Springmeyer v. Ford Motor Co.

• Decision Date: 27 January 1998
• Docket Number: No. A070809,A070809
• Citation: 60 Cal.App.4th 1541,71 Cal.Rptr.2d 190
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,159, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 732, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 937 Bruce SPRINGMEYER et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Page 190

71 Cal.Rptr.2d 190

60 Cal.App.4th 1541, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,159,

98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 732,

98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 937

Bruce SPRINGMEYER et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. A070809.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 4, California.

Jan. 27, 1998.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Feb. 26, 1998.

Review Denied May 13, 1998. ^*

Frank P. Kelly, III, H. Grant Law, Dryden, Margoles, Schimaneck, Hartman, Kelly & Wait, San Francisco, for Appellant Ford Motor Company.

Willard L. Alloway, Jason J. Curliano, Hardin, Cook, Loper, Engel & Bergez, Oakland, for Appellant Schwitzer, Inc.

James R. Heisey, Michael F. O'Leary, Law Offices of Michael F. O'Leary, Santa Rosa, for Appellant Avis Rent A Car System.

Philip R. Weltin, Brian E. Kerss, Law Offices of Philip R. Weltin, San Francisco, for Respondents Bruce & Sandra Springmeyer.

HANLON, Presiding Justice.

Respondent Bruce Springmeyer, a mechanic with B.C. Lawson Drayage, Inc., was working on the engine in one of Lawson's Ford trucks on April 13, 1992, with the hood up and the engine running, when a fan blade broke off from the engine and struck him in the right shoulder, severing his right arm from his body. Surgeries have reattached the arm, and restored some feeling and movement in the arm, but Mr. Springmeyer, who was right-handed, has lost the use of his right hand, has been unable to resume work, and lives with chronic severe pain from the accident.

Mr. Springmeyer and his wife, respondent Sandra Springmeyer, sued the manufacturer of the fan, Schwitzer, Inc., and the manufacturer of the truck, Ford Motor Company, for damages from the accident based on strict products liability for the fan's defective design. They also sued Avis Rent A Car System, Inc., a former owner of the truck, for negligent failure to have the fan replaced in response to a Ford recall of these fans. A jury awarded economic damages of $1,400,279 and non-economic damages of $2,500,000 to Mr. Springmeyer (hereafter Springmeyer), and awarded $500,000 to Mrs. Springmeyer for loss of consortium. The jury apportioned fault 50 percent to Ford, 30 percent to Schwitzer, 20 percent to Avis, and 0 percent to the employer, Lawson.

Each of the defendants has appealed, raising multiple issues. The principal arguments raised are: (1) by Schwitzer, that it cannot be held liable because the fans it supplied to Ford were merely components which proved to be defective only in certain engine environments over which Schwitzer had no control; (2) by Schwitzer and Ford, that they were relieved of liability for the accident by Avis' negligent failure to heed Ford's recall notice for the fan; and (3) by Avis, that it was deprived of a fair trial because the court erroneously excluded evidence that Avis had sold the truck before it received Ford's recall notice. We conclude that only this latter argument by Avis has merit, and that another trial, limited solely to whether Avis' alleged sale occurred, is required.

I. BACKGROUND

The fan involved in the accident, a Schwitzer C4TA cross-blade fan, was installed as part of the engine cooling system in about 820,000 Ford trucks from 1963 to 1977, including the truck Springmeyer was repairing when he was injured. Fan blades in certain 1970 trucks began cracking and separating, and the problem continued thereafter, reaching a peak in the 1975 models. No definitive cause of the fan blade fracturing was ever identified, but Ford reports in 1977 and 1978 linked the problem with increases in the fan drive ratios of certain engines after 1969. Ford attempted to remedy the problem in 1972 by changing the design of the engines' water pump, and in 1975 by changing the steel in the fan. When those changes failed to eliminate the problem, Ford decided in 1978 to recall about 370,000 1970-1978 model trucks for replacement of the fan with one of a new and stronger design.

