Kahn v. Chrysler Corporation

• Decision Date: 17 September 1963
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 14553.
• Citation: 221 F. Supp. 677
• Parties: David Allen KAHN et al., Plaintiffs, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

221 F. Supp. 677

David Allen KAHN et al., Plaintiffs, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 14553.

United States District Court S. D. Texas, Houston Division.

September 17, 1963.

Leonard C. Kahn, Houston, Tex., for plaintiffs.

Baker, Botts, Shepherd & Coates, Ralph S. Carrigan, Houston, Tex., for defendant.

INGRAHAM, District Judge.

The case is before the court on defendant's motion for summary judgment. Suit was originally brought against Chrysler Corporation by David Allen Kahn, a minor, acting by and through his father and next friend, Leonard C. Kahn. Jurisdiction is founded on diversity of citizenship, the plaintiff being a citizen and resident of Texas, and the defendant being a foreign corporation licensed to do business in Texas.

The facts as follow are undisputed. On September 25, 1960, plaintiff, David Kahn, a minor of seven years age, was operating his bicycle on a street in Houston. While so doing, he drove the bike into the rear of a 1957 Dodge vehicle, manufactured and designed by the defendant. The child was thrown upon the vehicle, his right front temple region striking the left rear fin of the vehicle, and causing substantial injury to the minor. It is alleged, and this is the basis of the suit, that those injuries were proximately caused by the negligence of defendant, Chrysler Corporation, in creating and designing the vehicle "in such a manner that the fins of said vehicle were elongated and protruded past the remainder of the vehicle and made of sharp metal capable of cutting." It is further alleged that the defendant knew, or reasonably should have known, that the fins of the 1957 vehicle would be capable of causing such injuries as those which occurred to the minor plaintiff.

Defendant moves for summary judgment under Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the relevant parts of which are set out.¹ It is clear that the court must first determine whether there is a genuine issue as to any material fact. Only after it has been affirmatively established by the movant that no such issue exists is the question reached of whether judgment should be granted as a matter of law. Plaintiff opposes the motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the question of whether or not the defendant was negligent in the manufacture and design of the vehicle is a sufficient disputed fact to defeat the motion. In short, there is no dispute over what occurred, but only over the legal significance of the occurrence.

This is a diversity case, and as such the court must look to the substantive law of the state in which it sits. Erie R. R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938). Almost universally, whether or not certain actions constitute negligence is a fact question for the jury. Once the constituent elements are outlined, the factfinder is left the determination of this ultimate issue. However, it is also elementary law that if an act or omission be negligent it is because there has been some breach of duty, and if there is no duty, there can be no negligence. See, e. g., Stevens Funeral Home v. Busby, 336 S.W.2d 812 (Tex.Civ.App.1960); Toombs v. Wimberley, 320 S.W.2d 881 (Tex.Civ.App.1959). This threshold question of the existence of a duty is the first problem which must be resolved.

However, who is to determine if a duty exists? Is this a matter of law or a disputed fact question itself? Certainly there is disagreement in the instant case over whether or not the defendant had a duty to so design his vehicles that an accident like that under consideration could not happen. The very essence of plaintiff's complaint is that the defendant owed to the plaintiff a duty to manufacture an automobile with which it was safe to collide. But this is not sufficient to constitute a disputed fact issue, for this is a question of law to be determined by the court. Whether or not a legal duty exists on a given state of facts and circumstances so as to give rise to actionable negligence on breach thereof, as well as the nature and extent of the duty, if any, is always essentially a question of law. City of Austin v. Schmedes, 270 S.W.2d 442 (Tex.Civ.App.1954); City of Bryan v. Jenkins, 247 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Civ.App. 1952).

This brings us to the final question — was there a duty in the instant case? If so, then there is the factual dispute over whether or not it was breached. On the other hand, if no duty exists, then the motion for summary judgment should be granted. There is no Texas case dealing explicitly with this problem. Muncy v. General Motors Corp., 357 S.W.2d 430 (Tex.Civ.App.1962), is perhaps the closest a Texas court has come to considering a manufacturer's duty in designing an automobile. That case was a personal injury action arising from an...