Meyerhoff v. Michelin Tire Corp., s. 94-3185
| Decision Date | 27 November 1995 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 94-3185,94-3205,s. 94-3185 |
| Citation | 70 F.3d 1175 |
| Parties | Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 14,421 Lowell MEYERHOFF and Donna Meyerhoff, individually, and as Administrators of the Estate of Kevin Lowell Meyerhoff, deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MICHELIN TIRE CORPORATION and Timpte Trailer Company, Defendants-Appellees. Lowell MEYERHOFF and Donna Meyerhoff, individually, and as Administrators of the Estate of Kevin Lowell Meyerhoff, deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MICHELIN TIRE CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant, and Timpte Trailer Company, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Richard D. Cordry (Gregory D. Bell and Frances A. Hartman with him on the briefs), Cordry, Hund & Hartman, Wichita, Kansas, for Meyerhoffs.
Richard C. Hite (Arthur S. Chalmers with him on the brief), Kahrs, Nelson, Fanning, Hite & Kellogg, Wichita, Kansas, for Michelin Tire Corporation.
Steven M. Kerwick (Trisha A. Thelen on the brief), Foulston & Siefkin, Wichita, Kansas, for Timpte Trailer Company.
Before MOORE, ANDERSON and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.
This is a products liability action brought in diversity by the survivors of Kevin Meyerhoff, who was killed when a tire he was inflating exploded. His survivors sued the tire manufacturer, Michelin Tire Corporation, and the product seller, Timpte Trailer Company, under various theories including negligent failure to warn. The district court determined in pretrial proceedings that Timpte was entitled to summary judgment. After trial and a verdict for the plaintiffs, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law in favor of Michelin.
The Meyerhoffs appeal, claiming sufficient evidence exists in the record to support a jury verdict against both defendants, or, in the alternative, that they are entitled to a new trial. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
Kevin Meyerhoff worked as a truck driver, hauling grain for the John Fischer Trucking Company in Ellis, Kansas. Meyerhoff operated the company's only truck, a tractor-trailer rig owned by the company's sole shareholder, John Fischer. Meyerhoff was responsible for making deliveries and maintaining the truck.
In January 1988, Fischer purchased a new grain trailer from Timpte Trailer Company in Commerce City, Colorado. At the time of purchase, Fischer made a special request that the trailer be outfitted with Michelin 11R24.5 XDHT tires. The tires were designed for use on the drive wheel of an 18-wheel semi, and Fischer had requested the tires with that ultimate use in mind. He planned to remount the tires on his truck once he returned to Kansas.
Timpte agreed to Fischer's special request and contacted an authorized Michelin dealer, J.W. Brewer Tire Company in Denver, Colorado. J.W. Brewer delivered the tires, and Timpte had them mounted on the trailer. When Fischer returned with the grain trailer to Kansas, he removed the Michelin tires from the trailer, mounted them on the truck, and replaced the trailer tires with the tires from the truck. Meyerhoff then drove the truck with the Michelin tires for about one year, pulling the trailer between 90,000 and 100,000 miles.
During that time, and for an indeterminate length of time, Meyerhoff inadvertently drove the truck while the air pressure in one of the tires was much lower than the recommended 100 pounds per square inch. On the morning of March 10, 1989, Meyerhoff arrived at Fischer's shop to find the tire deflated. He removed the tire from the truck and patched a hole in it. He then began to reinflate it to its recommended pressure. He leaned the tire against another truck in Fischer's shop, attached the air hose, and stood nearby as the tire inflated. As he did so, the tire suddenly exploded through the sidewall.
The tremendous force of the air escaping from the large truck tire, and possibly a piece of the tire itself, struck Meyerhoff in the stomach. The blast ruptured Meyerhoff's diaphragm and main pulmonary artery and displaced the large bowel and stomach into his chest cavity. He died a short time later of the resulting internal bleeding.
Inspection of the Michelin tire revealed that it had developed "circumferential wrinkling" from being run while underinflated. This phenomenon is characterized by creases or wrinkles around the circumference of the tire. The load on the underinflated tire weakens or breaks the internal steel belts, causing significant weakening of the tire sidewall. Upon reinflation, the force of the air ruptures the weakened sidewall, causing the air to escape suddenly and, in this case, with fatal consequences.
