Weiner v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 17 September 1998
• Citation: 718 A.2d 305
• Parties: Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,372 David WEINER, Appellant, v. AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC., Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and Metro Imports, Inc., t/a Metro Acura, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 305

718 A.2d 305

Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,372

David WEINER, Appellant, v. AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC., Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and Metro Imports, Inc., t/a Metro Acura, Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued June 2, 1998.

Filed Sept. 17, 1998.

Joseph R. McFadden, Jr., Media, for appellant.

Robert St. Leger Goggin, Philadelphia, for appellees.

Before KELLY, J., and CERCONE, President Judge Emeritus, and MONTEMURO ^*, J.

MONTEMURO, Judge:

Appellant, David Weiner, appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellees American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and Metro Imports, Inc., ¹ in a product liability action alleging defective design of an automobile and failure to warn of the dangers associated with transporting certain cargo. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

This product liability action arises from a one-vehicle accident that occurred on July 1, 1992 when Appellant, who was driving his girlfriend's 1992 two-door Acura Integra hatchback, drove through a stop sign and head-on into a guardrail near an intersection in Wallingford, Philadelphia County. At the time of the accident, Appellant and his girlfriend were transporting a 54 inch, 180 pound canister of pressurized nitrous oxide gas they had purchased from a local commercial gas distributor. ² The Acura hatchback is a passenger vehicle equipped with folding rear seats for expansion of the rear cargo compartment. Because the gas canister was four and a half feet long, Appellant found it necessary to fold these rear seats to accommodate its length and facilitate its transport. With both rear seats folded down, the nitrous oxide canister was placed in the rear of the vehicle, lying on its side behind driver's seat, parallel with the side of the vehicle.

When the car struck the guardrail, the unrestrained canister slid forward into the back of Appellant's seat, pinning him between the seat and the shoulder harness. Appellant claims numerous injuries from the impact of the canister, including fractured ribs, closed head injury, visual field deficits, and lung damage. On June 15, 1994, Appellant filed a complaint against Appellees based on theories of strict liability and negligence. Appellant later withdrew his negligence claim, and proceeded on the products liability theories of defective design and failure to warn, claiming that the Acura should have been equipped with devices to prevent the cargo from moving inside the vehicle as well as conspicuous warnings inside the vehicle limiting the size and weight of transportable cargo and the risks of such transport.

On July 31, 1997, Appellees filed a motion for summary judgment which was granted following oral argument on September 26, 1997. This timely appeal follows challenging the trial court's entry of summary judgment.

Our standard of review in cases of summary judgment is well-settled. Summary judgment is proper when, viewing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, and affidavits demonstrate that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Pa.R.C.P. 1035.2, 42 Pa.C.S.A. Summary judgment may only be granted in those cases that are clear and free from doubt, and this Court will not reverse a trial court's entry of summary judgment absent an abuse of discretion or error of law. Sebelin v. Yamaha Motor Corp., USA, 705 A.2d 904, 906-07 (Pa.Super.1998).

The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A, ³ adopted as the law of this Commonwealth in Webb v. Zern, 422 Pa. 424, 220 A.2d 853 (1966), governs all claims of products liability and allows recovery where a product in "a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the consumer or user" causes harm to the plaintiff. Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 402A (1). Success on such a claim requires the plaintiff to prove that (1) the product was defective, and (2) the defect was the proximate cause of the harm. Spino v. John S. Tilley Ladder Co., 548 Pa. 286, 293, 696 A.2d 1169, 1172 (1997). There are three types of defective conditions which may give rise to strict liability: manufacturing defect, design defect, and failure to warn defect. Phillips v. A-Best Products, Co., 542 Pa. 124, 131, 665 A.2d 1167, 1170 (1995). Here, Appellant alleges that the Acura was unreasonably dangerous based upon a design defect in that the vehicle lacked proper safety devices, and that Appellees failed to warn of the risks to front seat passengers upon impact when transporting cargo of such a size as the gas canister or to impose restrictions on the weight and size of permissible cargo.

