Taylor v. General Motors Corp.
| Decision Date | 14 June 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-5829,87-5829 |
| Parties | , Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 12,165 Emma TAYLOR, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Terry S. Nelson, Miami, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Ronald M. Owen, Orlando, Fla., Harold Lee Schwab, New York City, for American Honda & Honda Motor.
R. Benjamine Reid, Miami, Fla., David M. Heilbron, San Francisco, Cal., for Gen. Motors.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before TJOFLAT, FAY and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges.
Charles Taylor and Paula Evans were killed in separate front-end automobile collisions while driving automobiles manufactured by General Motors Corporation and American Honda Motor Co. 1 The personal representatives of their respective estates brought this diversity action 2 against the automobile manufacturers, seeking damages under Florida tort law for the manufacturers' failure to equip the vehicles with airbags. 3 The manufacturers moved for dismissal on the ground that the plaintiffs' complaint 4 failed to state a cause of action under Florida law, or, alternatively, on the ground that their claims were preempted by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, Pub.L. No. 89-563, 80 Stat. 718 () [hereinafter the Safety Act], and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, 49 C.F.R. Sec. 571.208 (1980), promulgated under the Safety Act. The district court granted the motion without reaching the preemption issue. The plaintiffs now appeal. We affirm.
We begin our review by determining whether appellants' complaint states claims cognizable under Florida law. Because no Florida appellate court has decided whether an automobile manufacturer can be liable for injuries sustained because it failed to equip an automobile with an airbag, 5 we must anticipate what the Supreme Court of Florida would do if presented with appellants' claims. See, e.g., Nobs Chem., U.S.A., Inc. v. Koppers Co., 616 F.2d 212, 214 (5th Cir.1980). 6
Appellants seek to recover from the appellee manufacturers under two theories of tort liability: strict liability and negligence. We examine these theories in order.
The Supreme Court of Florida has held that automobile manufacturers are answerable for damages in strict liability for design defects in their cars which, although playing no part in causing a primary automobile collision, nevertheless increase or bring about injury to occupants through secondary impacts against the interior of their cars during a collision. See Ford Motor Co. v. Hill, 404 So.2d 1049, 1050-51 (Fla.1981). The court has recognized two theories of strict liability for such design defects. See generally In re Standard Jury Instructions (Civil Cases), 435 So.2d 782 (Fla.1983).
Under the first theory, an injured occupant may recover against the manufacturer if he demonstrates that, because of the automobile's design, it "fails to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect." Id. at 783 n.* (quoting Report of the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions (Civil) of The Florida Bar). The automobiles in the instant case were equipped with seat belts, which were designed to prevent or minimize injuries to the driver caused by being propelled against the steering wheel, dash board, and windshield during a front-end collision. The appellants' decedents suffered their fatal injuries when they were thrown forward against such objects. Appellants, however, have not alleged in their complaint that their decedents' seat belts failed to function as intended, or that the injuries their decedents sustained were beyond those "an ordinary consumer" (wearing seat belts) would have expected; we therefore conclude that appellants seek no recovery under this first theory of strict liability. 7
To recover under Florida's second theory of strict liability, an injured occupant of an automobile must show (1) that the injury he sustained as a result of the challenged automotive design would have been avoided, or less severe, had the manufacturer used an existing alternative design, and (2) that the enhanced danger posed by the challenged design outweighs the added cost, if any, to the manufacturer of the alternative design. 8 See Cassisi v. Maytag Co., 396 So.2d 1140, 1145-46 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1981), cited with approval in In Re Standard Jury Instruction (Civil Cases), 435 So.2d at 783 n.*. Appellants are proceeding under this second theory. In their complaint, they allege that their decedents would not have been so severely injured had the manufacturers equipped their cars with airbags as well as seat belts, that the manufacturers had the technology to make and install airbags, and that they could have equipped the decedents' automobiles with airbags at a reasonable cost. These allegations, if proven, would appear to make out a case of strict liability.
The district court, however, rejected appellants' strict liability claims because it believed that they could not prove their allegation that an automobile equipped with airbags and seat belts would protect a driver in a front-end collision better than an automobile equipped only with seat belts. In the court's words: "[S]eat belts and airbags are equally efficacious if seat belts are used." In its dispositive order, the court announced that it was granting the manufacturers' motion to dismiss appellants' claims because appellants failed to state a cause of action; actually, the court granted summary judgment for the manufacturers.
The only basis in the record for the district court's factual finding that seat belts alone are as effective as airbags is the following statement made by the Secretary of Transportation:
Based on field experience through December 31, 1983, ... the computed airbag and manual belt effectiveness (as used in the equivalent cars) for fatalities is now the same. This means that airbags would not save any more lives than the belt systems as used in those cars.
49 Fed.Reg. 28,962, 28,985 (1984). 9 This statement, which is contained in the Secretary's commentary on the Department of Transportation's 1984 amendments to the automobile safety standard relating to occupant crash protection, appeared in a brief filed by one of the manufacturers, Volkswagen of America, Inc., in support of the defendants' motion to dismiss appellants' complaint. 10
We assume that the district court made its finding that "seat belts and airbags are equally efficacious" by taking judicial notice, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 201, of the Secretary's statement, as cited in Volkswagen's brief. For purposes of discussion, we further assume that the factual recitation in the statement, "[b]ased on field experience through December 31, 1983, ... the computed airbag and manual belt effectiveness ... is now the same," is not subject to dispute. See United States v. Pabian, 704 F.2d 1533, 1538 (11th Cir.1983) (). Were this all that the Secretary had to say on the subject, one could argue that we should uphold the district court's finding. 11 We do not uphold the finding, however, because the Secretary had much more to say about the relative effectiveness of airbags and seat belts.
When the statement quoted in Volkswagen's brief is read in full context (with statements that were not quoted in the brief), it appears that seat belts may not be as effective as airbags. The Secretary stated as follows:
Because of limited field experience with airbags, estimating the effectiveness of these devices is very difficult. There are so few cars equipped with airbags and so few cases of serious or fatal injuries that the field experience has no statistical meaning. Based on field experience through December 31, 1983, ... the computed airbag and manual belt effectiveness (as used in the equivalent cars) for fatalities is now the same. This means that airbags would not save any more lives than the belt systems as used in those cars. But because the data base is so small, we cannot place any confidence in this effectiveness figure.
49 Fed.Reg. at 28,985 (emphasis added). At another point in her commentary, the Secretary stated that Allstate Insurance Company's statistics comparing the effectiveness of airbags and seat belts in crash tests revealed that "airbags are more effective than belts in protecting against head and facial injuries." Id. at 28,967. Then, in concluding her commentary, the Secretary had this to say: [Airbags and seat belts in combination] provide more protection at higher speeds than safety belts do [alone], and they will provide better protection against several kinds of extremely debilitating injuries (e.g., brain and facial injuries) than safety belts. They also generally spread the impact of a crash better than seatbelts, which are more likely to cause internal injuries or broken bones in the areas of the body where they restrain occupants in severe crashes.
Id. at 28,991. When we consider these additional observations concerning the efficacy of seat belts vis-a-vis airbags (or airbags used in combination with seat belts), we conclude that the district court erred in finding that, as a matter of law, seat belts are as effective as airbags and that appellants could not establish a case of strict liability under Florida law.
We turn next to appellants' negligence claims. The Supreme Court of Florida has held that an automobile manufacturer has a duty to use reasonable care in the design of its vehicle to avoid subjecting the user to an unreasonable risk of injury in the event of collision. See ...
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