In 1991, Lowell and Donna Meyerhoff filed this wrongful death and survivorship suit in Kansas state court, individually and as administrators of their son's estate. They named as defendants Michelin Tire Corporation and Timpte Trailer Company. The Meyerhoffs sought damages related to the injuries and death of their son under theories of negligence, strict products liability, and breach of warranty. They later amended their complaint to include a claim for punitive damages against Michelin.
After removing the case to federal court, the defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims. The district court granted the motion of Timpte Trailer, finding that Timpte had no duty to warn Meyerhoff of the hazard that caused his death. The court also granted Michelin's motion on the design defect claim as well as the motions of both defendants on the breach of warranty claims. However, the court denied Michelin's motion on the failure to warn claim, finding that material issues of fact required resolution by a fact finder.
The case against Michelin was tried to an eight person jury in October 1993. At the close of the Meyerhoffs' evidence, the district court directed a verdict for Michelin on the punitive damages claim and denied a similar motion by Michelin on the underlying failure to warn claim. At the close of all the evidence, Michelin renewed its motion and the court again denied the motion on the failure to warn claim. The court then submitted the case to the jury, which returned a verdict for the Meyerhoffs. The jury based liability on Michelin's failure to place warnings on the sidewall of the tire. The jury found no fault, however, based on Michelin's warnings in its literature.
The jurors assessed damages at $334,193.45, apportioning fault as follows: 11% to Michelin, 14% to Meyerhoff, 10% to nonparty J.W. Brewer Tire Company, and 65% to nonparty Fischer. Applying Kansas law, the district court fixed the award at $36,761.28, or 11% of the total damages.
Michelin then renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law and the Meyerhoffs moved for a new trial. The district court granted Michelin's motion and denied the motion for a new trial. The court determined the Meyerhoffs had failed to produce legally sufficient evidence at trial to support their theory that Michelin acted unreasonably in omitting warnings from the tire itself.
The Meyerhoffs appeal the district court's legal rulings granting summary judgment in favor of Timpte Trailer, granting judgment as a matter of law in favor of Michelin, and denying their own motion for a new trial. Michelin cross-appeals the district's court's determination on summary judgment that Michelin owed Meyerhoff a duty to warn. 1
We first address the Meyerhoffs' contention that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Timpte Trailer on the failure to warn claim. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard applicable in the district court. Koch v. Shell Oil Co., 52 F.3d 878, 880 (10th Cir.1995). Summary judgment is appropriate when the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Id.
The Meyerhoffs contend in this appeal that Timpte owed their son a duty to warn him of the danger in question, on two separate grounds. First, they argue that Timpte had a duty to pass on warnings it received from Michelin. Second, they argue Timpte had an independent duty as a product seller to warn of dangers of which it either knew or had reason to know.
The Meyerhoffs start with the proposition that "[a] manufacturer's immediate vendee certainly has a duty to convey adequate warnings that it has received from a manufacturer." Mason v. Texaco, Inc., 741 F.Supp. 1472, 1489 (D.Kan.1990), aff'd on other grounds, 948 F.2d 1546 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 910, 112 S.Ct. 1941, 118 L.Ed.2d 547 (1992). They argue from this proposition that Timpte owed a duty as a "vendee" to pass on Michelin's warnings. Timpte, on the other hand, points out that it was not the "immediate vendee" of the Michelin tires and therefore had no such duty.
We are bound in this diversity case by Kansas substantive law. Cf. Koch, 52 F.3d at 880. We are therefore controlled by expressions of the Kansas Supreme Court. See, e.g., id. at 884 n. 5. The Kansas decisions make clear that a product seller has a duty to warn its customers of those dangers of which it either knows or has reason to know. E.g., Jones v. Hittle Service, Inc., 549 P.2d 1383, 1391, 1395 (1976); see also Kan.Stat.Ann. Sec. 60-3306 (). This is in fact the second basis the Meyerhoffs assert in support of their argument and the only one we find to accurately reflect applicable Kansas law. To the extent the Meyerhoffs contend that Timpte had a duty to pass on warnings it received from Michelin or J.W. Brewer, we view that argument as a subset of the duty to warn consumers about dangers of which Timpte knew or should have known.
We first address the Meyerhoffs' contention that Timpte failed to pass on Michelin's warnings. The undisputed material facts show Timpte...
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