Straley v. US
| Decision Date | 01 June 1995 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 92-1056(DRD). |
| Citation | 887 F. Supp. 728 |
| Parties | Robin STRALEY and Jeannae Straley, his wife, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, Leach Company, a Wisconsin Corporation, EL Industries, Inc., a Delaware Corp., formerly known as Elgin Leach Corporation and also formerly known as Elgin Corp. and SCA Services, Inc., a Massachusetts Corp., Waste Disposal, Inc., a New Jersey Corp., White Bros. Trucking Company, a New Jersey Corporation, Cambria Automotive Companies, Inc., and/or Cambria Mack Trucks, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, Sanitation Equipment Corp., a New Jersey Corporation, and Mack Trucks, Inc., a Pennsylvania Corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
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John B. Collins, Bongiovanni, Collins & Warden, P.C., Denville, NJ, for plaintiffs.
Faith S. Hochberg, U.S. Atty. by Neil R. Gallagher, Asst. U.S. Atty., Newark, NJ, for defendant U.S.
William J. Salmond, Karcher, Salmond, Ronan & Rainone, P.A., Edison, NJ, for defendant Mack Trucks, Inc.
James D. Butler, Jersey City, NJ, for defendants Leach Co. and EL Industries.
George W. Wright, Kroll & Tract, Newark, NJ, for defendant White Bros. Trucking.
Paul J. Endler, Garrubbo & Romankow, Westfield, NJ, for defendant Cambria Mack Trucks.
Gerard M. Green, Green, Caiati & Treitler, Florham Park, NJ, for defendant Sanitation Equipment Corp.
Dennis L. Riley, Riley, Shovlin & Jones, P.A., Clementon, NJ, for defendants SCA and Waste Disposal, Inc.
Plaintiffs submit ten motions in limine. Defendants submit various parallel motions in limine, as well as motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment. The plaintiffs' first, second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth motions in limine will be granted. The plaintiffs' sixth and ninth motions in limine will be granted in part and denied in part. The plaintiffs' eighth motion in limine will be denied.
Furthermore, the motion for summary judgment by defendant White Brothers Trucking Company will be denied in its entirety. The motions for summary judgment by defendants SCA Services, Inc. and Waste Disposal, Inc. will be granted.
On January 15, 1991, the plaintiff, Robin Straley, was working as a garbage collector on a truck owned by Circle Carting, Inc. ("Circle Carting"). Straley and his co-worker, Rodney Gumaer, admit to drinking four 7-ounce beers between 2:00 and 3:00pm on that day. The parties dispute whether that admission is an understatement and whether the men were intoxicated at the time of the accident.
At approximately 3:12pm, Straley was standing on the right rear riding step of the truck while directing Gumaer, who was driving the truck in reverse, down a street between garbage pickups. At the same time, a mail truck was driving up the street, and Straley directed the driver of the mail truck, Thomas Brown, to stop so that the garbage truck could maneuver past. The parties dispute whether the mail truck came to a complete stop.
The maneuver was unsuccessful, and as the garbage truck drove past the mail truck, Straley was either struck from behind by the driver's mirror or slipped while trying to avoid being struck, and fell to the ground whereupon his legs were crushed by the rear wheels of the garbage truck. They were both later amputated about four inches below the knees.
At the accident scene, Gumaer failed a field sobriety test and was noted as smelling of alcohol from three feet, having red and watery eyes, and a "mellow" demeanor. At approximately 5:00pm, Gumaer was given a breathalyzer test, which indicated a blood alcohol content of between .08 and .09%. Although one defense expert concluded that the evidence suggested that Gumaer's alcohol level at the time of the accident was .08%, the other stated that he could draw no opinion as to the exact level. Gumaer ultimately pled guilty in Randolph Township Municipal court to careless driving, improper backing and driving without a license.
Straley was admitted to the Dover General Hospital Emergency Room at 3:53pm. At approximately 4:30pm, blood was drawn from Straley which was found to have a serum alcohol level of .147 percent, which, according to defendants' expert opinion, converts to a true blood alcohol level of approximately .12 percent. Defendants' experts also admit that that level was likely to have been artificially elevated due to Straley's loss of blood.
