Mazda Motor Corp. v. Hurst

• Decision Date: 07 July 2017
• Docket Number: 1140545
• Parties: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION v. Jon HURST and Barbara Hurst, as parents of Natalie J. Hurst, deceased, and Sydney McLemore
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

261 So.3d 167

MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION

v.Jon HURST and Barbara Hurst, as parents of Natalie J. Hurst, deceased, and Sydney McLemore

1140545

Supreme Court of Alabama.

July 7, 2017

Rehearing Denied November 17, 2017

Kevin C. Newsom and Nicholas A. Danella of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Birmingham; and Mark W. Lee and J. Alex Wyatt III of Parsons, Lee & Juliano, P.C., Birmingham, for appellant.

D. Bruce Petway of Petway Olsen, LLC, Birmingham; and A.W. Bolt, Birmingham, for appellees Jon Hurst and Barbara Hurst, as parents and next friends of Natalie J. Hurst, deceased.

Benjamin E. Baker, Jr., and C. Gibson Vance of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., Montgomery, for appellee Sydney McLemore.

Ivan B. Cooper of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, L.L.C., Birmingham, for amicus curiae Evidence Professor Terrence W. McCarthy, in support of the appellant.

Forrest S. Latta of Burr & Forman LLP, Mobile, for amicus curiae Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., in support of the appellant.

Ed R. Haden of Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham, for amicus curiae Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Inc., in support of the appellant.

Deborah Alley Smith, Jonathan M. Hooks, and Sharon D. Stuart of Christian & Small LLP, Birmingham; and Michael E. Upchurch of Frazer, Greene, Upchurch & Baker, LLC, Mobile, for amicus curiae Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, in support of the appellant.

Leila H. Watson of Cory Watson, P.C., Birmingham, for amicus curiae Alabama Association for Justice, in support of the appellees.

James R. Pratt III of Hare Wynn Newell & Newton, Birmingham, for amicus curiae Attorneys Information Exchange Group, Inc., in support of the appellees.

MURDOCK, Justice.

Mazda Motor Corporation ("Mazda") appeals from a judgment entered against it on two jury verdicts resulting from two complaints asserting product-liability claims filed in the Jefferson Circuit Court. The claims stem from a single-car accident that occurred on November 22, 2010, involving a 2008 Mazda3 automobile driven by Sydney McLemore ("Sydney") in which Natalie J. Hurst ("Natalie") was a passenger. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

I. Facts

On the night of November 21, 2010, 15–year-old Natalie was spending the night with Sydney at the McLemore residence. At approximately 3:00 a.m. on November 22, 16–year-old Sydney was driving the vehicle; Natalie was in the front passenger seat. The vehicle was traveling on Ross Bridge Parkway heading south in the 4900 block when Sydney lost control of it. The applicable speed limit was 35 m.p.h.; it was estimated at trial that the vehicle was traveling at a speed of 55 to 60 m.p.h. when Sydney lost control. Initially, the vehicle hit a curb and Sydney "overcorrected," causing the vehicle to begin spinning. The vehicle hit a light pole on the driver's side of the vehicle at a speed of 30 to 35 m.p.h. It spun around the pole before coming to a stop and bursting into flames.

At trial, the plaintiffs' medical expert testified that both Sydney and Natalie survived the impact with non-life-threatening injuries. Sydney managed to get out of the vehicle, but not before suffering third-degree burns

to her back, trunk, neck, right arm, and hand, covering approximately 15 percent of her body's surface. Natalie did not escape the vehicle and died from burn injuries.

On August 2, 2012, John Hurst and Barbara Hurst ("the Hursts"), Natalie's parents, filed an action in the Jefferson Circuit Court against Mazda and Sydney. The complaint asserted wrongful-death claims against Mazda based on the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine ("the AEMLD") and on the alleged negligence and wantonness of Mazda and a wrongful-death claim against Sydney based on her alleged negligence. With regard to Mazda, the Hursts alleged that the 2008 Mazda3 was not crashworthy because its fuel system was defectively designed.¹ Specifically, they alleged that Mazda erred by designing the 2008 Mazda3 so that a plastic fuel tank was positioned one-half inch from a steel muffler that had sharp protruding edges. The complaint alleged that, when the vehicle hit the pole, the muffler smashed into the fuel tank and the muffler's sharp edge cut the fuel tank, causing the fuel tank to fail and allowing gasoline vapors to escape and to ignite, which caused the post-collision fuel-fed fire.

