Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. v. Thornton

• Decision Date: 03 May 1991
• Citation: 579 So.2d 619
• Parties: YAMAHA MOTOR COMPANY, LTD., and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. v. William L. THORNTON. 89-1618.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 619

579 So.2d 619

YAMAHA MOTOR COMPANY, LTD., and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. v. William L. THORNTON.

89-1618.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

May 3, 1991.

Bibb Allen, James B. Carlson and Deborah Alley Smith of Rives & Peterson, Birmingham, for appellants.

Frank M. Wilson of Beasley, Wilson, Allen, Mendelsohn & Jemison, Montgomery, for appellee.

ON APPLICATION FOR REHEARING

SHORES, Justice.

The opinion of March 22, 1991, is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor:

This is a wrongful death/products liability case involving an 11-year-old boy, Keyeion A. Thornton. Keyeion was killed on Christmas Day 1987 when he lost control of his new Yamaha BW80S motorcycle and crashed into the window of a neighbor's house. The BW80S owner's manual described the vehicle as "intended for beginning riders."

William L. Thornton testified that he spent approximately 45 minutes Christmas morning going over the owner's manual with his son Keyeion and that they then took the motorcycle outside, where he demonstrated the controls to his son. He said that either he or his brother was supervising the child at all times. The child wore his helmet and successfully rode the vehicle for over an hour.

Around 10:00 a.m., Keyeion asked his father if he could ride the motorcycle to the end of the block. His father agreed, but instructed him to ride only to the end of the block and to be careful. Keyeion rode to the end of the block and turned around. A young child on a scooter rode out in front of Keyeion, creating an emergency. His father testified that the engine on the motorcycle sounded much louder than it had sounded at any time earlier that day. He screamed for his son to hit the brakes. Eyewitnesses testified that they saw Keyeion attempting to put on the brakes when the vehicle was going approximately 30 m.p.h. The father reached the neighbor's house at almost the same time Keyeion crashed into it. Keyeion was unconscious; he never regained consciousness and died the following day.

The father sued Yamaha Motor Corporation, Ltd., as the designer and manufacturer of the BW80S motorcycle, and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., as the distributor. ¹ (Those two defendants shall be referred to together as "Yamaha.") The father's complaint was based upon the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine ("AEMLD") and on negligence and wantonness theories. ²

Yamaha denied the material allegations of the complaint and pleaded the affirmative defenses of assumption of risk and contributory negligence. Yamaha later amended its answer to question the constitutionality of punitive damages awards under Alabama's Wrongful Death Statute.

The case proceeded to trial on April 16, 1990. Yamaha moved for a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiff's evidence. The trial court denied the motion. This motion was made again at the close of all the evidence. The trial court again denied the motion and submitted the case to the jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, awarding $750,000 in damages. The court entered a judgment on that verdict.

Yamaha timely filed motions for j.n.o.v. and for a new trial and/or a remittitur. These motions were overruled by the trial judge, who entered a written order on the post-judgment motions in accordance with this Court's opinions in Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374 (Ala.1986), and its progeny. Yamaha appeals.

We first consider Yamaha's contention that the plaintiff failed to introduce substantial evidence to prove his claim under the AEMLD. This Court established the elements of an AEMLD claim in Casrell v. Altec Industries, Inc., 335 So.2d 128, 132-33 (Ala.1976), and Atkins v. American Motors Corp., 335 So.2d 134, 141 (Ala.1976):

"To establish liability, a plaintiff must show:

"(1) he suffered injury or damages to himself or his property by one who sells a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the plaintiff as the ultimate user or consumer, if

"(a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and

"(b) it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold.

"(2) Showing these elements, the plaintiff has proved a prima facie case although

"(a) the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product, and

"(b) the user or consumer has not bought the product from, or entered into any contractual relation with, the seller."

Casrell, supra, at 132-33; Atkins, supra, at 141. The question whether a product is "unreasonably dangerous" is for the trier of fact, just as a question of negligence is. Casrell, supra, at 133.

Yamaha also contends that the plaintiff failed to produce substantial evidence on his negligence and wantonness claims. Substantial evidence is "evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved." West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989).

