Lemons v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 November 1995
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 93-0055.
• Citation: 906 F. Supp. 328
• Parties: Kenneth R. LEMONS, Plaintiff, v. RYDER TRUCK RENTAL, INC. and Maxon Industries, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

906 F. Supp. 328

Kenneth R. LEMONS, Plaintiff, v. RYDER TRUCK RENTAL, INC. and Maxon Industries, Inc., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 93-0055.

United States District Court, W.D. Virginia, Abingdon Division.

November 21, 1995.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

D. Jeffrey Coale, Abingdon, VA, for Plaintiff.

James R. Austin, Roanoke, VA, Melissa W. Robinson, Roanoke, VA, John E. Kieffer, Bristol, VA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GLEN M. WILLIAMS, Senior District Judge.

In this products liability action arising from an accident involving a truck lift gate, defendants move for summary judgment. The motion is granted.

FACTS

Plaintiff Kenneth Lemons ("Lemons"), an employee of Nautilus, was injured while unloading a heavy piece of exercise equipment from a Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. ("Ryder") truck leased by his employer. The accident occurred while Lemons was moving equipment from the truck to a loading dock across a lift gate, a device attached to the back of a truck that unfolds to create a platform between the truck and a loading dock across which people and equipment can be moved. The details of the accident are in dispute, but plaintiff contends that the lift gate collapsed under the weight of the equipment by folding in a direction it was not intended to fold. The expert witness offered by Lemons states that the reason the lift gate folded is that the chains intended to support the gate were not attached to the end of the lift gate platform, as he says they should have been, but some distance from the end. Thus, when sufficient weight was placed on the lift gate beyond the attachment point of the chains, the end tilted downwards and the middle of the lift gate (where the platform was hinged) folded upwards. The specific lift gate involved in the accident cannot now be located, but plaintiff identifies it as one manufactured by defendant Maxon Industries, Inc. ("Maxon").

Plaintiff sued Ryder and Maxon under theories of negligence and breach of warranty. Defendants now move for summary judgment on three grounds. First, they contend that the unavailability of the lift gate makes a finding of liability against them impossible. Second, they argue that the evidence is insufficient to demonstrate noncompliance by either defendant with any industry or government standard. Finally, defendants argue that plaintiffs employer, Nautilus, was a sophisticated user of the trucks and lift gates, and that its detailed specifications to Ryder about what equipment it wished to lease absolve defendants of any liability.

ANALYSIS

To prevail on a motion for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The burden is on the nonmoving party to "set forth specific facts" that demonstrate a dispute. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-49, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In considering defendants' motion, the Court views the underlying facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to Lemons, the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

We turn first to the plaintiff's burden to establish the existence of a defect. Under Virginia law, in order to establish a defect, the plaintiff must prove violation of industry or government safety standards. Alevromagiros v. Hechinger Co., 993 F.2d 417, 421 (4th Cir.1993). In the absence of such standards, plaintiff must demonstrate that the product violated the reasonable expectations of consumers. Id. at 421, 422; Mears v. General Motors, 896 F.Supp. 548, 551 (E.D.Va.1995); Stokes v. L. Geismar, S.A., 815 F.Supp. 904, 908 (E.D.Va.1993); Davis v. Simon-Telelect, 1995 WL 100563 at *3, 1995 U.S.App. LEXIS 4788 at *8 (4th Cir.1994); Walker v. Caterpillar Industrial, Inc., 1994 WL 406563 at *1-2, 1994 U.S.App. LEXIS 20301 at *5 (4th Cir. 1994). Through the testimony of his expert witness, Jerry Burke,¹ plaintiff has attempted to prove both. We take up each issue in turn.

