Sequoia Mfg. Co., Inc. v. Halec Const. Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 02 August 1977 |
| Docket Number | CA-CIV,No. 1,1 |
| Parties | SEQUOIA MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC., a California Corporation, Appellant, v. HALEC CONSTRUCTION CO., INC., an Arizona Corporation, Maricopa Tractor Company, Inc., an Arizona Corporation, Michael Frey and Debra Frey, husband and wife, Appellees. MARICOPA TRACTOR COMPANY, INC., an Arizona Corporation, Appellant, v. HALEC CONSTRUCTION CO., INC., an Arizona Corporation, Michael Frey and Debra Frey, husband and wife, Appellees. Michael FREY and Debra Frey, husband and wife, Appellees and Cross-Appellants, v. SEQUOIA MANUFACTURING CO., INC., a California Corporation, Maricopa Tractor Company, Inc., an Arizona Corporation, Appellants and Cross-Appellees. 3134. |
| Court | Arizona Court of Appeals |
This complicated litigation arose as a result of the failure of a roll-over protection structure (ROPS) attached to a 450 Case tractor being operated by appellee and cross-appellant Michael Frey (Michael). When the ROPS collapsed, Michael was struck on the back of the head and neck by the twelve hundred pound canopy, causing him almost total permanent paralysis from the neck down.
At the time of the accident, Michael, who had married appellee and cross-appellant Debra Frey approximately six weeks previously, was employed by the appellee, Halec Construction Company, Incorporated (Halec). The 450 Case tractor had been leased by Halec with the ROPS already in place, from the appellee, appellant and cross-appellee, Maricopa Tractor Company, Inc. (Maricopa). The ROPS had been designed and manufactured by the appellant and cross-appellee Sequoia Manufacturing Co., Inc. (Sequoia).
The Freys sued Sequoia and Maricopa on theories of negligence and strict liability. Sequoia and Maricopa filed third party complaints against Halec, seeking indemnification. Maricopa filed a cross-claim against Sequoia for indemnification if found liable to the Freys solely on a strict liability theory as the lessor of a dangerously defective product, the ROPS.
Except for the cross-claim, which was subsequently ruled on by the trial judge, as a matter of law, in favor of Maricopa and against Sequoia, the case proceeded to a jury trial. As to Halec, the trial court had, by partial summary judgment, limited the indemnity question raised by Sequoia's and Maricopa's third party complaints to a Section 97, Restatement of Restitution indemnity theory. It ruled out indemnity under the lease contract between Maricopa and Halec, and the theory that Sequoia and Maricopa Tractor, if held responsible on products liability only, would be entitled to indemnity because without fault.
At the conclusion of the plaintiff's case, the trial court directed a verdict in favor of Maricopa, and against the Freys on the negligence issue. All other issues were submitted to the jury which returned verdicts in favor of Michael and against Sequoia on both strict liability and negligence theories in the sum of $3,800,000; in favor of Michael and against Maricopa on the basis of strict liability in the sum of $3,800,000; in favor of Debbie and against Sequoia on both theories, in the sum of $700,000, as well as against Maricopa on strict liability in the same amount. The jury also found in favor of Halec and against both Sequoia and Maricopa on the single issue submitted to them on the third party complaint.
Post-trial motions for new trial and for remittitur were made. The trial court denied all post-trial motions except for the remittitur and ordered a reduction in the verdict of $1,000,000 as to Michael and $300,000 as to Debbie. The remittiturs were accepted and the judgments were amended accordingly. Appeals were thereafter perfected by all parties except Halec.
Sequoia appealed from the verdict and judgment entered in favor of the Freys, the verdict and judgment entered in favor of Halec on Sequoia's third party complaint, and the judgment entered in favor of Maricopa on Maricopa's cross-claim. Maricopa appealed from the verdict and judgment entered in favor of the Freys and from the verdict and judgment in favor of Halec on Maricopa's third-party complaint. The Freys cross-appealed from the remittitur entered in favor of Sequoia and Maricopa.
We will discuss the various questions presented as we resolve the separate appeals. Those appeals which have common questions, or questions which pertain to more than one appeal, but not to all, will be resolved together. The issue raised regarding an agreement between the Freys and Maricopa, entered into just prior to the close of the plaintiffs' case, which provided for an interest-free loan to the Freys from Maricopa's insurance carrier in the amount of $2,500 per month, limited Maricopa's total liability to the amount of its insurance coverage ($500,000), and provided for the order of execution on any judgment Freys might obtain against both Maricopa and Sequoia, will be discussed at the conclusion of this decision.
Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to supporting the verdicts of the jury, Harvey v. Kellin, 115 Ariz. 496, 566 P.2d 297 (1977); Farm-Aero Service Inc. v. Henning Produce Inc., 23 Ariz.App. 239, 532 P.2d 181 (1975); E. L. Jones Construction Co. v. Noland, 105 Ariz. 446, 466 P.2d 740 (1970); Lane Title and Trust Company v. Brannan, 103 Ariz. 272, 440 P.2d 105 (1968); we find ample, if not overwhelming support for the conclusions that Sequoia was negligent in its construction of the ROPS, that the ROPS was defective when it left Sequoia after manufacture, and that the defect made the ROPS unreasonably dangerous to the user. Rogers v. Unimac Company, Inc.,115 Ariz. 304, 565 P.2d 181 (1977); Byrns v. Riddell, Incorporated, 113 Ariz. 264, 550 P.2d 1065 (1976); Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 402A (1965).
The record indicates that the welds which held together the posts of the ROPS and the canopy which fractured Michael's spine, were defective according to almost any standard, including Sequoia's own plans and specifications.
Dr. Guy Marshall Pound, a Professor of Material Science at Stanford University, and Dr. Bernard Ross, a consulting engineer with a Ph.D. in Structural and Stress Analysis, were called upon to examine the ROPS to determine, if possible, the cause of its collapse. After careful scientific analysis, including the use of an electron microscope to photograph portions of the fracture surface of the ROPS at a magnification of some 17,000 times normal size, these experts concluded that the ROPS had failed at the weldsites due to gradual fatigue caused by improper welding. Incomplete penetration of the weld encouraged the fractures, and hundreds of thousands of cycles of vibrations from the tractor caused the fractures to grow from the inside out, until the whole weld failed, causing first one post to drop, and then the other post, allowing the canopy to fall and strike Michael.
The experts were adamant that no single external force, such as might be applied by cables wrapped around the ROPS in alleged situations of misuse or abuse, was responsible for the failure of the ROPS in question. Only the gradual stress of the vibration of the tractor in its normal use was the evident cause of the failure of this structure at its weldsites. This failure would not have occurred except for the substandard weldments.
In our view of the record, these conclusions are not only fully supported by the other evidence, they are, in fact, almost unchallenged. There is, to be sure, some speculative and hypothetical evidence as to what might have occurred if something else had happened to the ROPS. As previously stated, Drs. Pound and Ross were positive that even if these events had taken place, e. g., use of cables around the ROPS, use of cables around canopy to improve traction when the tractor was high centered on mud, the sole cause of the failure of the structure was the incomplete penetration of the weld, causing the gradual fracture of the metal at the weldsites. All of the credible evidence relating to what happened to this ROPS points solely to this conclusion.
In light of this fact, none of the questions presented which in any way relate to the liability of Sequoia and Maricopa to the Freys for the injury suffered by Michael, including those issues relating to the agreement, infra, even if resolved in favor of Sequoia and Maricopa, would be prejudicial to this aspect of the case, nor is there any reasonable probability that the verdict, as to liability, would have been any different had all of the rulings complained of gone the other way at the trial court. Phoenix Western Holding Corporation v. Gleeson, 18 Ariz.App. 60, 500 P.2d 320 (1972); State v. Dutton, 83 Ariz. 193, 318 P.2d 667 (1957).
Both Sequoia and Maricopa allege error in the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the doctrine of intervening and superseding cause. See Herzberg v. White, 49 Ariz. 313, 66 P.2d 253 (1937); Hemet Dodge v. Gryder, 23 Ariz.App. 523, 534 P.2d 454 (1975); Stroud v. Dorr-Oliver, Inc., 112 Ariz. 403, 542 P.2d 1102 (1975), and authorities cited therein. The trial court was correct in light of the facts set forth above and the law as found in Stroud, Hemet Dodge and White, supra.
Assuming all the evidence either actually admitted or proffered by Sequoia to be true, it is highly unlikely that Halec's use or alleged abuse of the tractor and ROPS constituted an intervening cause. It clearly...
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