Rudd v. General Motors Corp., CIV. A. 00-T-105-E.

• Decision Date: 19 January 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV. A. 00-T-105-E.,CIV. A. 00-T-105-E.
• Citation: 127 F.Supp.2d 1330
• Parties: Douglas Norman RUDD, Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

127 F.Supp.2d 1330

Douglas Norman RUDD, Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant.

No. CIV. A. 00-T-105-E.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Eastern Division.

January 19, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Hoyt W. Hill, Walker, Hill, Adams, Umbach, Meadows & Walton, Opelika, AL, James T. Gullage, Gullage & Williams, Auburn, AL, for Douglas Norman Rudd, plaintiff.

D. Alan Thomas, Gregory L. Schuck, Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, Birmingham, AL, Timothy S. Coon, Thomas J. Sweeney, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, for General Motors Corporation, A Delaware Corporation, defendant.

ORDER

MYRON H. THOMPSON, District Judge.

In this civil action, plaintiff Douglas Norman Rudd brings suit to recover damages from defendant General Motors Corporation ("GM") for injuries sustained when a fan blade on Rudd's 1970 GM pickup truck broke loose and struck him while he was in front of the vehicle's open hood. Jurisdiction over this diversity action is proper under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332. This case is currently before the court on a summary-judgment motion by GM, which, for reasons set forth below, will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

On February 2, 2000, Rudd filed a complaint in this court seeking five million dollars in damages from GM as compensation for serious and permanently disabling injuries resulting from the separation and propulsion of his truck's fan blade into his head, neck, and left arm while he was advancing the truck's timing. Rudd contends that the fan is a GM product; that it was defective at the time GM manufactured and placed it into the stream of commerce; and that the fan's defects proximately caused his injuries. More specifically, Rudd alleges that GM is liable under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine ("AEMLD") on account of each of three fan-related defects: manufacturing flaws in the fan's metal that rendered the fan vulnerable to "fatigue failure" over time; GM's failure to equip the fan with a protective guard to shield people in the event of any blade separation; and GM's failure to provide adequate warning about the risk of fan-blade separation.¹ Rudd also makes the argument that GM's failure to equip the fan with a protective guard, as well as its failure to provide adequate warning about the risk of fan blade separation, constitutes negligence under Alabama law.

On October 10, 2000, GM moved for summary judgment against Rudd on both his AEMLD and negligence claims. GM argues that Rudd has produced no admissible evidence that would support an inference of a defect in the fan metal, and that he has not alleged sufficient facts to make out a prima-facie case for his lack-of-protective-shield and failure-to-warn claims. GM also contests the very notion that the fan is a GM product. However, on this last issue, GM concedes "there is a substantial dispute" and "for the purpose of this motion only GM has assumed that the cooling fan is a GM part."² Thus, the only issues currently before the court relates to whether — assuming the accident fan is a GM part — there is enough admissible evidence to justify putting Rudd's AEMLD and negligence claims before the factfinder.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. The AEMLD

The Alabama Supreme Court has expressly modeled its AEMLD on § 402A of the Second Restatement of Torts and the landmark line of common-law cases beginning with Judge Cardozo's MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., 217 N.Y. 382, 111 N.E. 1050 (1916), that allow consumer tort recovery without privity of contract between a manufacturer and an injured party, and without direct proof of negligence in the manufacturing process. See Atkins v. American Motors Corp., 335 So.2d 134, 137-138 (Ala.1976); see also Restatement of the Law, Third, Torts: Products Liability, § 3, at 111. However, the Alabama doctrine departs somewhat from the Restatement's strict-liability regime in retaining aspects of a fault-based system. See Atkins, 335 So.2d at 140. To affirm the importance of "moral culpability," the AEMLD makes certain affirmative defenses and general denials available to defendant manufacturers. Id. at 137-139. Absent such defenses, however, culpable "scienter is supplied as a matter of law" when a plaintiff shows that a manufacturer placed a product into the stream of commerce that was unreasonably dangerous when put to its intended use. Id. at 141; see also id. at 140, 139. "[A] defendant is liable if he puts on the market a product which is not reasonably safe, and the plaintiff is injured as a result of a contemplated use of that product." Id. at 140; see also Taylor v. General Motors Corp., 707 So.2d 198, 201 (Ala.1997).

