U-Haul Co. of East Bay v. Meyer, U-HAUL

• Decision Date: 04 October 1991
• Docket Number: U-HAUL,No. 90-2779,90-2779
• Citation: 586 So.2d 1327
• Parties: CO. OF EAST BAY, a corporation, and Kevin Gene Yoder, Defendants/Appellants, v. William D. MEYER and Mary L. Meyer, his wife; Plaintiffs/Appellees, and Ford Motor Company, Defendant/Appellee. 586 So.2d 1327, 16 Fla. L. Week. D2607
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1327

586 So.2d 1327

U-HAUL CO. OF EAST BAY, a corporation, and Kevin Gene Yoder, Defendants/Appellants, v. William D. MEYER and Mary L. Meyer, his wife Plaintiffs/Appellees and Ford Motor Company, Defendant/Appellee.

No. 90-2779.

586 So.2d 1327, 16 Fla. L. Week. D2607

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

Oct. 4, 1991.

A. Graham Allen and Patricia H. Clarkson of Allen, Brinton & Simmons, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellants.

David R. Lewis of Lewis, Paul, Isaac & Castillo, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellees William D. Meyer and Mary L. Meyer.

John M. Thomas, Office of the General Counsel, Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich.; Francis M. McDonald, Jr. and Wendy Lumish of Rumberger, Kirk, Caldwell, Cabaniss, Burke & Wechsler, Miami, for appellees Ford Motor Co.

JOANOS, Chief Judge.

Appellant U-Haul Co. of East Bay (U-Haul) appeals a final order in which the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of Ford Motor Company (Ford), in a lawsuit filed by William D. and Mary L. Meyer against U-Haul. The issue is whether the trial court erred in entering summary judgment for Ford after defendant U-Haul filed an affidavit which allegedly created an issue of fact as to liability of Ford to the plaintiffs. We reverse.

Plaintiffs William and Mary Meyer filed a negligence action against U-Haul Co., Inc., as owner, and Kevin Gene Yoder, as operator, of a motor vehicle which rear-ended the Meyers' Ford vehicle. After U-Haul filed an answer and affirmative defenses, plaintiffs amended their complaint to join Ford Motor Company as a codefendant, alleging negligent manufacture of the right front seat of the Ford vehicle driven by plaintiffs. The amended complaint further alleged that due to the negligent manufacture of the seat back, the seat bracket or device failed when the Ford vehicle in which William Meyer was a passenger was involved in a rear-end collision with the U-Haul vehicle driven by Yoder. When the collision occurred, William Meyer's seat back was thrown backward until it hit the front edge of the back seat, and William Meyer's neck, shoulders, and head impacted against the seat back when it collapsed.

U-Haul answered the amended complaint, raising two affirmative defenses based upon alleged defects in the plaintiffs' Ford vehicle. U-Haul alleged that the negligent design or manufacture of the seat back, resulting in its collapse upon impact, constituted an independent intervening cause of all or part of the injuries of plaintiff William Meyer.

After receipt of plaintiffs' responses to requests for admissions, Ford filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that it was not negligent in the design or manufacture of the seat bracket or seat back of the right front seat of the subject vehicle. In support of its motion, Ford filed an affidavit of one of it engineers, which states in part:

3. The seat in question complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 207 and is designed to yield rearward in sufficiently severe rear-end collisions. The purpose of the yielding design is to absorb the energy of the occupant during the collision, thereby reducing the forces upon the occupant and minimizing injuries.

4. From my review of the accident report, copies of photographs of the subject vehicles, and my understanding of the accident, it is my opinion that the seat back of the 1987 Mercury Cougar performed as designed by Ford Motor Company.

U-Haul then filed a motion for leave to file cross-claim against Ford, for contribution for economic damages for that portion of a final judgment attributable to Ford's negligence. In addition, U-Haul filed an affidavit of Clayton A. Morrison, mechanical engineer. This affidavit sets forth the following opinion:

4. From my investigation of the accident site; review of the police report, review of photographs of vehicles and the accident site; review of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 207; and performance of calculations and analysis, it is my opinion that

(a) The U-Haul truck was travelling at a speed of approximately six miles per hour when impact occurred.

(b) If the seat back of the 1987 Mercury Cougar is designed to collapse on impact at such a low speed (six m.p.h.) rear end collision, it does not comply with the purpose and scope of the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 207 (attached).

(c) If the seat back in question was designed by Ford Motor Company to yield rearward only in sufficiently severe rear-end collisions, it failed to perform as designed when it yielded rearward in a six m.p.h. collision.

(d) Car seats must remain in place if they are to afford any protection to their occupants. A car seat which collapses on impact, especially at low speeds, adds to the hazards that are inherent in crash situations.

At the hearing on Ford's motion for summary judgment, U-Haul's counsel maintained that entry of summary judgment would not be appropriate, noting that defendants U-Haul and Yoder had a cross-claim pending. The trial court advised that U-Haul's remedy would be a third-party complaint. The summary judgment filed December 19, 1989, provides in part:

Defendant, U-Haul Co. of East Bay and its driver, defendant Yoder ..., had raised two affirmative defenses alleging design defects in the Ford vehicle. There was also pending a motion on the part of U-Haul for leave to file a cross-claim against Ford, seeking contribution from Ford as a joint tort-feasor. As a consequence U-Haul opposed Ford's Motion for Summary Judgment as it applied to U-Haul, and filed the affidavit of Clayton A. Morrison, an engineer specializing in accident reconstruction and analysis, in opposition to the motion.

The Court finds that as the plaintiffs have not opposed Ford's Motion for Summary Judgment, Ford is entitled to a judgment as to the claims of the plaintiffs. However, issues of material fact remain in regard to certain defenses raised by U-Haul, and in regard to U-Haul's potential contribution claim against Ford.

Although summary judgment was granted in favor of Ford with regard to plaintiffs' claim that Ford negligently manufactured plaintiffs' vehicle, the trial court further ordered:

2. That summary judgment entered herewith shall not be effective as to the sixth and seventh affirmative defenses raised by U-Haul; nor shall U-Haul be precluded from seeking contribution from Ford in a third party action, should it choose to do so.

Plaintiffs moved for rehearing, due to the inadvertent absence of their counsel, which left them unrepresented at the prior hearing. At the hearing on the motion for rehearing, plaintiffs' counsel objected to the summary judgment reference preserving U-Haul's sixth and seventh affirmative defenses. U-Haul's counsel agreed that Ford seemingly was entitled to summary judgment with respect to plaintiffs' claims, because plaintiffs took no action to oppose Ford's affirmative defenses and supporting affidavit. However, U-Haul contested a grant of summary judgment to Ford in toto, asserting that to do so would be res judicata as to U-Haul's affirmative...