Simmons v. Monarch Mach. Tool Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 July 1992
• Citation: 413 Mass. 205,596 N.E.2d 318
• Parties: , 18 UCC Rep.Serv.2d 420, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 13,264 William SIMMONS v. MONARCH MACHINE TOOL CO., INC.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 318

596 N.E.2d 318

413 Mass. 205, 18 UCC Rep.Serv.2d 420,

Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 13,264

William SIMMONS v. MONARCH MACHINE TOOL CO., INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Middlesex.

Argued Feb. 5, 1992.

Decided July 22, 1992.

Terrance J. Hamilton (Walter H. Mayo, III, with him), for defendant.

Daniel J. Johnedis (Garry V. Inge, with him), for plaintiff.

Before LIACOS, C.J., and NOLAN, LYNCH, O'CONNOR and GREANEY, JJ.

LIACOS, Chief Judge.

On March 30, 1983, the plaintiff, William Simmons, a machine operator employed by the Raytheon Company, was injured when a tool known as a "tap" ejected from a tool assembly (toolholder) and penetrated his left eye. The circumstances of the accident were as follows. Simmons had been operating a vertical milling machine known as a VMC 150 when he noticed that the cutting tool (tap) in the machine's toolholder had become dull and needed replacement. Simmons removed the toolholder from the VMC 150 and, with the intention of changing the tap, secured the toolholder in a bench vise designed for that purpose. As Simmons began to loosen a nut in the toolholder, the tap ejected upward suddenly. The tap penetrated his left eye, causing a complete and permanent loss of vision in that eye.

Simmons commenced this action on March 26, 1984, naming as defendants the manufacturers of various components of the toolholder as well as the manufacturer of the safety glasses Simmons had been wearing at the time of the accident. Subsequently, Simmons amended his complaint to assert claims of negligence and breach of warranty against the Monarch Machine Tool Co., Inc. (Monarch), the manufacturer of the VMC 150 and the bench vise. ¹ Prior to trial, Simmons settled his claims against all defendants except Monarch. Trial commenced on November 13, 1989, and lasted eleven days. Simmons' theory of recovery at trial was that the Monarch bench vise was designed negligently to hold a toolholder with the tap pointed toward the worker's face and because it was not equipped with a safety shield. Monarch's motions for directed verdicts as to the negligence count and the breach of warranty of merchantability count were denied. On November 29, 1989, the jury returned special verdicts for Simmons on both counts and awarded damages in the amount of $1,125,000. Monarch moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 50(b), 365 Mass. 814 (1974), or, in the alternative, for a new trial pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 59(a), 365 Mass. 827 (1974). The trial judge denied both motions on April 20, 1990, setting forth his reasons for doing so in a thorough memorandum of law. ² Monarch appealed, and Simmons petitioned this court for direct appellate review.

In this appeal, Monarch argues that the judge erred in denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, claiming it had no duty to guard against the possible danger of ejecting taps and because Monarch's vise, standing alone, did not cause the accident. Also, Monarch argues that the judge erred in denying its motion for a new trial because the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, the judge made several erroneous evidentiary rulings, and the judge's jury charge was erroneous. We affirm. ³

We summarize the evidence presented at trial. The VMC 150 is a vertical milling machine manufactured by Monarch. The machine performs drilling, tapping, and milling functions using a toolholder which fits in the machine's spindle. The toolholder consists of the following component parts: the "tool," which can be either a tap or a drill; a "collet," which is a round collar used to hold the shank of the tool in place; a "collet nut," which is used to tighten the collet around the shank; and the "collet adapter," which is a tapered metal casing into which the component parts are fitted and which in turn fits into the VMC 150. Although Monarch did not manufacture the toolholder or any of its component parts, the exterior of the toolholder was manufactured to Monarch's specifications in order that it would fit into the VMC 150. Although it is not clear whether Monarch supplied the toolholder in Simmons' accident, Monarch had supplied toolholders to Raytheon for use with the VMC 150. ⁴

In addition to the VMC 150, Monarch also manufactured and sold to Raytheon a bench vise that was designed as an accessory to the VMC 150. The vise had gear-like teeth which could interlock with correlating gear-like teeth on the outer casing of a VMC 150 toolholder. When it became necessary to replace a drill bit or tap, an operator could remove the toolholder from the VMC 150, invert the toolholder, and place the toolholder into the vise where it would be held in place by the interlocking gear-like teeth. The operator could then loosen the collet nut and remove the collet and tap from the toolholder. Simmons was injured while performing this tool change operation.

