Mercer v. Pittway Corp.
| Citation | 616 N.W.2d 602 |
| Decision Date | 07 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-1144.,98-1144. |
| Parties | Nathan R. MERCER and Jennifer Mercer, as parents of Travis Mercer; Northwest Bank & Trust Company Corporation, Conservator for Travis Mercer, a Minor Child; Nathan R. Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, Administrators of the Estate of Bradley Mercer, Deceased; Nathan R. Mercer and Jennifer Mercer as Parents of Bradley Mercer; and Nathan R. Mercer and Jennifer Mercer, Individually and as Husband and Wife, Appellees, v. PITTWAY CORPORATION; BRK Brands, Inc., Appellants, and Nicholas Bakeris, Defendant, State of Iowa ex rel. Civil Reparations Trust Fund, Intervenor-appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
Roger T. Stetson, Margaret C. Callahan and Mark McCormick of Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn, P.C., Des Moines, and Stephen A. Cozen and Robert W. Hayes of Cozen & O'Connor, P.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for appellants.
W. Don Brittin, Jr. of Nymaster, Goode, McLaughlin, Voigts, West, Hansell & O'Brien, P.C., Des Moines, John O. Moeller, Davenport, and James L. Fetterly, Stephen G. Lickteig, and Diane B. Bratvold of Fetterly & Gordon, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota, for appellees.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Craig Kelinson, Special Assistant Attorney General, and Richard E. Mull, Assistant Attorney General, for intervenor-appellee State of Iowa ex rel. Civil Reparations Trust Fund.
Considered en banc.
Numerous issues are presented in this product liability case involving the alleged failure of a smoke detector to alarm to a fire in a home. One child died and another was severely burned as a result of the fire. In an action brought by the parents of the children against the manufacturer of the smoke detector, a jury awarded substantial compensatory and punitive damages. Defendants, the manufacturers of the smoke detector, appeal, contending the district court committed several reversible errors which include: (1) failing to grant defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on liability; (2) submitting the issue of punitive damages to the jury, absent substantial evidence of willful and wanton conduct by the defendants; and (3) admitting into evidence consumer complaints regarding alleged failure of defendants' smoke detectors to alarm to smoke.
Upon our review, we conclude that the district court's admission into evidence of several consumer complaints concerning the failure of defendants' smoke detectors to alarm to smoke constitutes reversible error. Also, punitive damages should not have been allowed. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
Nathan and Jennifer Mercer as parents, individually, and as administrators of the estate of their son Bradley, sued defendants Pittway Corporation and BRK Brands, Inc. alleging that a smoke detector manufactured by those defendants was defective and failed to alarm to a fire in the Mercers' home.1 The Mercers' three-year-old son Bradley died from injuries he received during the fire and eighteen-month-old Travis was severely burned. In their petition, the Mercers alleged various theories of liability including negligence (negligent design and testing, and failure to warn), strict liability, breach of express and implied warranties, and fraudulent nondisclosure. Plaintiffs asked for both compensatory and punitive damages.
At a jury trial concerning the Mercers' claims against defendant BRK, the following evidence was presented.
In January 1993, plaintiffs Jennifer and Nathan Mercer and their sons, Bradley and Travis, were living in a duplex house in Davenport, Iowa. When his family moved into the duplex in 1991, Nathan purchased two BRK brand model 83R ionization smoke detectors. Nathan placed one smoke detector on the main floor of the duplex between the kitchen and dining room, and placed the other smoke detector on the ceiling at the top of the staircase leading to the second-floor bedrooms. Only the master bedroom opened directly onto the stairwell; the children's bedroom, in which the fire started, could be reached only by passing through the master bedroom.
In deciding where to place the smoke detectors, Nathan relied on information he learned while employed at Safety Plus, a business that sells residential fire safety equipment. As part of his employment, Nathan was informed that the ionization smoke detector "was a good universal smoke detector to have around." Nathan also learned that an ionization detector would pick up both invisible and visible smoke and that a photoelectric smoke detector would basically pick up visible smoke, which would eliminate a lot of nuisance alarms from cooking or from steam. Nathan was also informed that it was best to install photoelectric smoke detectors in the kitchen area and that the ionization detector could be installed in all other areas of the house, including in bedrooms or sleeping areas. Nathan stated he considered installing other smoke detectors on the second floor, but felt he was financially unable to do so.