"To establish liability:

(1) A plaintiff must prove he suffered injury or damages to himself or his property by one who sold a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the plaintiff as the ultimate user or consumer, if

(a) the seller was engaged in the business of selling such a product, and

(b) it was expected to, and did, reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it was sold."

Atkins, 335 So.2d at 141; see also Reynolds v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 989 F.2d 465, 469-470 (11th Cir.1993); Jordan v. General Motors Corp., 581 So.2d 835 (Ala.1991); Casrell v. Altec Industries, Inc., 335 So.2d 128, 132 (Ala.1976).

For purposes of the AEMLD, "a `defect' is that which renders a product `unreasonably dangerous,' i.e., not fit for its intended purpose." Casrell, 335 So.2d 128, 133 (internal citations omitted). "[I]t makes no difference whether [a product] is dangerous by design or defect. The important factor is whether it is safe or dangerous when the product is used as it was intended to be used. However, danger may be obviated by an adequate warning." Id. The question "Whether a product is `unreasonably dangerous' is for the trier of fact." Id.

B. Admissibility of Expert Testimony

The Federal Rules of Evidence govern the admissibility of expert testimony. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 587, 113 S.Ct 2786, 2793, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Under the federal rules, the trial judge serves a gatekeeping function, making both a `relevance' and a `reliability' determination, that is, disallowing expert testimony when it will not be helpful to the trier of fact or when it lacks a reliable foundation. See id. at 589, 113 S.Ct. at 2795; Fed.R.Evid. 702; id., advisory committee notes, 2000 amendment; see also Fed.R.Evid. 104(a) (preliminary questions of admissibility shall be determined by the court which, in making its determination is not itself bound by all the exclusionary rules of evidence).³ A trial judge performs this gatekeeping function by applying the Federal Rules of Evidence, especially Rule 702. Rule 702, as amended effective December 1, 2000, provides:

"If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case."

The burden is traditionally placed on the proponent of expert testimony to establish that such admissibility requirements have been met by a "preponderance of the evidence." See Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 172-173, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 2776-2777, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987) (while Rule of Evidence 104(a) assigns the court the task of determining preliminary admissibility questions without specifying any particular standard of proof of reliability, a preponderance-of-proof standard is traditionally imposed regardless of the burden of proof on the substantive issues); Allison v. McGhan Medical Corporation, 184 F.3d 1300, 1312 (11th Cir.1999) ("the proponent of the testimony does not have the burden of proving that it is scientifically correct, but that by a preponderance of the evidence, it is reliable"); Fed.R.Evid. 702, advisory committee notes, 2000 amendment.

According to the advisory committee notes, Rule 702 was amended, effective December 1, 2000, in order expressly to endorse the gatekeeping model of the trial judge envisioned by the Supreme Court in Daubert. This judicial screening of expert testimony before it reaches the factfinder is justified by the fact that expert witnesses are given wider latitude to offer opinions than that afforded other witnesses under the federal rules, including, for example, a relaxation of the usual requirement of firsthand knowledge. See Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592, 113 S.Ct. at 2796. The trial judge's gatekeeping inquiry, when properly conducted, avoids usurping the role of the trier of fact, said the Daubert court, because the court's "focus ... must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate." Id. at 595, 113 S.Ct. at 2797.

In Daubert, the Supreme Court set forth a list of factors that may guide the trial judge's Rule 702 decision as to whether expert testimony might reliably assist the factfinder, including: whether a theory or technique can be or has been tested; whether a theory or technique has been subjected to peer review or publication; whether a theory or technique has gained widespread acceptance within a relevant community of experts, or, rather, has been unable to garner more than minimal support; and the known or potential rate of error of a technique, and the existence and maintenance of standards controlling the technique's operation. See id. at 593-594, 113 S.Ct. at 2796-2797.

These Daubert factors are not, the Supreme Court has emphasized, appropriately used as a "definitive checklist" but should instead be understood as non-exclusive, nondispositive...