The plaintiff's expert witness, Dr. David Allen Colling, testified as to his opinion regarding what had caused the tap to eject while Simmons was in the process of removing it. Dr. Colling testified that, in his opinion, the tap was ejected by a combination of compressive and capillary forces that had accumulated in the toolholder while in operation, or "under load," in the VMC 150. According to Dr. Colling, these forces were attributable in part to lubricants between the collet and the tap and in part to the compression of the split rings of the collet around the shank of the tap. Dr. Colling testified that the forces were released when Simmons loosened the collet nut in order to change the tap. Once the forces were released, Dr. Colling testified, the collet and tap rose upward together. The rise of the collet, however, was stopped by a ring on the collet nut. As a result, the remaining forces were transferred into the tap, causing it to eject upward "like a second-stage rocket."

Monarch claimed it had never received any complaints regarding taps ejecting from VMC 150 toolholders prior to Simmons' accident. Several employees at Raytheon, however, had witnessed taps eject, both before and after Simmons' accident. One Raytheon employee, Richard Holsinger, testified that, prior to Simmons accident, he had worked on the VMC 150 on a daily basis and that he had changed taps on the Monarch vise between ten and fifty times. Holsinger testified that during the tool changing operation "a lot of times the collet would stay jammed inside of the tool holder. And no matter what you did it wouldn't release and you would have to tap the side of it sometimes. And then when this happened the collet would fly up into the nut and a lot of times ejecting the [tap] straight out of the collet." Holsinger further testified that the farthest he had seen a tap eject was "probably a couple of feet." Another witness, Kevin Bilideau, testified that he had seen taps eject from toolholders on numerous occasions. Once, in 1989, Bilideau had been operating a VMC 150 when he removed the tool assembly and secured it on the Monarch vise in order to change the tap. Bilideau testified that, as he was changing the tool, the tap "shot out and hit me right in the glasses ... it was a good hit. It wasn't light." Similarly, another witness, Leonard Arsenault, a supervisor at Raytheon, testified that, after Simmons' accident, he recreated the accident and observed a tap eject upward six to eight inches. Finally, another Raytheon employee, Gary Cook, testified that, after the accident, he performed tests to determine whether taps would eject. Cook stated that "sometimes [the tap] would pop up and sometimes it would really fly up and hit the top of the guard [that Raytheon had since installed], and there were all variations of height when it would come up."

Although Monarch had designed its vise as an accessory to the VMC 150, Monarch never conducted any tests to ascertain the risks presented to the worker by the tool changing operation. Moreover, although the vise was designed such that a tool would point toward a worker's face, the vise was not equipped with a shield to protect the worker against ejecting taps. At trial there was evidence that the vise could have been equipped with a safety shield at a cost of approximately $30. There was also evidence that, following Simmons' accident, Raytheon installed a plexiglass shield over the vise and that the shield did not interfere with the vise's function in any significant way.

1. Monarch's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. "The standard of review to be employed on a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a directed verdict is the same...." Whitehall Co. v. Barletta, 404 Mass 497, 504, 536 N.E.2d 333 (1989). In considering whether the trial judge properly denied Monarch's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, our inquiry is whether "anywhere in the evidence, from whatever source derived, any combination of circumstances could be found from which a reasonable inference could be drawn in favor of the plaintiff." Toubiana v. Priestly, 402 Mass. 84, 85, 520 N.E.2d 1307 (1988), quoting Raunela v. Hertz Corp., 361 Mass. 341, 343, 280 N.E.2d 179 (1972).

Negligent design. A manufacturer is under a duty to design its product with reasonable care to eliminate avoidable dangers. Uloth v. City Tank Corp., 376 Mass. 874, 878, 384 N.E.2d 1188 (1978). Fahey v. Rockwell Graphic Systems, Inc., 20 Mass.App.Ct. 642, 647, 482 N.E.2d 519 (1985). The manufacturer must anticipate the environment in which the product will be used and design against reasonably foreseeable risks attending the product's use in that setting. Back v. Wickes Corp., 375 Mass. 633, 640-641, 378 N.E.2d 964 (1978). The duty is placed on the manufacturer because it stands in a superior position to recognize and cure defects in its product's design. Uloth, supra 376 Mass. at 881, 384 N.E.2d 1188.

In this case, Monarch does not dispute that the bench vise could have been...