McFarlane v. Caterpillar, Inc.
| Decision Date | 08 September 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-5227,90-5227 |
| Citation | 974 F.2d 176 |
| Parties | , 36 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 743, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 13,291 Samuel McFARLANE and Hyacinth McFarlane, Appellants, v. CATERPILLAR, INC., and Alban Tractor, Inc., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (89-CV-2341).
Edwin H. Harvey, with whom James Benny Jones, was on the brief, for appellants.
Philip L. Cohan, with whom Benjamin S. Boyd was on the brief, for appellees. Susan E. Fleischner and Bruce F. Robertson, also entered appearances for appellees.
Before EDWARDS, BUCKLEY, and SENTELLE, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge BUCKLEY.
Plaintiffs Samuel and Hyacinth McFarlane appeal a judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of defendant Caterpillar, Inc., in a suit brought under the district court's diversity jurisdiction. The court found insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that a manufacturing defect was responsible for Mr. McFarlane's injuries. As Mr. McFarlane did not prove that the brakes of his Caterpillar bulldozer had failed or that it was more probable than not that his accident was caused by a mechanical defect attributable to the manufacturer, we affirm.
This case concerns a bulldozer accident that occurred on May 14, 1987, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The bulldozer, a model DH5 tractor, was manufactured by Caterpillar, Inc., an Illinois corporation, and sold by co-defendant Alban Tractor, Inc., of Maryland. Samuel McFarlane, a resident of the District of Columbia, operated the bulldozer for the Driggs Corporation and was injured in the accident. He brought a claim in district court against the defendants on theories of strict liability, breach of warranty, and negligence. Mrs. McFarlane sued for loss of consortium.
Mr. McFarlane, a bulldozer operator of considerable experience, testified that at approximately 4:00 p.m. the tractor lost all power and started to roll down a fifty-foot slope. He stated that he tried to apply the brakes with the foot pedal, but they would not work; he attempted to lower the bulldozer blade to stop the vehicle, but it would not move; and when he tried to put the bulldozer into gear, the gear would not engage. Mr. McFarlane suffered serious injuries when he failed to stop the bulldozer.
Mr. McFarlane also testified that he had been operating the tractor all day and had experienced mechanical difficulties with it that morning. Specifically, he stated that it would not stay in gear, that the emergency lights flashed, and that various gauges indicated the machine's pressure was low.
Mr. McFarlane stated that the bulldozer, which was seven months old, had experienced difficulties with its hydraulic systems ever since its delivery. He testified that its "braking doesn't work whatever time we have loss of pressure on the hydraulic system and the transmission." Trial Transcript, June 4, 1990 ("Tr. 6/4/90") at 11. With respect to repair work, he could only report that the tractor had been serviced "[s]o many different times [by] so many different mechanics," that he could not remember individual mechanics or episodes. Id. at 13.
The McFarlanes' expert, Richard Brackin, testified that he believed the brakes, which he described as "pressure-applied," failed because of a leak in the hydraulic steering and brake systems. Trial Transcript, June 6, 1990 ("Tr. 6/6/90") at 40-41, 43. This conformed with the McFarlanes' theory that a loss of pressure in the hydraulic system had resulted in a brake failure. Mr. Brackin drew this conclusion after reviewing information concerning the accident, schematic diagrams of the bulldozer's hydraulic systems, and service reports on the machine.
On cross-examination, Mr. Brackin was confronted with the fact that the bulldozer did not have "pressure-applied" brakes. Rather, it was equipped with "spring-applied hydraulic pressure release brakes." Tr. 6/6/90 at 66. As the bulldozer manual explains, "[i]f the engine or power train hydraulics are inoperable, the brakes are applied [by the spring] and the machine cannot be moved...." Id. Conversely, if the hydraulic system is functioning and the brake pedal is not depressed, the hydraulic pressure will compress the spring and the machine will move.
Faced with this fact, Mr. Brackin acknowledged that he had misunderstood how the brakes worked and admitted that a loss of hydraulic pressure would cause the brakes to be applied, not released. Thus, when the McFarlanes' counsel asked him, "Why didn't [Mr. McFarlane] have any brakes," Mr. Brackin responded:
I can't answer that specifically at the moment. I'm going to have to rethink the problem i[n] terms of the spring applied brake.... If the hydraulic pressure was lost, then the brakes should come on by action of the spring.
