Kuziw v. Lake Engineering Co., 71 C 253.
| Decision Date | 19 October 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 71 C 253.,71 C 253. |
| Citation | 438 F. Supp. 554 |
| Parties | William KUZIW, Plaintiff, v. LAKE ENGINEERING COMPANY, Division of Arlo Manufacturing Corporation, a corporation, Fluid Power, Division of Sta-Rite Industries, Inc., a corporation, and Economy Baler Corporation, a corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Alan E. Morrill and Morrill, Koutsky, Chuhak & Upton, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.
George E. Sweeney and Kralovec, Sweeney, Marquard & Doyle, Chicago, Ill., for defendants Lake Engineering Company and Economy Baler Corporation, and Jack L. Watson and Schaffenegger & Watson, Chicago, Ill., for defendant Fluid Power.
This cause comes before the court on certain post-trial motions of defendant Fluid Power, a Division of Sta-Rite Industries, Inc., a corporation (hereinafter "Fluid Power") and certain consolidated post-trial motions of defendants Lake Engineering Company (hereinafter "Lake") and Economy Baler Corporation (hereinafter "Economy").
The plaintiff William Kuziw in his complaint sought redress for personal injuries sustained by him while he was operating a certain baling machine manufactured by defendant Lake and purchased by plaintiff's employers from defendant Economy for use in the Garland Building in Chicago, Illinois. Plaintiff alleged in his complaint that the baling machine and its component parts were unreasonably dangerous, that this unreasonably-dangerous condition existed at the time the baling machine left the control of the defendants, that the condition was due to a defect in design or manufacture of an hydraulic control valve, which was a component of the baling machine, and that this defect was the proximate cause of his injuries. The hydraulic control valve was designed and manufactured by defendant Fluid Power. Kuziw sought one million dollars in damages, plus costs of maintaining the action, from all defendants. In their answers to the complaint, defendants denied that either the baling machine or the hydraulic control valve component thereof was unreasonably dangerous when the machine left the control of defendants. Defendants further denied that the plaintiff was injured because of design or manufacturing defects in the machine or its component parts, including the hydraulic control valve. The complaint thus sounds in strict liability in tort.
The case was tried to a jury, and the plaintiff was awarded a verdict of $95,000 from all defendants. At the trial it was established that plaintiff's injury occurred when he inserted his right arm into the top of the machine in order to untangle baling twine which had become entangled with a piece of cardboard paper. Three spools of baling twine were located at the bottom of the operator's end of the machine, and three lines of twine were led underneath the length of the machine to the baling section, which was located at the opposite end of the machine. Plaintiff's arm was inserted into the machine at a point between the ram and a cross-member located on the frame of the machine. While his arm was thus positioned, a defective hydraulic control valve caused the ram slowly to recede (to "creep") unbeknownst to the plaintiff until his arm became crushed between the receding ram and the cross-member of the frame. It was uncontroverted that the valve was defective at the time of the injury.
It was also uncontroverted that at the time the machine was manufactured, sold and delivered to the Garland Building, the machine was equipped with a 1/8 -inch-thick steel plate bolted with ten screws over the top of the ram portion of the machine. The purpose of this plate was to serve as a safety device in eliminating "pinch-points", and to prevent substances from falling into the rear of the machine. The evidence established that at some unascertainable time during the year in which the machine was in use at the Garland Building prior to plaintiff's accident, this steel safety plate had been removed by some person or persons unknown. Uncontroverted evidence established that, had the steel safety plate been in place, — as it was when the machine was delivered to the Garland Building, — plaintiff's injury would not have occurred. To this fact, which is deemed crucial to the determination of liability in this case, plaintiff's attorney even stipulated. On July 19th the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff and against all defendants on the issue of liability. On July 21st the court took under advisement defendants' motion for a hearing instanter on their motions for a directed verdict, for judgment in their favor and against the plaintiff, or, alternatively, for a new trial, for rulings on the aforesaid motions prior to jury consideration of damages, and for a 10-day extension within which to file statements of fact and supporting memoranda of law. The trial then proceeded on the issue of damages, and on July 25th the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and against all defendants for damages in the sum of $95,000. The court then set a briefing schedule for post-trial motions.
Defendant Fluid Power on July 25th filed a motion for judgment in its favor on the issues of liability and damages notwithstanding the verdicts, or, alternatively, for a new trial on said issues notwithstanding the verdicts. Fluid Power simultaneously filed a multi-fold motion as follows: (1) for a ruling on its motions for directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's case and at the close of all the evidence; (2) for judgment in its favor notwithstanding the verdict returned on the issue of liability; (3) for a new trial on the issue of liability; (4) for the setting of a briefing schedule and a schedule for oral arguments on the aforesaid motions; and (5) for a stay of all proceedings for 10 days until disposition was made of the foregoing motions.
Also on July 25th, defendants Lake and Economy filed the following consolidated motion: (1) for an order reversing the verdict of the jury with regard to liability against defendants Lake and Economy; (2) for an order entering judgment, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, in favor of said defendants; (3) for an order vacating the verdict of the jury with regard to the amount of verdict and to enter a verdict of no damages in favor of said defendants and against the plaintiff; (4) in the alternative, for an order granting the motion of said defendants for a directed verdict at the conclusion of all of the evidence adduced in chief by the plaintiff, or, in the alternative, for an order directing the jury to find in favor of said defendants at the conclusion of all of the evidence; and (5) in the alternative, for an order granting a new trial on the issues of damages and liability.
On August 8th defendant Fluid Power filed an Amended Post-Trial Motion for judgment in its favor notwithstanding the verdicts returned in favor of the plaintiff, or, in the alternative, for a new trial on all issues.
The foregoing post-trial motions became fully briefed on September 28th. For reasons set forth below, this court must set aside the aforesaid verdicts of the jury.
The court concludes that the overwhelming weight of the evidence proved that a machine, reasonably safe when it was manufactured and delivered by defendants to plaintiff's employers, was thereafter transformed into a dangerous machine by the removal of the steel safety plate by some unknown person subsequent to the delivery of the machine to the Garland Building and prior to the occurrence of plaintiff's injury.
Strict liability in tort is predicated upon a determination that there existed an unreasonably-dangerous condition of the product at the time it left the manufacturer's control, and that such condition was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury. Suvada v. White Motor Co., 32 Ill.2d 612, 623, 210 N.E.2d 182 (1965). The manufacturer may allege, however, that an intervening act of another party was the proximate cause of the injury, and proof of such allegation will constitute a complete defense to the action. Kuziw v. Lake Engineering Co., 398 F.Supp. 961, 963 (N.D.Ill. 1975). In the instant case, the evidence overwhelmingly proved that the removal of the steel safety plate was such an intervening act.
There was no evidence to show that it was necessary to remove the steel safety plate, and there was no evidence to show how, or why, or when it was removed. Even assuming that someone in the Garland Building had deemed it necessary to remove the plate upon occasion for the purpose of cleaning the interior of the machine, or the like, there was no evidence whatsoever to show that it would be necessary to leave the safety plate off the machine while the machine was in operation. The evidence also showed that it was at all times easy for an operator to untangle the cords. Hooks were provided by the manufacturer (defendant Lake) for the purpose of reaching the cords, which ran free lengthwise under the body of the baling machine in an open space almost a foot in height between the underbody of the...
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Kuziw v. Lake Engineering Co.
...in their favor and against the plaintiff on the issues of liability and damages, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury. 438 F.Supp. 554 (N.D.Ill.1977). The court entered judgment N. o. v. on the grounds that the ram cover had been removed and that the malfunctioning hydraulic valve had be......