Between 8:15 and 8:20 p.m. on January 18, 1993, Nathan carried Bradley to the second floor of their duplex home and put him to bed. Bradley's brother, Travis, was already sleeping in his bed in the same room. Nathan then went downstairs to the living room.
Approximately twenty minutes later, around 8:45 or 8:46 p.m., Nathan and Jennifer heard a "thump" from upstairs. The lights in the room also flickered and the furnace kicked on. Shortly thereafter, Jennifer smelled smoke and headed up the stairs to check on the children, while Nathan ran into the kitchen to get a fire extinguisher. Jennifer testified that she ran up the stairs, but stopped two or three steps from the top of the stairs, not because of smoke, but because she was unsure whether to proceed into the bedroom. Jennifer then turned and went back down the stairs, meeting Nathan halfway down. Both Jennifer and Nathan testified that they did not hear the smoke detector, installed on the ceiling of the second-floor landing, alarming at this time. Nathan told Jennifer to go call 911 and proceeded up the stairs. Jennifer then ran to the neighbor's half of the duplex and called 911 while Nathan continued up the stairs.
Nathan testified that by the time he reached the top of the stairs, the smoke extended about one foot away from the floor. Nathan testified he heard no alarm coming from the smoke detector. Nathan tried to lie down so he could slide on his stomach to reach the bedroom, but the smoke was "too choking." Nathan then tried putting a shirt around his mouth and tried to go back up the stairs, but he was not successful. He tried at least three times to get through the smoke, but was unable to enter the children's bedroom.
During this same time, the Mercers' neighbor on the other side of the duplex, Jimmy Sprout, heard a smoke detector alarming and had been halfway up his own stairs when he realized it was not his detector. He walked back down to his living room and at that point, Jennifer came into the Sprouts' side of the duplex to call 911. Jennifer's 911 call was recorded by the dispatch at 8:52 p.m.
Nathan and Jimmy Sprout then ran up the Sprout's stairs. With his bare hands, Nathan tore a hole in the common duplex wall, reached through the hole, and pulled Travis through the hole. He ran outside where he handed Travis to a firefighter. The record shows the fire department arrived at 8:57 p.m. Firefighters using self-contained breathing apparatus searched the two bedrooms and found Bradley in his bed.
Firefighters described the fire in the children's bedroom as a small, flaming fire, approximately four feet by four feet in size, that was quickly extinguished with "just a quick shot of water" from the hose. Certain firefighters also testified at trial that they had no recollection of hearing a smoke detector alarm prior to the time that they found Bradley. Fire Captain Stoelk testified he recalled hearing the smoke detector alarm at the same time he saw Lieutenant Ryan descending the stairs with Bradley in his arms and estimated that the smoke detector alarm sounded approximately two and one-half minutes after he and the other firefighters arrived at the scene.
Bradley and Travis were severely burned in the fire. Bradley died six days later. Travis survived, but sustained second and third degree burns over approximately fifty percent of his body, including his face and head.
Defendant BRK is the leading manufacturer of smoke detectors. There are two basic types of smoke detectors: ionization detectors and photoelectric detectors, both of which are battery powered. BRK's model 83R, which was the type of detector installed in the Mercers' home, is an ionization detector. An ionization detector uses a small amount of radioactive material to create charged air particles (ions) in the detection chamber. As smoke particles enter the chamber, they combine with and essentially neutralize the charged particles. This results in a reduction in electricity which is sensed by the detector's electronic components, triggering an alarm.
A photoelectric smoke detector uses a source of light, rather than a source of radioactive material, in the detection chamber. When smoke enters the chamber, the smoke particles cause the light particles to reflect and scatter until they eventually hit a sensor, triggering an alarm.
Ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors do not react the same way in all types of fires because of the different ways in which they sense the presence of smoke particles. An ionization detector is more efficient and effective than a photoelectric detector in responding to a flaming fire because such fires generally emit smoke consisting of small smoke particles. On the other hand, a photoelectric detector may be more sensitive to smoke from a smoldering fire because such fires generally emit smoke consisting of larger sized smoke...
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