Ford's recall campaign for the fan blade encompassed various mailings to Ford regional managers, Ford dealers, and truck owners in 1979, 1981 and 1982. In February of 1979, a warning letter was sent to the original owners of 1970-1975 model year trucks as shown on Ford's records of dealer sales. The letter stated that "a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 1971 through 1975 Medium 500 through 750 F, B, LN-Series and 1970 through 1975 Heavy L-Series trucks equipped with FT Gas Engines. [p] The 20 [inch] diameter cross blade engine cooling fans used in building these vehicles may crack in normal operation. Pieces may separate without warning from a cracked blade while the fan is rotating. Pieces thrown from the rotating fan may damage the vehicle. If the hood is open at the time, persons near the vehicle could be injured." The letter then set forth the following warning in capital letters: "the engine on your vehicle should not be operated with the hood open for any reason until the engine fan has been inspected and, if necessary, replaced."

From April 4 to 12, 1979, recall notices for trucks covered by this warning letter were sent to current owners identified by a company Ford hired to review state registration records. The notice indicated that Ford dealers would replace the fan free of charge, and gave instructions for accomplishing the repair. Additional recall notices were sent out in October of 1979 for trucks inadvertently omitted from the original mailings. Follow-up notices concerning the fan were sent to registered owners in 1981 and 1982. Ford witnesses Powers and Ausum testified that recall campaigns never end, and Ausum said that a fan blade had been replaced pursuant to the recall as late as January of 1994.

Ford reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in April of 1980 that Ford dealers had corrected the fan problem in 107,230 out of 323,972 trucks involved in the recall campaign as of March 31, 1980. Ford's 1994 figures for the campaign showed 162,761 corrections out of 370,413 trucks. Ford witness Maugh acknowledged that a correction rate of 75 percent is a NHTSA goal for recall campaigns. However, he said that correction rates were generally lower for commercial than personal vehicles because commercial owners were more likely than individual consumers to make their own repairs, and those repairs would not be reported to the manufacturer as corrections. Maugh and Powers also stated that businesses were often less willing than individuals to take their vehicles out of service, and Maugh admitted that Ford did not reimburse businesses for the value of the lost use of their vehicles during repairs.

The truck involved in the accident, a 1975 Ford LN-600 series truck identified as VIN 50429, was originally purchased by Avis in San Francisco, along with three other trucks of the same model, VINs 50430, 50431 and 50432. All of these trucks were subject to the fan blade recall campaign. Ford's records showed that Avis had the fans on VINs 50430 and 50431 replaced in response to the recall at a Ford dealership in San Francisco in April and May of 1979. The accident vehicle, VIN 50429, was sold in June of 1979, under circumstances described below, to Springmeyer's employer, Lawson. ¹ The original fan in this vehicle was never replaced, and respondents' expert testified that Springmeyer's accident was caused by the problem with the fan that had prompted the recall.

Avis, and the workers' compensation insurer on behalf of Lawson, disputed whether Avis or Lawson received any recall notices for the accident vehicle. Ford witnesses testified in general terms about procedures used in the recall, but Ford had no documentation which confirmed any mailings for this specific vehicle before a 1982 notice to Lawson. Ford contracted with a company called MDI to handle mailings for the recall, MDI had gone out of business, and Ford's microfilm records of individual mailings in the recall before 1982 had been lost or destroyed. Witness Powers conceded that the accident vehicle could have been included in the August, rather than April, 1979 recall notice mailing, and admitted that she did not know whether Avis or Lawson received any mailings in the recall.

Lawson's manager, George Lawson, testified that he reviewed the company's mail during the relevant period and could not remember receiving any recall notices on any of the company's Ford LN-series trucks. Avis called no witnesses, but argued that Ford's evidence did not establish that Avis had received a recall notice for the accident vehicle before it was sold to Lawson. Avis noted that it had repaired two trucks in response to the recall, and argued that this showed it would have also repaired the accident vehicle had it received any notice for that vehicle. Avis also noted witness Powers's concession on behalf of Ford that the February 1979 warning letter did not by itself confirm the need to repair any particular truck, because the letter stated only that "certain" trucks of the specified models were unsafe.

In its special verdict, the jury found that Lawson did not receive any recall notice or warning for the accident vehicle while Lawson owned it. The jury found that Avis had received such a notice or warning while it was the owner, and assigned a portion of the fault for the accident to Avis based on a negligent failure to replace the fan in response to the recall.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Appeals of Schwitzer and Ford (1) Schwitzer's Liability as a Component Part Manufacturer

Schwitzer contends that it should have been exonerated as a matter of law from any liability for the accident under the "component parts manufacturer" defense to respondents' products liability claim. This argument rests on "a line of cases holding an entity supplying a nondefective raw material or a component part is not strictly liable for defects in the final product over which it had no control." (Bay Summit Community Assn. v. Shell...