly loose steering gear prevented Hinkamp from regaining control of the vehicle after it slid on the icy roadway. Plaintiffs also allege that the vehicle's design was inadequate to protect an occupant in the event of a rollover or upset accident, thereby enhancing Hinkamp's injuries.
In an order entered November 12, 1987, this court granted Defendants' motion for partial summary judgment with respect to Plaintiffs' "crashworthiness" claims on the ground that such claims are not cognizable under the law of North Carolina. The court also dismissed Plaintiffs' express warranty claims based on advertising and promotion on the ground that they were unsupported by the alleged facts.
On March 14, 1988, the court granted Plaintiffs' motion for a stay of trial on their remaining claims pending a ruling by the Fourth Circuit in a case raising the issue of whether North Carolina would adopt the crashworthiness doctrine. That case ultimately settled before a decision was reached. On January 9, 1989, the court dissolved the stay and returned this matter to the calendar.
On March 7, 1989, a divided panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a cause of action for enhanced injuries is permissible under North Carolina law. See Warren v. Colombo, 93 N.C.App. 92, 377 S.E.2d 249 (1989). Plaintiffs then moved for the court to vacate its previous order dismissing their crashworthiness claims. A hearing was held on this motion in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 11, 1989. Defendants orally moved for summary judgment at this hearing and Plaintiffs waived notice. Upon the court's request, Defendants subsequently produced citations of North Carolina authority as to the legal effect of Edward Hinkamp's intoxication at the time of the accident. Plaintiffs have responded with citations of their own, and the matter is now ripe for ruling.
It is negligence per se for a person to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more. N.C.G.S. § 20-138.1(a)(2); Watters v. Parrish, 252 N.C. 787, 796, 115 S.E.2d 1 (1960).
Such conduct, however, will not constitute actionable negligence or contributory negligence unless — like any other negligence — it is causally related to the accident. citations omitted Mere proof that a motorist involved in a collision was...
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