The plaintiffs instituted this action on March 13, 1992. The amended complaint sets forth five claims, the first sounding in negligence against defendant the United States of America as imputed through the driver of the mail truck. The second count sets forth a related loss of consortium claim by Straley's wife against the United States. The third count alleges that the truck was defective and asserts pendent state law products liability claims against the remaining defendants as being within the chain of distribution and therefore subject to strict liability. The fourth count asserts negligence claims against each of the remaining defendants and alleges that they negligently removed warnings from the truck and that the lack of such necessary warnings was the proximate cause of Straley's injuries. The fifth count asserts a related loss of consortium claim on behalf of Straley's wife against the remaining defendants.
The following facts relate to the chain of distribution of the garbage truck. The chassis and cab of the garbage truck were manufactured in 1979 by defendant, Mack Trucks, Inc. ("Mack"). The truck's garbage compactor was also manufactured sometime in 1979 by Defendant Leach Company ("Leach").
Defendant Sanitation Equipment Corporation ("Sanitation") assembled the garbage truck by combining the chassis manufactured by Mack and the compactor manufactured by Leach. The garbage truck was ordered from Sanitation by SCA Services, Inc. ("SCA") and drop-shipped in October, 1979, to its subsidiary, Waste Disposal, Inc. ("Waste Disposal"). SCA never took title to the truck. Waste Disposal took delivery of the vehicle in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and obtained title as the first owner of the assembled garbage truck on November 17, 1979.
Waste Disposal owned the vehicle until January 14, 1984, when the entirety of its Elizabeth operations, including the garbage truck, was sold to its competitor, White Brothers Trucking Company ("White Brothers"). White Brothers owned the truck until December 23, 1986, when it was sold to Defendant Cambria Mack Trucks, Inc. ("Cambria"). On the same day, Cambria sold the truck to Circle Carting.
It is undisputed that, at the time of the accident, the garbage truck lacked safety decals warning of the dangers posed by riding on the riding step while the truck was being operated in reverse. In 1980, Leach began placing such warning decals at the location of the riding step and providing additional decals for application in the assembled truck cab. Leach claims to have mailed "safety bulletins" to its customers in June of 1986 recommending that such warning decals be added to trucks that did not already display them. Although White Brothers was on a mailing list produced by Leach, it denies having received any safety bulletins. It is undisputed that Leach did not send safety bulletins directly to Circle Carting, the subsequent owner of the truck and Straley's employer.
It is also undisputed that, at the time of the accident, the garbage truck lacked a working backup alarm. Leach claims that since July of 1979, it had installed audible backup alarms on all Leach compactors.
The plaintiffs' first motion in limine seeks to bar admission of evidence regarding Straley's consumption of alcohol prior to the accident. Defendants Leach and EL Industries submit a parallel motion to permit the introduction of such evidence in which Sanitation, Mack, SCA and Waste Disposal have joined.
Plaintiffs initially argue that under Rovegno v. Geppert Bros., Inc., 677 F.2d 327 (3d Cir.1982), the Third Circuit has held that state law controls the question of whether evidence of alcohol intoxication is admissible. Defendants argue that the Federal Rules of Evidence govern admissibility.
In Rovegno, the Third Circuit upheld a district court's reliance on Pennsylvania law in excluding such evidence. Relying on its prior decision in Greiner v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengeselleschaft, 540 F.2d 85 (3d Cir.1976), the Third Circuit held that the Erie doctrine compelled the application of state law to the question of admissibility of evidence regarding alcohol consumption. Id. at 89 (citing Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938)). Under Erie, a federal court sitting in diversity is constitutionally required to apply state substantive law, but looks to federal law as to questions of procedure. See Witherow v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 530 F.2d 160, 163-64 (3d Cir.1976).
Federal jurisdiction is invoked in this action, not through diversity of citizenship, but rather under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq., as a personal injury claim involving an employee of the United States. Nevertheless, "the law of the state in which the alleged tort occurred ... governs all substantive issues in a Federal Tort Claims case." Kruchten v. U.S., 914 F.2d 1106, 1107 (8th Cir.1990). Therefore, as under Erie, the fundamental question in determining whether state or federal law applies to a particular issue in this action depends on whether the issue is ultimately substantive or procedural. Unfortunately, that question is not always easy to resolve, especially when it relates to the potential admissibility of evidence.
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