Id. at 69-70. Asked again "Why did the brake fail," he answered Id. at 72.
At the close of the McFarlanes' case, the defendants moved for a directed verdict. This motion was denied, although the court indicated that it would consider a motion for judgment n.o.v. if the jury found for the McFarlanes. The defendants then called three witnesses, including the General Superintendent for the Driggs Corporation, Larry Landis. Mr. Landis testified that he inspected the bulldozer minutes after the accident and found that all systems, including the brakes and blade, were working. He also noted that the bulldozer was put back in service the following day.
At the close of all the evidence, the court denied the defendants' renewed motion for a directed verdict and refused the McFarlanes' request for instructions on proof of defect by circumstantial evidence. The jury returned a general verdict for the McFarlanes against Caterpillar and for Alban Tractor against the McFarlanes. On a special verdict sheet, the jury stated that a manufacturing defect had caused the accident, which it identified as "brakes & valves."
On July 27, 1990, the court granted Caterpillar's motion for judgment n.o.v. and its conditional motion for a new trial. See McFarlane v. Caterpillar, Inc., No. 89-2341, mem. op. (D.D.C. July 27, 1990) ("Mem. Op."). In granting the judgment n.o.v. under Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 50(b), the district court addressed only the McFarlanes' claim of a manufacturing defect, as "it is obvious from the record ... that the plaintiffs' other claims were never seriously presented at trial." Id. at 5 n. 1. The court, sitting in diversity, applied District of Columbia law to that claim.
The court first found that "plaintiffs presented absolutely no direct proof of a manufacturing defect." Id. at 7 (emphasis in original). The court then held that the "meager circumstantial evidence" of a defect, id., consisting only of Mr. McFarlane's "not unbiased" testimony that he pressed the brake pedal and it did not work, id. at 9, was not sufficient to show a general defect under District of Columbia law as explained in Siegel v. Mazda Motor Corp., 878 F.2d 435 (D.C.Cir.1989) ("Siegel II"). Id. at 8-11. In particular, the court found that the McFarlanes had failed to "adequately eliminate[ ]" the "possibility of driver error or misuse." Id. at 10. The court also found that it was "quite possible that the machine was improperly serviced or improperly maintained" by persons other than Caterpillar. Id. at 11. "Due to the array of other very likely explanations for this accident," the court "conclude[d] that no reasonable jury could have concluded that it is more likely than not that a manufacturing defect caused the accident." Id. This appeal followed.
Our review of a district court's grant of judgment n.o.v. is undertaken de novo. To conclude that judgment n.o.v. is warranted, we must find that "there can be but one reasonable conclusion drawn from the evidence." Morgan v. District of Columbia, 824 F.2d 1049, 1056 (D.C.Cir.1987) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). In conducting this inquiry,
the question for us is not whether there was some evidence, but whether, in terms of the actual quantum and quality of proof necessary to support liability, there was sufficient evidence upon which a jury could properly base a verdict for the [plaintiff].... To survive a motion for judgment n.o.v., the evidence ... introduced has to be more than merely colorable; it must have been significantly probative if the jury's verdict is to stand.
Siegel II, 878 F.2d at 437 (citations and quotation marks omitted; emphasis deleted).
In this case, the McFarlanes failed to offer evidence of a specific defect that was "significantly probative" of Caterpillar's liability. The only specific defect claimed by them was that a loss of hydraulic pressure had caused the brakes to fail. This claim was based on Mr. Brackin's misunderstanding of the nature of the bulldozer's braking system. In contrast, Caterpillar was able to demonstrate that the brakes were spring applied and hydraulically released so that a loss of pressure would have caused them to engage. Thus, there was no evidence that would enable the jury to find Caterpillar liable on the basis of the specific defect claimed by the McFarlanes.
District of Columbia law, however, permits a plaintiff to prove liability in a manufacturing defect suit by adducing evidence of a general defect. Thus, in Hall v. General Motors Co., 647 F.2d 175 (D.C.Cir.1980), we affirmed a jury award of damages in a products liability suit based on a general defect theory. Mrs. Hall was driving a five-month-old Buick when, according to her, it suddenly veered off the road and hit a tree. She testified that she had been driving at moderate speed, that she was an experienced driver who had no physical or mental impairments, and that she heard an explosion before the car swerved...
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