Trull v. Volkswagen of America
| Decision Date | 28 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | 99-441 |
| Citation | 761 A.2d 477 |
| Parties | ELIZABETH TRULL & a. v. VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC. & a |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Swartz & Swartz, of Boston, Massachusetts (Edward M. Swartz & a. on the brief, and David P. Angueira orally), for the plaintiffs.
Brown, Olson & Wilson, P.C., of Lebanon (Howard B. Myers on the brief and orally), for the defendants.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Coffin, Senior Circuit Judge) has certified the following question of law, see Sup. Ct. R. 34:
Under New Hampshire law, in a crashworthiness or enhanced injury case, does the plaintiff bear the burden of demonstrating the specific nature and extent of the injuries attributable to the manufacturer, or does the burden of apportionment fall on the defendant once the plaintiff has proved causation?
Trull v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 187 F.3d 88, 103 (1st Cir. 1999). We conclude that the defendants bear the burden of apportionment once the plaintiffs prove causation.
We adopt the court of appeals' recitation of the facts. In February 1991, the plaintiffs, David and Elizabeth Trull, and their two sons, Nathaniel and Benjamin, were traveling in New Hampshire when their Volkswagen Vanagon slid on black ice and collided with an oncoming car. Id. at 91. Both parties agree that Nathaniel and Benjamin were seated in the rear middle bench seat of the Vanagon, which was equipped with lap-only seatbelts, and were wearing the available lap belts. Benjamin died in the accident, and both Elizabeth and Nathaniel suffered severe brain injuries. Id.
In this diversity products liability action, the plaintiffs sought damages from the defendants "on the ground that defects in the design of the Vanagon made their injuries more severe than they otherwise would have been." Id. "Plaintiffs had two primary theories of recovery: (1) the Vanagon was defective because it was a forward control vehicle constructed in such a way that it lacked sufficient protection against a frontal impact, and (2) the Vanagon was defective because the rear bench seats, on which Nathaniel and Benjamin were seated, did not have shoulder safety belts as well as lap belts." Id. at 92. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants are liable in, inter alia, negligence and strict liability because the automobile was not crashworthy. See id.
The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire granted summary judgment for the defendants on a breach of warranty claim, and both Elizabeth and David Trull's claims were dismissed with prejudice. Id. The trial proceeded with Nathaniel's and Benjamin's claims, and the jury found for the defendants. Id. at 92-93.
The plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, arguing, among other things, that the district court "improperly imposed on plaintiffs the burden of proving the nature and extent of the enhanced injuries attributable to the Vanagon's design." Id. at 92. Recognizing that the question "of who, under New Hampshire law, should bear the burden in a so-called `crashworthiness' case, poses sophisticated questions of burden allocation involving not only a choice of appropriate precedent but also an important policy choice," the court of appeals granted the plaintiffs' motion to certify the question to this court. Id. at 92, 103.
The plaintiffs' theory of liability for defective design is commonly referred to as the "crashworthiness," "second collision," or "enhanced injury" doctrine. See Caiazzo v. Volkswagenwerk A. G., 647 F.2d 241, 243 n.2 (2d Cir. 1981) (); Larsen v. General Motors Corporation, 391 F.2d 495, 502 (8th Cir. 1968) (); Smith v. Ariens Co., 377 N.E.2d 954, 956-57 (Mass. 1978) ().
The crashworthiness doctrine "extends the scope of liability of a manufacturer to the situations in which the construction or design of its product has caused separate or enhanced injuries in the course of an initial accident brought about by an independent cause." Bass v. General Motors Corp., 150 F.3d 842, 847 (8th Cir. 1998) (quotation omitted). The doctrine is implicated, not because the design caused the accident, 63A Am. Jur. 2d Products Liability 1020, at 175 (1997), but because, as a result of the second collision, the plaintiffs suffered either a more severe injury or an injury they otherwise would not have received due to the defective design, see Lee v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 688 P.2d 1283, 1286 (Okla. 1984). Consequently, the plaintiffs seek damages from the defendants for at least a portion of their injuries.
In order to answer the certified question, we first must decide whether a manufacturer may be held liable for enhanced injuries arising from a defective design. See Smith, 377 N.E.2d at 956-57. If a manufacturer can be held liable, then we must determine under what circumstances, if any, the burden shifts to the defendant manufacturer.