In November 2012, Sydney, through her father Richard McLemore, and Richard McLemore individually (collectively "the McLemores"), filed a cross-claim against Mazda in which they also alleged AEMLD, negligence, and wantonness claims. The McLemores' complaint alleged the same design defect as did the Hursts' complaint. The McLemores sought only damages for Sydney's fire-related injuries.

Before trial, the Hursts settled their negligence claim against Sydney with the McLemores' insurance company for $100,000 and dismissed their negligence claim against her. The Hursts also dismissed their negligence and wantonness claims against Mazda, leaving to be tried only their AEMLD wrongful-death claim against Mazda. The McLemores dismissed their negligence claim against Mazda, but they maintained their wantonness and AEMLD claims against Mazda.

The trial lasted 11 days. The Hursts and the McLemores (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the plaintiffs") presented testimony from 15 witnesses that included, among others, a medical expert, an accident-reconstruction expert, a fire-causation expert, and a causation-and-design-defect expert. A proper understanding of Mazda's arguments in this appeal and of some of the responses presented by the plaintiffs necessitates that we describe in detail some of the trial testimony and evidence.

At the time the Mazda3 model at issue was designed and manufactured, Ford Motor Company ("Ford") owned approximately one-third of Mazda. The Mazda3 was jointly designed by Ford and Mazda. The Ford Focus automobile and the Mazda3 were built on the same platform but were sold under different brand and model names. It is undisputed that Mazda designed the fuel system of the Mazda3. The muffler in the subject Mazda3 model was made of steel, was rectangular, and was surrounded by a sharp edge called a flange. The muffler was placed next to a high-density polyurethane ("HDPE") fuel tank; the two components were within one-half inch of each other. A thin aluminum heat shield ran the length of the exhaust system between the muffler and the fuel tank. The heat shield was designed to protect the fuel tank from the heat generated by the exhaust.

The plaintiffs introduced evidence of a survey of 80 automobiles similar in size and model year to the subject Mazda3, revealing that all but three had designs in which the mufflers were located behind the rear axle and the fuel tanks were located in front of it, i.e., the rear suspension was between the two components and they were not adjacent to one another.² The plaintiffs introduced a picture from the service manual of a Mazda3 model that depicted the muffler located behind the rear axle, close to the rear tip of the exhaust pipe. The plaintiffs also introduced evidence indicating that a version of the Mazda3 produced only for California during the relevant period had a rounded muffler with no sharp edge. The Ford Focus designed and manufactured during the relevant period also had a muffler with a smooth, rounded surface area.

Mazda countered by introducing evidence indicating that in the same period during which the subject Mazda3 was designed and manufactured, four other automobile models had a design in which a flanged muffler was placed next to a fuel tank: the 1997 Volkswagen Jetta, the 2000 BMW 323, the 2008 BMW 328, and the 2008 BMW 528.³

Michael Schulz, the plaintiffs' "fire-cause-and-origin" expert, testified as follows:

"So my opinion is that the origin of this fire is at the inboard side of the muffler where it impacted and intruded to the left side or the driver's side of the plastic fuel tank.

"I cannot tell you from the fire patterns whether it is that seam or flange that sticks out, which is very sharp—if you run your hand on it, it is very sharp, and you would slice open your finger—or whether it is the connection where the inlet pipe comes into the muffler, because they are both within the area of the fire patterns. It is one or the other or a combination of the two. I cannot make the distinction for you."

Schulz further testified that pinpointing whether the cause of the fire was the connection from the inlet pipe or the flange on the muffler was difficult because the fuel tank had disintegrated in the fire. He noted, however, that following the accident the muffler was positioned where the fuel tank had been located.

Mazda's "fire expert" testified that he believed the fire originated from the fuel lines. Schulz expressly rejected such a possibility, stating that "all of these fire patterns come from the area occupied by the fuel tank and not the area occupied by the fuel lines." More specifically, Schulz stated that the fire patterns

"come out of this fuel tank on the side here. It did not come out in the front here, where these fuel line connections are. It is along the side. And the only plausible mechanism that we see there are the sharp edges on that fuel tank seam and the flange of that fuel tank."⁴

In this appeal, Mazda does not challenge Schulz's testimony.

Jerry Wallingford testified as a "design-defect-and-causation" expert on behalf of the plaintiffs. At the time of trial, Wallingford was a senior forensic engineer with Verifact Corporation. Wallingford testified that he is trained in mechanical engineering, failure analysis, and fire-safety analysis and that he has over 40 years' experience in the automotive industry. Wallingford has worked for Ford, Clark Equipment Company, and EG & G Automotive Research, Inc., the last of which has one of the world's largest automotive-test facilities. At Ford, Wallingford was a developmental engineer in the durability-test department...