Rhoads v. Ford Motor Co.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74-1626,74-1626
• Parties: Woodrow F. RHOADS, Administrator of the Estate of Mary Rhoads, Deceased and Woodrow F. Rhoads, Individually v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant, v. Woodrow F. RHOADS, Individually.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 931

514 F.2d 931

Woodrow F. RHOADS, Administrator of the Estate of Mary

Rhoads, Deceased and Woodrow F. Rhoads, Individually v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant, v. Woodrow F. RHOADS, Individually.

No. 74-1626.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Feb. 10, 1975.

Decided April 30, 1975.

Randall J. McConnell, Jr., John Edward Wall, Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellant.

John E. Evans, Jr., Evans, Ivory & Evans, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellees Woodrow F. Rhoads and others and Gilbert E. Caroff, Johnstown, Pa., for appellee Woodrow F. Rhoads.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Before SEITZ, Chief Judge, and ALDISERT and GARTH, Circuit Judges.

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

In this diversity action governed by Pennsylvania law, Ford Motor Company appeals a judgment in strict liability entered against it and in favor of Woodrow F. Rhoads, individually and as a representative under the survival and wrongful death statutes. The jury found that the collision of Rhoads' Ford automobile with a guard rail was caused by "a dangerously defective condition" of the car and that the condition existed when Ford sold it. The jury also found Rhoads negligent in the car's operation. The district court entered judgment in favor of Rhoads both as plaintiff and as third-party defendant.

Ford's many contentions on appeal essentially cluster around the jury's finding that Rhoads was also negligent. Because we conclude that the district court erred in submitting the issue of Rhoads' negligence to the jury, we affirm.

Although somewhat in controversy, the facts giving rise to this litigation are not complicated. Rhoads sustained injuries, and his wife died as a result of injuries inflicted, when the automobile in which they were riding veered off the road, struck a guard rail and overturned.

The parties stipulated to the following: The incident occurred on February 11, 1969, at approximately 1:30 p. m. on Route 22, two miles west of Armagh, Pennsylvania, in Indiana County. At that time, the husband, who owned the 1968 Ford Torino automobile, was driving the car in a westerly direction. His wife was a passenger. In the area of the accident, U.S. Route 22 is a two-lane road, with travel in each direction and a painted, dotted line in the center. At the time of the accident, the weather was clear and the roadway was dry.

The initial complaint in this action encompassed two theories negligence and strict liability. Rhoads contended that the accident was caused by Ford's negligent and defective manufacture of a ball joint on the right front wheel, which condition caused him to lose control of his car after he had passed a tractor-trailer and to crash into the guard rail. As trial opened, plaintiffs dropped the negligence claim and proceeded solely on strict liability.

Ford Motor Company denied the existence of a defective condition in the automobile. It argued that Rhoads caused the accident by his negligent, reckless and careless operation of the vehicle. Specifically, Ford claimed Rhoads failed to steer and control the automobile properly, and drove too fast. Accordingly, Ford claimed that (1) it was not liable to plaintiffs and (2) if found liable, it was entitled to contribution from Rhoads, against whom it had filed a third-party complaint, for his contributory negligence in causing the accident.

The district court conducted a bifurcated trial on the issues of liability and damages. A jury returned special verdicts after the first phase of the trial indicating: (a) the accident was caused by a dangerously defective condition in the vehicle; (b) such condition was in existence when sold by Ford, and (c) Rhoads was negligent in operating the vehicle. At the completion of the secondary trial, the jury returned special verdicts awarding Mr. Rhoads $8,238.75 for his own injuries; and the estate of Mrs. Rhoads $41,000.00 under the survival act, and $103,166.97 under the wrongful death statute.

Thereafter, both Rhoads and Ford filed motions for judgment. ¹ Rhoads sought to have the special verdict finding him negligent set aside as against the law and without evidentiary support. Ford similarly urged motions to set aside the first two special verdicts. After a hearing, the district court entered judgment against Ford in favor of Rhoads, as a plaintiff and as a third-party defendant. Ford then filed a timely motion for judgment n. o. v. or, in the alternative, for a new trial. The district court denied these motions by memorandum. 374 F.Supp. 1317 (W.D.Pa.1974). This appeal, timely noticed, followed.

Ford here urges a broadside attack on the judgment below. Principally, it contends that the jury's finding of contributory negligence should bar Rhoads from any and all recovery. Alternatively, Ford seeks to avoid at least part of the liability assessed below. First, it claims Section 402A of the Restatement of Torts (Second) does not envision an action for wrongful death. Second, it seeks contribution from Rhoads on the basis of the jury's finding he was negligent. As a last resort, Ford challenges several aspects of the damages calculations.

We immediately dispose of the allegation that an action under the Pennsylvania Wrongful Death statute, Pa.Stat.Ann. tit. 12, § 1601 (1953), does not lie in a claim based on Section 402A. Appellant argues that the statute permits a claim only when "occasioned by unlawful violence or negligence". Although we note that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a judgment entered on a wrongful death verdict based on this theory in Woods v. Pleasant Hills Motor Co., 454 Pa. 224, 309 A.2d 698 (1973), we cannot and do not meet this contention here because appellant did not raise the question at trial. Appellant did not except to the district judge's submission of plaintiff's Death Act claim to the jury and thus did not preserve the point for appeal.

Before evaluating the evidence adduced at trial on the issue of Rhoads' negligence, we emphasize that we may affirm a judgment of the district court if the result be correct even though our reasoning be inconsistent with that of the trial court. Tunnell v. Wiley, 514 F.2d 971 at n.4 (3d Cir. 1975); Litwitcki v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Industries, Inc., 505 F.2d 189, 192 n.4 (3d Cir. 1974). Thus, we are not precluded from affirming for the reason that there was insufficient evidence to submit the question of Rhoads' negligence to the jury.

Rhoads, as third-party defendant, did make a post-trial motion to set aside the jury's third special verdict on liability. However, under the final judgment, Rhoads as plaintiff recovered in his own right for his injuries and there was no judgment entered against him as a third-party defendant. It is axiomatic that only a party aggrieved by a final judgment may appeal. Utility Contractors Association of New Jersey, Inc. v. Toops, 507 F.2d 83, 85-86 (3d Cir. 1974). See generally 9 J. Moore, Federal Practice P 203.06 (2d ed. 1973). Therefore, the third-party defendant might well have believed that he could not appeal the final judgment. While better practice would have dictated that Rhoads file a protective cross-appeal, in these circumstances we will not allow his failure to...