Rawlings Sporting Goods Co., Inc. v. Daniels
| Decision Date | 30 June 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 6257,6257 |
| Parties | RAWLINGS SPORTING GOODS COMPANY, INC., Appellant, v. Mark DANIELS, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
William Mac Gann, Gann, Fried & Edwards, William E. Matthews, Sewell & Riggs, Houston, John L. Hauer, Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld, Dallas, for appellant.
Bryan Russ, Palmos & Russ, Hearne, Robert E. Ballard and W. James Kronzer, Kronzer, Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Ballard & Friend, Houston, Matt Dawson, Waco, for appellee.
This is an appeal by defendant Rawlings from $1,500,000 judgment against it in favor of plaintiff Daniels in a products liability and negligence case.
Plaintiff Daniels sued defendant Rawlings alleging plaintiff sustained injuries on August 20, 1974 during football practice; that plaintiff was wearing a Rawlings helmet when he was in collision with another player; that the helmet rather than deflecting the blow and absorbing the shock, caved in, causing massive head and brain injuries to plaintiff; that the helmet as manufactured by defendant was defective; and exposed plaintiff to an unreasonable risk of harm. Plaintiff further alleged defendant was negligent in failing to warn of the protective limitations of the helmet, which was a proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries. Plaintiff sought damages of $750,000. Plaintiff additionally alleged defendant was grossly negligent in failing to warn users and the public of the limitations on the protective capabilities of its helmet, for which he sought exemplary damages.
Trial was to a jury which found:
1) The injury to plaintiff resulting in subdural hematoma occurred August 20, 1974.
2) At the time plaintiff received the injury he was wearing a helmet manufactured by defendant.
3) The helmet as manufactured by defendant was defectively manufactured.
4) Such defective condition was a producing cause of plaintiff's injuries.
5) The failure of defendant to warn that the helmet would not protect against subdural hematomas exposed plaintiff to an unreasonable risk of harm.
6) The failure of defendant to warn that the helmet would not protect against subdural hematomas was a producing cause of plaintiff's injuries.
7) The failure of defendant to warn that the helmet would not protect against subdural hematomas was negligence.
8) Such negligence was a proximate cause of the event in question.
9) The failure of defendant to warn that the helmet would not protect against subdural hematomas was gross negligence.
10) Fixed plaintiff's damage at $750,000.
11) Fixed exemplary damage at $750,000.
The trial court rendered judgment for plaintiff on the verdict for $1,500,000.
Defendant appeals on 12 points.
Plaintiff was quarterback on the Franklin High School football team. On August 20, 1974, while participating in team practice, he was involved in a "head to head" collision with a teammate. The collision caused an indentation in plaintiff's helmet. Plaintiff turned the helmet into the coach and continued with practice. The next day, August 21, plaintiff returned to practice. While participating in such practice he passed out. He was taken to a Bryan hospital, and then to a Houston hospital, where his condition was diagnosed as a subdural hematoma. After the subdural hematoma had been surgically evacuated he returned to school on September 14, 1974. Plaintiff's injury resulted in severe permanent brain damage drastically reducing his abilities.
Point 1 asserts that Finding 2 is against the great weight and overwhelming preponderance of the evidence. Finding 2 found the helmet plaintiff was wearing was a helmet manufactured by defendant.
The school owned 4 to 6 helmets manufactured by defendant; 15 to 18 McGregor helmets; and 15 to 20 B & B helmets. Some of the helmets had been reconditioned by a company in San Antonio. The McGregors, purchased in 1973, were the newest. Players who lettered were allowed first choice in selecting their helmets, and generally selected the newer McGregors. Plaintiff had lettered in 1973 and had worn a McGregor helmet in 1973. Once a letterman chose a helmet he usually kept it throughout the remainder of his playing career. After the accident on August 20, plaintiff turned his helmet into the coach who placed it in his office where it remained for about a year and then disappeared.
Coach Hedrick testified he had only seen one dented helmet in his experience; that it was his recollection that the helmet brought to his office was a Rawlings HC20 Helmet; that "there is (no) question in (his) mind but what the helmet that was dented and kept in his office was a Rawlings helmet".
We think the evidence ample to sustain Finding 2, and that such finding is not against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. In re King's Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660.
Points 2 through 6 assert there is no evidence to support Findings 3 and 4, and that such findings are against the great weight and overwhelming preponderance of the evidence.
Finding 3 found the helmet defectively manufactured; and Finding 4 found such defective condition was a producing cause of plaintiff's injuries.
Defendant asserts there is no finding or evidence that the helmet was defective at the time it left the hands of Rawlings, and that plaintiff has failed to trace the defect to the manufacturer's hands.
The helmet worn by plaintiff was manufactured by defendant. Franklin High School purchased the helmet between 1967 and 1969. Defendant puts no limit of years or use limit on its helmets. There is evidence that some helmets owned by the school had been sent to a firm in San Antonio for reconditioning, but such evidence is at best a scintilla. The coach who testified to the foregoing did not remember whether such occurred before August 1974 or later (trial was in April 1980). And he further testified that helmets sent for reconditioning were returned with "Alamo Athletic" stamped upon them. There is no evidence that the helmet worn by plaintiff was so stamped. Another coach testified that some helmets had been sent to Alamo for reconditioning, but he did not recall whether any were sent between 1967 and 1974 or not. Plaintiff was wearing the helmet manufactured by defendant when he had the head to head collision. The helmet indented inward some 11/2 to 2 inches. There is evidence that if a helmet receives a blow and doesn't deflect it, but instead indents in, that the helmet was defective; and defendant's own witnesses testified that if a helmet indented an inch and a half and came in contact with the wearer's skull that considerable force was transmitted to and focused on the wearer's skull at that point.
There is other evidence that the indenting of the helmet on collision does not reflect defective manufacture.
All the evidence is that the purpose of the helmet was to protect the wearer's head from injury. There is evidence that if a football helmet indents it is not performing its function, that it is "defective headgear". Another witness, a professional athletic trainer testified: "I don't want a football helmet that is going to cave in" and "I don't want it to give at all".
Dr. Moiel who performed the surgery on plaintiff, testified that skull contact by the plastic portions of the helmet can cause a brain injury such as suffered by plaintiff; that plaintiff had a large blood clot over the left side of the brain; that plaintiff "had obviously had a bruise to his head and to his brain which resulted in several things; first becoming unconscious due to a concussion, bruising the right side of the brain, which reflected the EEG abnormalities on the right and then, developed a blood clot on the opposite side of the brain, the left side, all as a result of the same accident or injury * * * ". And Dr. Omaaya, a witness for defendant, testified that a collision of two football players sufficient to cause the indentation of the helmet of one and a half inches over the right temporal area would be sufficient to cause a subdural hematoma, and that this was true even if the contact was not sufficient to bruise the skull.
It is our view there is ample evidence from which the jury could conclude that the indented helmet was defective because it failed to perform its intended purpose, to protect the wearer from head injuries, and that Finding 3 is not...
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