Two divergent approaches have been developed to analyze whether a manufacturer may be held liable for enhanced injuries arising from a defective design. The first concludes that a product's intended purpose does not include its involvement in collisions with other objects, and thus refuses to hold a manufacturer liable for enhanced injuries due to defective design resulting from such collision. See, e.g., Evans v. General Motors Corporation, 359 F.2d 822, 825 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 836 (1966), overruled by Huff v. White Motor Corp., 565 F.2d 104 (7th Cir. 1977). While the continued vitality of Evans is questioned, subsequent decisions continue to recognize it as a possible approach to this issue. See Smith, 377 N.E.2d at 957 n.3. The second approach concludes that enhanced injuries arising from collisions are foreseeable in the normal use of automobiles and imposes liability on manufacturers for such injuries. Larsen, 391 F.2d at 502. Although Larsen was a negligence case, courts have applied its interpretation of "intended use" to the strict liability area. Turcotte v. Ford Motor Company, 494 F.2d 173, 181 (1st Cir. 1974).
Under New Hampshire law, the duty of a manufacturer "is limited to foreseeing the probable results of the normal use of the product or a use that can reasonably be anticipated." McLaughlin v. Sears, Roebuck, 111 N.H. 265, 268, 281 A.2d 587, 588 (1971). We do not, however, restrict this rule to the "intended" purpose of the product. See Price v. BIC Corp., 142 N.H. 386, 390, 702 A.2d 330, 333 (1997). "Manufacturer liability may . . . attach even if the user employs the product in an unintended but foreseeable manner." Id. Furthermore, we have previously recognized that an enhanced injury theory "may be applicable in a products liability action against a manufacturer." Cusson v. Beauregard, 143 N.H. 410, 412, 727 A.2d 979, 981 (1999); cf. Chellman v. Saab-Scania AB, 138 N.H. 73, 76, 637 A.2d 148, 152 (1993) ().
We conclude, therefore, that our case law supports the Larsen approach. While we do not hold that manufacturers are "insurers" for defectively designed vehicles, see Price, 142 N.H. at 390, 702 A.2d at 333, we do hold that in a crashworthiness case, a "manufacturer should be liable for that portion of the damage or injury caused by the defective design over and above the damage or injury that probably would have occurred as a result of the impact or collision absent the defective design." Larsen, 391 F.2d at 503.
Thus, in crashworthiness cases,
where the injuries sustained are separate and divisible . . . , the burden of proof remains solely upon the plaintiff[s], including the burden of proving "enhancement," i.e., the plaintiff[s] must prove which of the several injuries are attributable to the manufacturer's defective product and the degree of "enhancement" occasioned by the product as distinguished from the injuries flowing from the third party's acts of negligence.
Lee, 688 P.2d at 1288. The question of actual apportionment of damages among several causes is one of fact for the jury. Mitchell v. Volkswagenwerk, AG, 669 F.2d 1199, 1209 (8th Cir. 1982). In essence, the normal principles of torts apply.
When, however, the plaintiffs receive injuries that are indivisible, courts are split as to whether the plaintiffs or the defendants bear the burden of segregating the injuries caused by the automobile's defect. See, e.g., Polston v. Boomershine Pontiac-GMC Truck, Inc., 952 F.2d 1304, 1310 (11th Cir. 1992), certified question answered by 423 S.E.2d 659 (Ga. 1992); Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability 16 comment d at 243-53 (1998).
The defendants urge us to adopt the minority approach referred to as the "Huddell-Caiazzo" approach, which places the burden on the plaintiffs to prove the nature and extent of their enhanced injuries. See Huddell v. Levin, 537 F.2d 726, 737-38 (3d Cir. 1976) (applying New Jersey law); Caiazzo, 647 F.2d at 250 (applying New York law).
Under the Huddell-Caiazzo approach,
[f]irst, in establishing that the design in question was defective, the plaintiff[s] must offer proof of an alternative safer design, practicable under the circumstances. Second, the plaintiff[s] must offer proof of what injuries, if any, would have resulted had the alternative, safer design been used. Third, the plaintiff[s] must offer some method of establishing the extent of enhanced injuries attributable to the defective design.
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...Case The application of the crashworthiness doctrine under New Hampshire law was discussed extensively in Trull v. Volkswagen of Am., Inc., 145 N.H. 259, 761 A.2d 477 (2000). The doctrine "extends the scope of liability of a manufacturer to the situations in which the construction or design......