Thus, we look to the record in this case to determine what evidence was presented to the jury. The record reflects that Keyeion was killed while riding a Yamaha BW80S motorcycle. This motorcycle was designed, manufactured and distributed by Yamaha. A Yamaha representative admitted that it was designed to expand Yamaha's market to children as young as five years old. William Thornton purchased the motorcycle from Hunter Cycle Company.

The owners's manual that accompanied the motorcycle depicts a power reduction plate. This part, actually a gasket and an attached plate, is normally inserted during the manufacture of the motorcycle into the exhaust port to reduce the power generated by the engine. When the plate is in place, the top speed of the motorcycle is 25 m.p.h. When it is not in place, the vehicle can obtain a speed of more than 40 m.p.h.

The motorcycle sold to William Thornton was shipped from Japan to Jacksonville, Florida, and then to Hunter Cycle. The motorcycles are shipped partially disassembled, two to a crate, to be assembled at the dealership. Yamaha's instructions to the dealer do not instruct the dealer to make any adjustment in the area where the power reduction plate is located. The service technician who assembled the motorcycle at Hunter Cycle testified that neither he nor any other employee removed the power reduction plate.

After the crash, the motorcycle was taken to the Thornton home and stored, undisturbed. William Thornton turned this cycle over to his attorneys, who delivered the cycle to John Sims, a mechanical engineer, in June 1988. Sims testified that he placed the motorcycle in his warehouse and that it remained there, undisturbed.

The trial court entered a protective order, at Yamaha's request, prohibiting any disassembly of the motorcycle unless representatives of all parties were present. The motorcycle was delivered by Thornton's attorneys to Scott Guthrie, a motorcycle accident reconstruction expert, in Tallahassee, Florida. A joint inspection of the motorcycle was held at Guthrie's laboratory. When the bike was disassembled, there was no power reduction plate in place.

Dr. Leslie Ball, a systems engineer, testified as an expert in product safety, human factors engineering, and safety management. He identified a design defect in the BW80S motorcycle that he defined as "emergency induced acceleration." He testified that the natural human reaction to an emergency on a motorcycle is to grip with the hands in a motion that turns the hands towards the body. Because of the design of the throttle of this motorcycle, the result of this natural reaction, he said, is to rotate the throttle to produce full acceleration. Dr. Ball testified that this motorcycle was unreasonably dangerous because there was no warning concerning the hazard produced by this design defect.

Dr. Ball testified that this hazard could have been designed out of the vehicle by using a thumb throttle. This type of throttle is used on all-terrain vehicles by several manufacturers and is not prohibited by any federal standard. Alternatively, Dr. Ball suggested an engine stop switch operated by the knee, or an adjustable speed governor.

A Yamaha employee testified as to how the power reduction plate is inserted during manufacturing procedures. He testified that if the procedures had been followed, any deficiency in the motorcycle would have been documented. He further testified that a completed motorcycle is operated as part of a final inspection.

Yamaha also presented expert testimony that the power reduction plate must have been removed after manufacture, because there were markings on the assembly where the power reduction plate is located, indicating that the plate had at one time been attached, and there were marks on the gasket indicating that an instrument had been inserted to remove the plate.

Thus, the issue of whether Yamaha had failed to install the power reduction plate during manufacture or whether the plate had been removed by someone after manufacture was an issue presented to the jury for resolution. The jury resolved this issue in favor of the plaintiff.

We hold that the plaintiff met his burden of proof under the AEMLD. Our review of the record reveals that the plaintiff produced substantial evidence from which the jury could infer that the motorcycle designed and manufactured by Yamaha and sold to William Thornton was sold in a defective condition, was unreasonably dangerous, and reached the user without substantial change in the condition in which it was manufactured and sold.

We also hold that the plaintiff met the burden of proof required to sustain his claim of negligence. "The elements for recovery under a negligence theory are: (1) duty, (2) breach of duty, (3) proximate cause, and (4) injury." Jones v. Newton, 454 So.2d 1345, 1348 (Ala.1984), citing Mascot Coal Co. v. Garrett, 156 Ala. 290, 47...