Polly Chin Sugai v. General Motors Corporation

• Decision Date: 23 January 1956
• Docket Number: No. 3123.,3123.
• Citation: 137 F. Supp. 696
• Parties: POLLY CHIN SUGAI, and Richard Lee Sugai and Nola Jean Sugai, by Polly Chin Sugai, their Mother and Guardian ad Litem, Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, and R. M. Logsdon, and A. M. Logsdon, doing business as Logsdon Motor Co., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Idaho

137 F. Supp. 696

POLLY CHIN SUGAI, and Richard Lee Sugai and Nola Jean Sugai, by Polly Chin Sugai, their Mother and Guardian ad Litem, Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, and R. M. Logsdon, and A. M. Logsdon, doing business as Logsdon Motor Co., Defendants.

No. 3123.

United States District Court D. Idaho, S. D.

January 23, 1956.

Gallagher & Gallagher, Ontario, Or., Langroise & Sullivan, Boise, Idaho, for plaintiffs.

Hawley & Marcus, Boise, Idaho, and Martin & Martin (J. F. Martin and C. Ben Martin), Boise, Idaho, for defendant Logsdon.

Willis C. Moffatt, Boise, Idaho, for defendant General Motors Corp.

TAYLOR, District Judge.

This action is before the Court on defendants' motion for a summary judgment. Oral argument was heard in open court on December 13, 1955, and at the conclusion thereof the matter was taken under advisement by the Court, and counsel granted time within which to present briefs.

Plaintiffs, widow and minor children of Donald Sugai, deceased, brought this action for his wrongful death. Plaintiffs are citizens of Oregon; defendant General Motors is a Delaware corporation doing business in Idaho, and defendant R. M. Logsdon is a citizen of Idaho doing business in Boise, Idaho, under the name of Logsdon Motor Co. Defendant A. M. Logsdon, according to the record, has never been served in this action. This Court has jurisdiction by virtue of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332.

In their complaint, as amended, plaintiffs allege that decedent and his widow purchased a 1952 Cadillac Coupe de Ville from defendant Logsdon Motor Company in July, 1952, and that said automobile was manufactured and sold to Logsdon by defendant General Motors Corporation. They also assert that the said automobile was defectively manufactured and that, as a proximate result thereof, the left rear wheel and brake assembly failed, on October 14, 1952, while decedent was driving the Cadillac along U. S. Highway 20 approximately seven and one-half miles west of Boise, Idaho. Plaintiffs further allege that the malfunction of the left rear wheel and brake assembly caused said wheel to lock, that the automobile thereupon went out of control, veered from the highway, hurtled over a ditch and fence, rolled over, threw decedent out, and finally came to rest with Sugai's body pinned beneath it.

Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. rule 56(b), 28 U. S.C.A. provides that a party against whom a claim is asserted may move, with or without supporting affidavits, for a summary judgment. Subsection (c) states that "The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Sartor v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation, 321 U.S. 620, 627, 64 S.Ct. 724, 728, 88 L.Ed. 967, rehearing denied 322 U.S. 767, 64 S.Ct. 941, 88 L.Ed. 1593; 3 Barron and Holtzoff, § 1234.

It has been held that a genuine issue is one which can be maintained by substantial evidence. 3 Barron and Holtzoff, ibid. As stated in Firemen's Mutual Ins. Co. v. Aponaug Mfg. Co., 5 Cir., 149 F.2d 359, 362:

"The motions for summary judgment of course raised the question whether these issues, though in law material, were `genuine'. Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e), 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c. A pretended issue, one that no substantial evidence can be offered to maintain, is not genuine. The rule provides that the genuineness of an issue made by the pleadings may be promptly tested by summary proceedings before the judge in which ex parte affidavits may be used." (Emphasis added.)

Counsel for plaintiffs admit that they have no specific evidence that the brake mechanism failed, or that the left rear wheel locked. Plaintiffs' evidence discloses only that the automobile left a single skid mark on the highway for a distance of 190-200 feet, and that the left rear tire had a flat spot six to nine inches in length and approximately one-eighth of an inch deep. At the time of oral argument counsel for plaintiffs, in reply to a question by the Court, stated that plaintiffs had no additional or different evidence, but that any additional evidence would be merely cumulative in nature. Counsel admitted that plaintiffs were relying on the above-stated evidence to make a prima facie case for a jury.

Plaintiffs' claim for relief is based entirely upon conjecture. The Supreme Court of Idaho recently declared, in Splinter v. City of Nampa, 74 Idaho 1, 10, 256 P.2d 215, 220, that:

"Circumstantial evidence is competent to establish negligence and proximate cause. Facts, which are essential to a liability for negligence, may be inferred from circumstances which are established by evidence. But, where circumstantial evidence is relied upon, the circumstances must be proved, and not themselves be left to presumption or inference. Citing cases. This court has held that inference cannot be based upon inference, nor presumption on presumption. Citing cases.

"The underlying principle applicable here is that a verdict cannot rest on conjecture; that where a party seeks to establish a liability by circumstantial evidence, he must establish circumstances of such nature and so related to each other that his theory of liability is the more reasonable conclusion to be drawn therefrom; and that where the proven facts are equally consistent with the absence, as with the existence, of negligence on the part of defendant, the plaintiff has not carried the burden of proof and cannot recover. Citing cases.

"Where it remains equally probable from a consideration of all the evidence, that the injury resulted from the cause suggested by the defendant, as from that suggested by the plaintiff, the plaintiff has not established his case. Ci

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