Reed v. John Deere
| Decision Date | 28 June 1983 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 80-217-A. |
| Citation | 569 F. Supp. 371 |
| Parties | Marcella REED, et al. v. JOHN DEERE, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Louisiana |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Edward J. Walters, Jr., Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiffs.
G. Thomas Arbour, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiff, Liberty Mut.
Wallace A. Hunter, Baton Rouge, La., for defendants.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
This is a wrongful death action brought against the manufacturer of a tractor by the surviving wife and children of Charles Reed. The action was commenced in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana and removed to this court by the defendant. The citizenship of all plaintiffs and that of the defendant is diverse and the matter in controversy exceeds $10,000.00. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
Charles Reed died on January 14, 1980 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when a John Deere JD 450-B Crawler Tractor backed over him. At the time of his death he was employed by Thomas Scrap Materials, Inc. as a welder. Intervenor, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, has intervened asking that it be reimbursed all sums paid as the workmen's compensation insuror of Thomas Scrap Materials.
The machine in question is a diesel powered tracked vehicle referred to by defendants as a crawler tractor and it was manufactured by defendant in 1971.
On the date of the accident the tractor was being operated by William Martin, Jr., when a hose broke, a part of the hydraulic system for lifting the blade. The operator returned to the mechanic shop and backed the tractor to an area near a drain pit. Martin stopped the machine, put the gear lever in the neutral position and turned off the engine. Martin obtained a replacement hose and installed it on the tractor, a process that took an hour or more. He then decided to test the connection to be sure that it was not leaking. Reed at that time was in the shop, positioned near the rear of the tractor, between the tractor and the drain pit. Keeping one hand on the newly installed hose, Martin reached with his other hand and turned on the key and pressed the starter button on the tractor. The engine started and ran for several (three to five) minutes, then the machine issued several unusual sounds and started moving in reverse, toward Reed. Reed turned, saw the tractor moving toward him and attempted to get out of the way. Tragically, however, as Reed was attempting to avoid falling into the drain pit, one of the moving tracks caught his leg, pulling him down and the tractor ran completely over him. It hit another piece of equipment and the wall before eventually coming to a halt. Reed lived for only a few minutes and he was not conscious after the accident.
Plaintiffs have clearly established a design defect in the tractor, as well as a failure to warn users of the dangerous defect. Defendant insists that the design defect (not conceding that there was one) played no part in the accident because of a material alteration or misuse of the machine after it left the factory. It is necessary to describe the tractor in some detail.
The tractor is equipped with a hydraulic transmission. To cause the machine to move, the operator moves a lever from the neutral position to high or low forward or to reverse. The lever is referred to as the H L R Lever and it is located on the floor of the cab. No clutching is necessary. There is a hinged metal cap or cover which can be placed around the bottom of the H L R Lever when it is in the neutral position which prevents moving the lever to any other position. The H L R Lever is connected through linkage with a spool valve which controls direction by directing oil through a port to either the high, low or reverse clutches. In the neutral position, the oil does not flow at all.
On May 11, 1972, John Deere representatives inspected two tractors because of complaints of shifting into reverse without moving the H L R Lever. This report states, in part:
The report also notes that two other JD450-B tractors were at the same location and that, "By moving the T34845 Reverser Lever from reverse to neutral and engaging the T20832 neutral lock, it was possible to cause both units to shift into reverse."
Defendant received and verified a similar complaint about a third machine. In June, 1972, the defendant issued a "special handling emergency decision" which instructed that all tractors at the factory be checked and the linkage properly adjusted. The defendant also issued a bulletin to its dealers recommending that the H L R adjustment be checked periodically on tractors in service and noting that, "In extreme cases improper adjustment could result in leakage past the shift valve which could cause a gradual rise in pressure until the reverse clutch engages," even with the lever in neutral and the neutral lock plate engaged. The bulletin recommended that dealers check the H L R adjustment "whenever the opportunity presents itself."
Subsequently, the defendant discovered that the problem was more than an adjustment problem, it was also a design problem. A report dated June 14, 1972 concluded:
Examination of tractors recently adjusted per Decision 43570 which are now in the distribution pool indicates (sic) that the new adjustment procedure does not necessarily correct adjustment and for this reason it is felt that an interim testing procedure is needed immediately.
Defendant conducted certain tests and concluded that it should require closer tolerances for all of the parts in the linkage and that the spool valve should be redesigned so as to place the port further from the reverse clutch port when the H L R lever is in the neutral position. Another document from the defendant's file dates in part:
The defendant's records establish that these changes were of minimal cost.
While John Deere installed the redesigned valve in all newly manufactured tractors, it made no effort to replace that part in previously manufactured machines or to replace the linkage with parts manufactured to the new tolerances nor did it make any attempt to communicate either the existence of the problem or the solution to users of the machine.
The Model JD450B tractor is equipped with a safety starter switch designed to prevent the machine from being started except in neutral. When the H L R lever is moved to the neutral position, an activating pin is allowed to make contact with a spring loaded metal ball completing the electrical circuit and allowing the engine to start.
On the day after the accident, it was discovered that the activating pin on the tractor was broken. The machine had been started several times with the lever in neutral position. No attempt had been made to start the machine in any other position.
The defense, is misuse or material alteration of the machine. Defendant claims that sometime prior to the accident, the safety starter was broken, that the machine would not start at all and that someone "by-passed" the safety starter thus allowing the tractor to be started in any gear.
Defendant asserts, that immediately following the accident, the H L R lever was in the reverse position, proving that Martin started the tractor in reverse gear. This conclusion is predicated upon the testimony that Mr. Stanley Liedtke, a long time John Deere engineer with much experience involving the Model JD450B tractor. Mr. Liedtke examined two small photographs, taken on the day of the accident by law enforcement officials, and it was his opinion that these photographs showed the H L R lever in the reverse position. No one examined the tractor immediately following the accident for the purpose of determining the position of the H L R lever and neither of the photographs was taken for that purpose. Neither photograph shows the gear box itself — only the knob and a small portion of the upper end of the curved lever is visible in the photographs. Mr. Liedtke is an expert in the design and manufacture of machines, not photograph interpretation and the court simply does not accept his opinion on that point. The operator of the tractor repeatedly declared under oath that he moved the H L R lever from reverse to neutral before shutting off the engine and, while he could not positively remember engaging the neutral lock, it was his standard practice to do so and he felt that he had done so on that occasion. Defendant, of course, bears the burden of proving its affirmative defense and the court accepts the testimony of...
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