Kuras v. International Harvester Co., 86-2024

• Decision Date: 04 June 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-2024,86-2024
• Citation: 820 F.2d 15
• Parties: , Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,444 Anthony J. KURAS, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, et al., Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 15

820 F.2d 15

18 Soc.Sec.Rep.Ser. 15, Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,444

Anthony J. KURAS, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 86-2024.

United States Court of Appeals,

First Circuit.

Argued May 8, 1987.

Decided June 4, 1987.

Edward F. St. Onge, Providence, R.I., for plaintiff, appellant.

Gregory L. Boyer with whom Boyer, Reynolds & DeMarco, Ltd., Providence, R.I., was on brief, for defendants, appellees.

Before BREYER and TORRUELLA, Circuit Judges, and CAFFREY, ^* Senior District Judge.

CAFFREY, Senior District Judge.

This is an appeal by plaintiff/appellant Anthony Kuras from a directed verdict entered by the District Court in a personal injury action. Plaintiff/appellant Anthony Kuras sued Outboard Marine Corporation and International Harvester Company for injuries to his hand from a lawn mower manufactured by Outboard Marine and marketed by International Harvester. Jurisdiction in federal court in based on diversity, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1332. The amended complaint predicates liability on theories of strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty. At the close of plaintiff/appellant's case, the district judge entered a directed verdict for the defendants/appellees on all three counts. We affirm.

At trial, Kuras testified that he purchased the mower in 1981 and used the mower regularly for mowing the lawn at his home. On June 7, 1984 Kuras was mowing his lawn. He testified that the grass began clogging in the refuse bag attached to the mower. Kuras took the bag off and cleaned and replaced it, but the grass "kept choking up in the chute." After five or six times of this procedure, Kuras shut the mower off, tipped it over, and placed his hand in the underside of the mower. The mower blade hit his right hand, severing one finger and partially severing another.

Kuras' brother-in-law, Albert Robidoux, testified that he used the mower two weeks later, and noticed that the grass was clumping behind him, and that the back of the lawn mower was dragging. He further stated that the rear chassis height adjustment lever was at its bottom setting. A lawn mower mechanic testified that if the mower was too low, the grass would clump in the chute. From his examination of the mower a week before trial, the mechanic testified that the rear height adjustment was worn. Another witness, a mechanical engineer, stated that the mower's rear height setting could change by going over a bump. There was also testimony that there was a 5-7 second time lapse between shutting off the mower and the blade coming to a rest, and that there was no brake mechanism to stop the blade when the mower was shut off. In addition, the blade would kick back in the opposite direction before coming to a rest.

At the close of plaintiff's case, the court entered a directed verdict for defendants on all counts. The district court stated that defendants had no duty to warn plaintiff of the obvious danger of a spinning blade on the underside of the lawn mower. The court also ruled that the plaintiff, by putting his hand into the spinning blade, broke the chain of causation between the clumping of the grass in the mower and the injury to his hand. Thus, the court concluded that there was no proximate cause as to the rear height adjustment and the clogging of the grass. With regard to the blade stopping time, the court found that plaintiff had failed to introduce any evidence that the blade stopping time was causually related to his injury. In reviewing a directed verdict for the defendants, we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. The question is whether when the evidence is seen in this light, there is but one conclusion as to the verdict that a jury reasonably could reach. Goldstein v. Kelleher, 728 F.2d 32, 39 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 852, 105 S.Ct. 172, 83 L.Ed.2d 107 (1984).

On appeal, plaintiff primarily challenges the district court's conclusion that there was no proximate cause between alleged defects involving the clogging of the mower or the spinning of the blade and plaintiff's injury. ¹ Plaintiff argues that putting his hand into the mower was not an intervening cause but rather was a reasonably foreseeable result of the alleged mower defects. Plaintiff's theory of liability is that he was drawn into a trap. The height adjustment lever was allegedly unstable and slipped into the lowest position. As a result grass clogged the mower chute. Plaintiff asserts that it was foreseeable that he would turn the machine over in order to investigate the repeated clogging. The 5 to 7 seconds the blade kept running after shutting off the mower and then the kicking back of the blade, plaintiff further argues, were the causes of his injury. Plaintiff also objects to the exclusion of certain testimony by his expert witnesses--the mechanic and the mechanical engineer--regarding blade stopping time and the stability of the rear chassis height setting.

Under Rhode Island tort law, a negligent act continues to be a proximate concurring cause of the injury if the intervening act could reasonably have been foreseen as a natural and probable result of the original negligence. Testa v. Winquist, 451 F.Supp. 388, 392 (D.R.I.1978); Roberts v. Kettelle, 116 R.I. 283, 294, 356 A.2d 207, 215 (1976); S.M.S. Sales Co., Inc. v. New England Motor Freight, Inc., 115 R.I....