The threshold inquiry in all products liability cases is whether there is a defect which rendered the product unreasonably dangerous. Dambacher by Dambacher v. Mallis, 336 Pa.Super. 22, 485 A.2d 408, 422 (1984). A product is defective when it is not safe for its intended use, i.e., the product left the supplier's control lacking any element necessary to make it safe for its intended use. Id. 485 A.2d at 426. See also Kupetz v. Deere & Co., 435 Pa.Super. 16, 644 A.2d 1213, 1218 (1994). Court control of jury action is more extensive in products liability cases than in the ordinary negligence action. Dambacher, 485 A.2d at 425 (citation omitted). In Azzarello v. Black Bros. Co., Inc., 480 Pa. 547, 391 A.2d 1020 (1978), our Supreme Court held that the question of whether a product is "unreasonably dangerous" is a question of law to be decided by the trial court, the resolution of which depends upon considerations of social policy, id. at 547, 391 A.2d at 1026, including weighing factors such as "the gravity of the danger posed by the challenged design; the likelihood that such danger would occur; the mechanical feasibility of a safer design; and the adverse consequences to the product and to the consumer that would result from a safer design." Riley v. Warren Mfg., Inc., 455 Pa.Super. 384, 688 A.2d 221, 225 (1997).

Accordingly, in cases such as this, it is the function of the court to determine first whether the imposition of strict liability would be justified under the plaintiff's version of the facts. Only after this determination is made will the case be submitted to the jury to decide whether the facts of the case support the averments of the complaint. Azzarello, 480 Pa. at 558, 391 A.2d at 1026. It is not the purpose of strict liability under § 402A to impose absolute liability on the product's manufacturer or supplier since those entities are guarantors, not insurers, of the product's safety, Davis v. Berwind, 547 Pa. 260, 267, 690 A.2d 186, 190 (1997), meaning that the manufacturer must at least provide a product which is safe for its intended use. Azzarello, 480 Pa. at 559, 391 A.2d at 1027. As such, there are "certain products [and] certain risks that as a matter of law, or social policy, cannot support the imposition of strict liability." Dambacher, 485 A.2d at 422. "Indeed, the term 'unreasonably dangerous' was included in § 402A specifically to obviate any contention that a manufacturer of a product with inherent possibilities of harm would become automatically responsible for every harm that could conceivably happen from the use of the product." Riley, 688 A.2d at 228.

In the instant case, Appellant first contends that the Acura was defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous since it lacked proper safety devices which would either permit the front seats to withstand the impact of shifting cargo upon collision or otherwise anchor or restrain the cargo inside the vehicle. Appellant essentially claims that because the Acura was advertised as a vehicle able to carry cargo without restraints or restriction as to weight and size, Appellees should be held strictly liable for failing to protect Appellant from injuries he sustained from the impact of the gas canister. The trial court disagreed and found that, under an Azzarello analysis, the imposition of strict liability was not justified since the transportation of an industrial, commercial gas canister was not an intended use of the Acura for which the manufacturer was required to provide safety devices. The court reasoned that "it defies logic to consider [the transportation of] a 180 pound industrial tank of pressurized gas is an intended use for a two door hatchback passenger vehicle.... If plaintiff's counsel were to have his way, transporting any cargo that could fit into the back of the vehicle ... would be considered an intended use merely because the back seats folded down to accommodate it." (Trial Ct. Op. at 7). We agree.

Although it is true that the lack of proper safety devices can constitute a design defect under § 402A, "this rule should only apply to allow recovery where the absence of the safety device caused an accidental injury which was of the type that could be expected from normal use of the product;" a manufacturer is entitled to believe that the product will be used in its usual manner, and "need not be the insurer for the extraordinary risks an operator might choose to take." Bartkewich v. Billinger, 432 Pa. 351, 356, 247 A.2d 603, 605-06 (1968) (emphasis added). Our law is clear that "liability may be imposed only on proof that the product lacked an element necessary to make it safe for its intended use." Dambacher, 485 A.2d at 424 (emphasis added). Indeed, "any motorized vehicle carries certain substantial risks to the user, and such products are not unreasonably dangerous merely because they may be involved in accidents or because an operator may be injured during their use." Riley, 688 A.2d at 229.

Here, it is undisputed that the Acura was equipped with folding rear seats to allow greater flexibility in its cargo-carrying capability. Although Appellant claims that Appellees should be held responsible for failing to provide safety devices and limitations on the size and type of...