Industry Standards

Burke's evidence is contradictory on the subject of whether industry standards exist at all with respect to lift gates.² Burke claims that the lift gate on which the plaintiff was injured "does not represent the industry standard," Burke Supplemental Affidavit at 2, but goes on to state that "there are no government or industry standards for that particular aspect of this folding lift gate that I consider improperly designed," id. at 3. The evidence which Burke offers for the failure of the lift gate at issue to comply with industry standards entirely fails to accomplish its purpose. Burke states that "there are many different designs for lift gates," id. at 2, and he lists five different basic designs, the first of which is "folding platforms such as the one Lemons was using at the time of the Accident, which have side chains or side cables attached a significant distance from the end, or outboard edge, of platform, but which lack a locking mechanism." Id. Burke goes on to state that "many competing lift gates avoid the defect described in my initial Affidavit i.e. the propensity to buckle in the middle when sufficient weight is exerted at the very end of the lift gate platform." This evidence makes two things clear. First, there is no single standard design of lift gates, as five basic designs were identified by Burke. Second, the Maxon lift gate at issue is designed in the same fashion and with the same "defect" as at least some competing lift gates. This evidence is insufficient as a matter of law to demonstrate the violation of any industry safety standard.³

Expert Opinion on Applicable Safety Standard

Virginia law permits the admission of expert opinions on safety in the absence of an industry standard. Ford Motor v. Bartholomew, 224 Va. 421, 430, 297 S.E.2d 675 (1982). The evidence offered, however, must still be sufficient to sustain a verdict in favor of the party offering it. Alevromagiros, supra, at 421. We hold that the evidence offered by plaintiff does not meet this standard. The only evidence of defect is Burke's opinion about how the accident occurred, based on his inspection of "lift gates of the same or substantially the same design" as that involved in the accident, and of "lift gates of numerous differing designs," and also of "literature ... regarding lift gates of numerous differing designs." In addition, Burke conducted an experiment on a Maxon model RC lift gate, "which is substantially the same as that which Lemons described and was using at the time of the Accident." Burke had two men stand at the extreme edge of the lift platform, causing the lift gate to buckle in the middle. This evidence is insufficient to discharge plaintiff's burden. First, it is tainted by doubt as to the identity of the lift gate actually involved in the accident. The evidence on this point is equivocal and disputed on many points, but even taken in the most favorable light for the plaintiff, the court has no evidence before it that the specific model of lift gate involved in the accident was ever inspected, analyzed, tested, experimented upon, or mentioned in the literature reviewed. Unless various physical attributes of the lift gate at issue and those examined by the expert are sufficiently similar, his analysis and experiment are of little significance. The relevant attributes probably include the weight of the two plates comprising the platform, the nature of the hinge between these plates, and the distance between the edge of the platform and the attachment point of the support chains. No evidence about any such similarities is before the court.

Second, we hold that the evidence is simply not of sufficient quantity and weight to meet plaintiff's burden. Bartholomew and Alevromagiros both require that expert testimony rise to a certain level of persuasiveness before it will be admitted. See Alevromagiros, supra, at 421 (requiring "an expert opinion based on extensive testing and published reports"); Bartholomew, supra, at 429, 297 S.E.2d 675 (holding that an expert opinion had proper foundation where the expert studied relevant federal manuals and data, consulted with other experts, and experimented with the specific product alleged to have caused the accident as well as several competing products). This holding is a close one, and it may be that the court would conclude differently if it had proof before it about the model of lift gate involved in the accident. However, Virginia law is quite clear that in order to prove defect, a plaintiff who cannot produce or identify the specific item which he claims is responsible for his injuries must present evidence tending to negate all reasonable alternative explanations of his injuries. Logan v. Montgomery Ward, 216 Va. 425, 428, 219 S.E.2d 685 (1975). Experiments performed upon lift gates which may or may not be similar in relevant respects to the lift gate involved in the accident cannot discharge this burden. Accordingly, the court holds that the expert's testimony does not establish any safety standard with respect to lift gates.

Consumer Expectations

Having failed to prove a violation of an industry or government safety standard, or of any other safety standard, plaintiff must establish that reasonable consumer expectations were violated by the lift gate. To demonstrate consumer expectations, the expert may use "evidence of actual industry practices, knowledge at the time of other injuries, knowledge of dangers, published literature, and ... direct evidence of what reasonable purchasers consider defective." Alevromagiros, supra, at 420-21 (citing Sexton v. Bell Helmets, 926 F.2d 331 (4th Cir. 1991)). The expert's testimony on this issue may not simply be...