Hyundai Motor Am. v. Applewhite

• Decision Date: 10 February 2011
• Docket Number: No. 2008–CA–01101–SCT.,2008–CA–01101–SCT.
• Citation: 53 So.3d 749
• Parties: HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA and Hyundai Motor Companyv.Ola Mae APPLEWHITE, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Dorothy Mae Applewhite, Deceased; Ceola Wade, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Anthony J. Stewart, Deceased; and Ida Mae Cooper, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Cecilia Cooper, Deceased and Kenneth Carter.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

53 So.3d 749

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA and Hyundai Motor Company

v.Ola Mae APPLEWHITE, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Dorothy Mae Applewhite, Deceased; Ceola Wade, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Anthony J. Stewart, Deceased; and Ida Mae Cooper, as Personal Representative of the Estate of and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Cecilia Cooper, Deceased and Kenneth Carter.

No. 2008–CA–01101–SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 10, 2011.

J. Collins Wohner, Jr., Jimmy B. Wilkins, Jackson, Thomas N. Vanderford, Jr., Michael King, Robert William Maxwell, attorneys for appellant.Ralph Edwin Chapman, Sara Bailey Russo, Dana J. Swan, Clarksdale, C. Kent Haney, Drew, attorneys for appellees.Before CARLSON, P.J., RANDOLPH and KITCHENS, JJ.KITCHENS, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. In this wrongful death, product liability case, the jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.5 million, or $1.5 million for each of three decedents, finding that the automobile at issue was defective in both its design and manufacture. In an effort to convince this Court to reverse the trial judgment and to render judgment in its favor, Hyundai challenges the reliability of the plaintiffs' three experts on appeal. We find, from the record before us, that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in allowing the jury to consider these experts' testimony in reaching its verdict, and that, therefore, Hyundai is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. However, because the plaintiffs failed in their duty seasonably to amend their responses to Hyundai's requests for discovery, we reverse the judgment and remand the case for a new trial.

Facts

¶ 2. On July 9, 1995, around 8:00 a.m., Dorothy Mae Applewhite, Cecilia Cooper, and Anthony Stewart were traveling south on U.S. Highway 61 near Dundee, Mississippi. The three were returning home to Clarksdale after having worked the night shift at the Sam's Town Casino in Tunica. The car was Applewhite's 1993 Hyundai Excel. It is unclear who was driving, but the two women were in the front seats, and Stewart was on the rear seat.

¶ 3. One of their coworkers, Roland Jordan, was traveling in the same direction on Highway 61 just ahead of the Excel. Jordan testified that, at first, the Excel was driving normally. However, at some point, he noticed the car begin to weave. According to Jordan, the Excel drifted onto the left shoulder approximately three times. The third time, the Excel came back onto the roadway and swerved into the northbound lane, hitting an oncoming 1993 Lincoln Continental passenger car.

¶ 4. The Excel was torn into two pieces. The front portion of the vehicle came to rest sixty feet north of the point of impact. The passenger compartment stayed with the rear of the vehicle and came to rest six to ten feet north of the crash site. Applewhite and Cooper landed on the pavement, and Stewart was found partially inside the passenger compartment. All three died at the scene. The Continental's occupants sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

¶ 5. At trial, the plaintiffs undertook to prove that the Excel was not crashworthy due to defects in both its design and manufacture. Plaintiffs adduced the testimony of three expert witnesses: Andrew Webb, an accident reconstructionist, James D. Mundo, an engineer, and Dr. Joseph L. Burton, a forensic pathologist specializing in biomechanics. Webb testified that he had used a computer program to reconstruct the accident and concluded that, had the Excel remained intact, the occupants would have experienced a change in velocity (or delta-v) of thirty-five miles per hour. Dr. Burton testified that at thirty-five miles per hour, it was “more likely than not” that the occupants would have survived the crash. Finally, Mundo opined that, in his expert opinion, the car was defective in both its design and manufacture, and these defects caused the car to come apart during the crash.

¶ 6. The defendant's accident reconstructionist, Dr. Geoff Germane, opined that, had the vehicle remained intact, the occupants would have experienced a delta-v ranging from fifty-five to sixty-seven miles per hour. Dr. Burton, the plaintiffs' expert, conceded that a crash is not survivable with a delta-v in excess of fifty miles per hour.

