Voss v. Black & Decker Mfg. Co.

• Decision Date: 10 May 1983
• Citation: 450 N.E.2d 204,59 N.Y.2d 102,463 N.Y.S.2d 398
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 450 N.E.2d 204 Carlton J. VOSS, Jr., et al., Appellants, v. BLACK & DECKER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Respondent.

Page 398

463 N.Y.S.2d 398

59 N.Y.2d 102, 450 N.E.2d 204

Carlton J. VOSS, Jr., et al., Appellants, v. BLACK & DECKER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 10, 1983.

Henry S. Fraser, Syracuse, for appellants

George E. DeMore, Syracuse, for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

JASEN, Judge.

We are asked to decide on this appeal whether the plaintiff established a prima facie case of strict products liability for an allegedly defectively designed product.

Plaintiff was using a circular power saw manufactured by the defendant to cut 2 by 4 boards for the purposes of remodeling the roof on his mobile home. Working at sawhorses which he had set up in his driveway, he would cut each board in half and then, using a template, cut one end of each board at a 45-degree angle.

The housing of the saw covers all but the lower portion of the circular blade. Part of that lower portion of the blade is covered by a guard which is designed to move back as the blade makes contact with the wood. This guard has a spring mechanism so that as soon as the pressure from the contact with the wood stops, the guard automatically closes to its original position. The purpose of the guard is, of course, to protect the operator, but plaintiff's expert testified that in order for the saw to operate properly part of the blade should be exposed even when the guard is in the closed position to allow the initial contact between the blade and the wood.

Plaintiff testified that he was holding the saw in his right hand and bracing the 2 by 4 against the sawhorse with his left hand. As he made a cut across one of the boards, the saw hit a knot, projecting the saw upward approximately 18 inches into the air. Sufficient time elapsed for the guard to close before the saw came down in such a manner that the exposed and unguarded part of the rotating saw blade struck plaintiff's hand, severely lacerating it and severing part of his thumb which, upon contact, became wedged between the blade and the guard. Plaintiff testified that he believed the blade stopped rotating when it hit the bone in his thumb. There is no dispute that the guard was operating properly and had closed as far as it could before the blade came in contact with the plaintiff's hand.

Testimony of an expert witness who had conducted a series of tests on plaintiff's saw also was presented. He testified that the kinetic energy produced by the rotating saw hitting the knot would be sufficient to force the saw into the air as plaintiff described. The tests conducted by the expert also indicated that sufficient time would have elapsed to allow the movable guard to close to its maximum point and that the guard on plaintiff's saw was operating as the manufacturer intended. Defendant did not question plaintiff's testimony that the guard had closed to its maximum point before contacting plaintiff's hand.

Plaintiff alleged in his cause of action sounding in strict products liability that defendant's saw was defectively designed because the saw blade guard allowed an excessive amount of the blade to be exposed. In support of this position, plaintiff questioned his expert witness concerning industry standards and good engineering principles as applicable to the design of circular power saws. It was the opinion of that expert that it would have been a simple matter to design the saw so that it would be safer by extending the movable guard and that to do so would have brought the saw into conformity with both minimum safety standards and good design standards.

The minimum safety standard testified to was that developed and published by the Underwriters Laboratory, Inc. The saw bore the familiar UL logo indicating its conformity with those standards. Plaintiff's expert, however, demonstrated that the saw with the guard closed to its maximum point allowed 53 degrees of the blade to be exposed. The maximum exposure of blade under the underwriters standards was set at 45 degrees. Although he could not state with certainty that the plaintiff would not have been injured had the exposure been reduced to 45 degrees, he did testify that the guard "should extend much farther in order to meet good design standard".

At the close of the plaintiff's case, the Trial Judge dismissed the causes of action alleging breach of warranty and strict products liability. The case proceeded on the remaining cause of action sounding in negligence. The jury returned a verdict of no cause on the negligence cause of action, and plaintiff has not disputed that verdict.

On appeal, the plaintiff has also abandoned his claim under the warranty cause of action, but urges that it was error to refuse to submit the case to the jury on the strict products liability cause of action. The evidence presented, he argues, was sufficient to establish a prima facie case of liability based on the defectively designed product. The Appellate Division, 89 A.D.2d 826, 454 N.Y.S.2d 168, affirmed the dismissal of the cause of action sounding in strict products liability, without opinion. Because our review of the record indicates that plaintiff did establish a prima facie case of strict products liability for a defectively designed product, we now modify the order of the Appellate Division and remit to the trial court for a new trial on the cause of action sounding in strict products liability.

In New York, a plaintiff injured by an allegedly defective product may seek recovery against the manufacturer on the basis of any one or more of four theories of liability. "Depending on the factual context in which the claim arises, the injured plaintiff, and those asserting derivative claims, may state a cause of action in contract, express or implied, on the ground of negligence, or, as here, on the theory of strict products liability." (Victorson v. Bock Laundry Mach. Co., 37 N.Y.2d 395, 400, 373 N.Y.S.2d 39, 335 N.E.2d 275.)

In recognizing a cause of action for strict products liability, we stated that "the manufacturer of a defective product is liable to any person injured or damaged if the defect was a substantial factor in bringing about his injury or damages; provided: (1) that at the time of the occurrence the product is being used * * * for the purpose and in the manner normally intended, (2) that if the person injured or damaged is himself the user of the product he would not by the exercise of reasonable care have both discovered the defect and perceived its danger, and (3) that by the exercise of reasonable care the person injured or damaged would not otherwise have averted his injury or damages." (Codling v. Paglia, 32 N.Y.2d 330, 342, 345 N.Y.S.2d 461, 298 N.E.2d 622.) As the law of strict products liability has developed in New York, a plaintiff may assert that the product is defective because of a mistake in the manufacturing process (Victorson v. Bock Laundry Mach. Co., supra ) or because of an improper design (Micallef v. Miehle Co., Div. of Miehle-Goss Dexter, 39 N.Y.2d 376, 384 N.Y.S.2d 115, 348 N.E.2d 571) or because the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings regarding the use of the product (Torrogrossa v. Towmotor Co., 44 N.Y.2d 709, 405 N.Y.S.2d 448, 376 N.E.2d 920). (Robinson v. Reed-Prentice Div. of Package Mach. Co., 49 N.Y.2d 471, 478-479, 426 N.Y.S.2d 717, 403 N.E.2d 440.)

In this case, plaintiff does not allege that there was any defect in the manner in which the product was manufactured or the warnings provided by the manufacturer. Our inquiry will accordingly be limited to whether plaintiff established a prima facie case of a defectively designed product.

We have held that a "defectively designed product is one which, at the time it leaves the seller's hands, is in a condition not reasonably contemplated by the ultimate consumer and is unreasonably dangerous for its intended use; that is one whose utility does not outweigh the danger inherent in its introduction into the stream of commerce". (Robinson v. Reed-Prentice Div. of Package Mach. Co., supra, at p. 479, 426 N.Y.S.2d 717, 403 N.E.2d 440.) Strict products liability for design defect thus differs from a cause of action for a negligently designed product in that the plaintiff is not required to prove that the manufacturer acted unreasonably in designing the product. The focus shifts from the conduct of the manufacturer to whether the product, as designed, was not reasonably safe. (See Note, 42 Ford L.Rev. 943.) A manufacturer is held liable regardless of his lack of actual knowledge of the condition of the product because he is in the superior position to discover any design defects and alter the design before making the product available to the public. Liability attaches when the product, as designed, presents an unreasonable risk of harm to the user.

In order to establish a prima facie case in strict products liability for...