Lake v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
| Decision Date | 27 June 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-1787,90-1787 |
| Citation | 936 F.2d 573 |
| Parties | Unpublished Disposition NOTICE: Sixth Circuit Rule 24(c) states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Sixth Circuit. David LAKE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Before KENNEDY and NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judges, and FORESTER, District Judge. *
This is a diversity product liability case in which plaintiff David Lake appeals the District Court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Lake claims that Firestone is liable for negligent design and negligent failure to warn under Michigan law for injuries that Lake sustained as a result of a multi-piece truck wheel separation. For reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.
In April of 1987, plaintiff David Lake was employed by the Ann Arbor Tire Company. His primary duty was to repair truck tires. Lake had extensive experience servicing multi-piece truck wheels, including the type of three-piece wheel involved in this case. On April 9, Lake began servicing a truck tire and wheel assembly. This involved dismantling the three-piece truck wheel in order to remove the tire. Lake removed the worn-out tire, placed a new tire on the rim and reassembled the three-piece wheel. Lake then inflated the tire and wheel assembly in a safety cage. Such cages are provided because multi-piece wheels can explosively disengage if not assembled properly or if unserviceable due to wear on some or all of the component parts. Lake noticed that the pieces of the wheel assembly were not properly assembled and deflated the tire while still in the cage. He removed the tire and wheel unit, disassembled and reassembled it, then placed it back into the safety cage. Upon inflating the tire the second time Lake saw that the wheel components were still not properly connecting. As it was the end of his shift, Lake left the partially inflated tire and wheel assembly in the cage for the night.
Returning to work on the morning of April 10, 1987, David Lake resumed work on the tire and wheel. Again Lake deflated the tire, disassembled and reassembled the three-piece wheel, and placed the unit into the safety cage for inflation. After inflating the tire for the third time, Lake noticed that the wheel components were still not properly connected, although they were much closer to correct fit than in either of the previous two attempts. Rather than deflate the tire in the safety cage and repeat the disassembly/reassembly routine, Lake removed the still-inflated tire and wheel unit from the cage and laid it on its side with the misaligned wheel components facing up. Lake then dropped an eight pound sledge hammer from a distance of six to twelve inches onto the center of the wheel assembly, hoping that this would cause the wheel components to align themselves. Instead the wheel assembly explosively disengaged and injured Lake.
On May 4, 1989, Lake filed a complaint against Firestone, the wheel manufacturer, in the Circuit Court for the County of Washtenaw, Michigan. Firestone removed the action to the United States District Court on the basis of diversity of citizenship. Lake's complaint alleged that Firestone negligently designed and manufactured the multi-piece truck wheel and failed to warn the plaintiff of the danger associated with the improper assembly of the wheel components. Lake also alleged that Firestone had breached express and implied warranties by negligently designing and manufacturing the wheel at issue and by failing to provide adequate warnings.
On June 18, 1990, following ample time for discovery, the District Court granted summary judgment for Firestone. Plaintiff appeals only the District Court's decisions with respect to the claims of negligent design and failure to warn.
We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. McKee v. Cutter Laboratories, Inc., 866 F.2d 219, 220 (6th Cir.1989). Summary judgment is appropriate where, after adequate time for discovery, the nonmoving party has failed "to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986). In examining the record to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, the court must review all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and "all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986). The applicable substantive law determines which facts are material, i.e., "essential elements" of a party's case.
Jurisdiction in this case is based upon diversity of citizenship. Therefore, in deciding the questions presented, we follow the substantive law of Michigan as declared by its legislature and supreme court. Where the Michigan Supreme Court has not spoken, our task is to discern, from all available sources, how that court would respond if confronted with the issues. In re Akron-Cleveland Auto Rental, Inc., 921 F.2d 659, 662 (6th Cir.1990). In addition, "we will normally treat decisions of state courts of appeals on issues of state law as authoritative absent a strong showing that the state's highest court would decide the issue differently." Id.
A.
David Lake argues that the multi-piece truck wheel is negligently designed. More specifically, Lake contends that the design is defective in two ways: (1) the multi-piece wheel can come apart and cause injury and (2) the wheel design relies on the judgment of servicing technicians to determine whether a given multi-piece wheel assembly is still serviceable. See Joint App. at 18, 266-70, 280.
Michigan tort law a manufacturer has a duty to design its product so as to eliminate any unreasonable risk of foreseeable injury. Owens v. Allis-Chalmers Corp, 414 Mich. 413, 425, 326 N.W.2d 372 (1982). In Prentis v. Yale Mfg. Co., 421 Mich. 670, 365 N.W.2d 176 (1984), the Michigan Supreme Court adopted a pure negligence, "risk-utility" test in products liability actions against manufacturers of products, where liability is predicated upon defective design. Under this test, a defectively designed product is one whose utility does not outweigh the danger inherent in its introduction into the stream of commerce. Since no product can be completely accident proof, the determination of whether a product is defectively designed ultimately involves a balancing of the likelihood of harm against the burden of taking precautions against any harm to determine whether the benefits of a challenged design outweigh the risk of injury inherent in such design. See Am.Law Prod.Liab.3d Sec. 28:12 (1987). The competing factors to be weighed under a risk-utility balancing test invite the trier of fact to consider the alternatives and risks faced by the manufacturer and to determine whether, in light of these, the manufacturer exercised reasonable care in making the design choices it made. Prentis, 421 Mich. at 688. In this case, the test for determining whether the design of the multi-piece wheel is "unreasonably dangerous" is: whether the alleged defects in the design of the product create an unreasonable risk of foreseeable injury. The plaintiff bears the burden of producing evidence and persuading the factfinder that the product embodies a defective design.
To establish a prima facie case, the plaintiff must adduce sufficient evidence on the risk-utility factors to establish a "defective" design. In Owens, the Michigan Supreme Court required that a plaintiff's prima facie case include
data or other factual evidence concerning the magnitude of the risks involved, the utility or relative safety of the proposed alternatives, or evidence otherwise concerning the "unreasonableness" of risks arising from [the allegedly defective design].
414 Mich. at 432; see Siminski v. Klein Tools, Inc., 840 F.2d 356, 357 (6th Cir.1988) (applying Owens rule). As this Court recognized in Siminski, "Prentis and Owens, taken together, define a test for the prima facie case in Michigan design defect actions...." 840 F.2d at 358. A plaintiff must provide "proof sufficient for a reasonable jury to balance the magnitude of the risk versus the feasibility of other design alternatives, or otherwise to weigh the 'unreasonableness' of risks arising from the decision to manufacture" a product using the challenged design. Id.
As Owens indicates, showing that a particular challenged design is "unreasonable" under risk-utility analysis normally requires providing evidence of the reasonableness of alternative designs. See Owens, 414 Mich. at 429 (); Reeves v. Cincinnati, Inc., 176 Mich.App. 181, 186-88, 439 N.W.2d 326 (1989), app. denied, 434 Mich. 895 (1990) (). 1 Evidence that alternative designs exist and are feasible is necessary under a pure negligence risk-utility test since that test requires the factfinder to "consider the alternatives and risks faced by the manufacturer and to determine whether in light of these the manufacturer exercised reasonable care in making the design choices it made." Prentis, 421 Mich. at 688 (emphasis added); see also id. at 687 () (citation omitted).
In this case, the evidence provided by the plaintiff on his claim of defective design consisted of the testimony of an expert, Jack Campau, and answers to...
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