¶ 7. On April 3, 2008, following nine days of testimony, the jury unanimously found that Hyundai was liable for the deaths based on the Excel's defective design and defective manufacture. The jury awarded damages of $1.5 million for each of the three deaths and did not allocate any fault to the driver of the Excel. Hyundai appealed.

Issues

¶ 8. Hyundai raises numerous issues on appeal. First, Hyundai argues that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because all three of the plaintiffs' experts offered unreliable testimony. Second, Hyundai argues that, in the alternative, it is entitled to a new trial based on six harmful errors: (1) Hyundai was ambushed at trial when Webb changed his opinion; (2) the jury's allocation of 100% fault to Hyundai demonstrates the jury's passion and prejudice in reaching its verdict; (3) Hyundai's crash test videos were wrongly excluded; (4) seat belt evidence was wrongly excluded; (5) prior accidents evidence was wrongly admitted; and (6) the judge erred by refusing to dismiss a sleeping juror. Finally, Hyundai argues that, even if the judgment should stand, the trial judge's imposition of an 8% post-judgment interest rate was unfairly punitive. We find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in allowing the jury to consider the plaintiffs' expert testimony. However, the change in Webb's opinion requires reversal. Because the plaintiffs' failure properly and timely to notify the defendant of the change in Webb's opinion is dispositive, we will not address the other issues.

Discussion

¶ 9. Whether a party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law is an issue that we review de novo. Solanki v. Ervin, 21 So.3d 552, 565 (Miss.2009) (citing U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co. v. Martin, 998 So.2d 956, 964 (Miss.2008)). “This Court will consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee, giving that party the benefit of all favorable inference that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence.” Spotlite Skating Rink, Inc. v. Barnes, 988 So.2d 364, 368 (Miss.2008) (quoting Ala. Great S. R.R. Co. v. Lee, 826 So.2d 1232, 1235 (Miss.2002)). We will affirm the denial of a motion for a directed verdict, or a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, where there is “substantial evidence to support the verdict”; but we will reverse if “the evidence, as applied to the elements of a party's case, is either so indisputable, or so deficient, that the necessity of a trier of fact has been obviated.” Martin, 998 So.2d at 964 (quoting White v. Stewman, 932 So.2d 27, 32 (Miss.2006)).

¶ 10. Conversely, this Court will not reverse a trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial absent an abuse of discretion. Solanki, 21 So.3d at 569 (citing Pierce v. Cook, 992 So.2d 612, 620 (Miss.2008); Allstate Ins. Co. v. McGory, 697 So.2d 1171, 1174 (Miss.1997)). “[A] new trial becomes appropriate when a trial court determines that error within the trial mechanism itself has caused a legally incorrect or unjust verdict to be rendered.” Id. (quoting White, 932 So.2d 27 at 33).

¶ 11. As for evidentiary matters, including the allowance of expert testimony, this court applies an “abuse of discretion” standard. Bullock v. Lott, 964 So.2d 1119, 1128 (Miss.2007) (citing Webb v. Braswell, 930 So.2d 387, 396–97 (Miss.2006)).

I. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion by allowing the jury to consider the plaintiffs' expert testimony.

¶ 12. Hyundai argues that the trial judge should have granted its motion for a directed verdict and/or its motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the Excel was not defective and the impact was not survivable as a matter of law. In making this argument, Hyundai attacks all three of the plaintiffs' expert opinions, alleging that they were unreliable under the standards pronounced in Mississippi Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Hyundai argues that, because this evidence was unreliable, it could not have been relied upon to support the jury verdict. Therefore, although Hyundai presents this issue as a sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument, it is, in fact, attacking the admissibility of the expert testimony.

¶ 13. Mississippi Rule of Evidence 702, which governs the admissibility of expert opinions, provides:

If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.

Furthermore, the expert must demonstrate that his or her opinion “is based upon scientific methods and procedures, not unsupported speculation.” Utz v. Running & Rolling Trucking, Inc., 32 So.3d 450, 457 (Miss.2010) (citing Adcock v. Miss. Transp. Comm'n, 981 So.2d 942, 947 (Miss.2008)). This Court has embraced the five, nonexclusive factors announced by the United States Supreme Court in Daubert, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786:

(1) whether the expert's theory can be or has been tested;

(2) whether the theory has been subjected to peer review and publication;

(3) the known or potential rate of error of a technique or theory when applied; (4) the existence and maintenance of standards and control; and

(5) the degree to which the technique or theory has been generally accepted in the...