Conder v. Hull Lift Truck, Inc.

405 N.E.2d 538, 76 Ind. Dec. 381, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1492
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 5, 1980
Docket3-377A71
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 405 N.E.2d 538 (Conder v. Hull Lift Truck, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conder v. Hull Lift Truck, Inc., 405 N.E.2d 538, 76 Ind. Dec. 381, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1492 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

CHIPMAN, Judge.

This appeal involves a product liability action brought by appellants Raymond and Wanda Conder for injuries sustained by Raymond when a forklift truck he was riding overturned. The jury’s verdict was in favor of the leasing agent, Hull Lift Truck, Inc., and the manufacturer, Allis-Chalmers Corp. The Conders appeal, raising the following issues for our review:

1. Was the verdict in favor of Hull Lift Truck, Inc. contrary to law,
2. Did the trial court err in giving the following instructions offered by Al-lis-Chalmers:
a. Instruction No. 4, which said a manufacturer is not required to foresee that its product will be substantially changed,
b. Instruction No. 5 which told the jury that under the law of strict liability, Allis-Chalmers was not a guarantor in regard to the quality of its product.
c. Instruction No. 7, which said if the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury was the plaintiff’s own conduct, the verdict should be in favor of Allis-Chalmers,
d. Instruction No. 8 on superseding cause, and
*541 e. Instruction No. 10 which said Allis-Chalmers was not required to warn of dangers resulting from misuse or substantial change of its product;
3. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to give the following jury instructions offered by Conders:
a. Instruction No. 9 on willful and/or wanton misconduct, and
b. Instruction No. 19 defining “substantial change” as that term relates to strict products liability law.

Affirmed in part, reversed and remanded in part.

FACTS

On August 24, 1972, Raymond Conder was operating a forklift truck which his employer, Globemaster Mobile Homes, had leased from defendant Hull Lift Truck, Inc. (Hull). The forklift was manufactured by the defendant Allis-Chalmers Corporation. As Conder was driving outside the Globe-master factory, he approached a rough area in the road where rain water had created a small washout. Although Conder took his foot off the accelerator pedal in order to decelerate, it did not release. His first reaction was to attempt to use his right foot to “unstick” the peddle, but his efforts failed. Traveling at approximately seven (7) miles per hour, (the vehicle’s top speed in low gear) the forklift entered the washed-out area of the road and tipped over, landing on Conder and pinning him to the ground. The resulting injuries caused the plaintiff to be a paraplegic.

On September 11, 1972, Joseph Bokon, a mechanic, examined the forklift truck to determine whether there had been a mechanical failure or whether Conder’s accident had been caused by human error. His examination disclosed that the linkage between the truck’s governor and carburetor, specifically the part of the linkage referred to throughout the record as the “adjustable governor control arm”, had been misadjust-ed. It was this misadjustment in the governor linkage which allowed the governor to work just the opposite of its intended function, i. e., instead of slowing the vehicle down, the governor caused the forklift’s carburetor to run “wide open,” resulting in acceleration to maximum R.P.M. Bokon also found a torsion spring on the carburetor was broken; this spring would have prevented the governor malfunction had it not been in the state of disrepair, notwithstanding the maladjusted governor control arm.

Other evidence showed the forklift in question was leased by Hull to Globemaster on August 17, 1972, eight days before Con-der’s accident. No maintenance was performed, nor were any adjustments made by Globemaster on the forklift during this period. According to the Globemaster-Hull lease agreement, all maintenance, when necessary, was to be performed by Hull.

Conder used the forklift on the 17th, and had no trouble with the accelerator pedal. Between August 17 and August 24, Conder did not hear of any other Globemaster employee having problems with the forklift’s accelerator pedal; however, unbeknownst to Conder, two other employees had in fact experienced the very same uncontrolled acceleration problem between the 17th and the 24th. Unfortunately, no one communicated this fact to Conder.

Conders brought this action based upon theories of strict liability, negligence and willful and/or wanton misconduct. As against Allis-Chalmers, Conders claimed the forklift’s design was defective and unreasonably dangerous in two respects: 1) a foreseeable misadjustment of the governor linkage resulted in uncontrolled acceleration, and 2) no warnings were issued to advise of this potential hazard. Conders also alleged Allis-Chalmers was negligent in its design of the forklift and in its failure to warn of the hazards of linkage misadjustment. ' In a third count, plaintiffs accused Allis-Chalmers of willful and wanton misconduct for failure to warn of the hazard in question.

As against Hull Lift Truck, Conders claimed the forklift truck was defective and unreasonably dangerous in that the torsion spring on the carburetor was either defec *542 tive and/or broken when delivered to Globemaster, and the carburetor-governor linkage was grossly out of adjustment. Plaintiffs also alleged Hull negligently maintained the forklift, and negligently trained its mechanics.

The case was tried by a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of both defendants. Conders’ Motion to Correct Errors was overruled on December 27, 1976, and this appeal follows.

I.VERDICT FOR HULL LIFT TRUCK, INC.

Conders argue the verdict rendered in favor of Hull is contrary to law for the reason that uncontradicted evidence shows Hull was strictly liable for injuries caused by the defective and unreasonably dangerous condition of the forklift. As this is an appeal from a negative verdict, this court cannot reverse as to Hull unless the evidence is without conflict and leads to only one conclusion, the trial court reached a contrary conclusion, and reasonable men could not have found as the trial court did. Clarke Realty, Inc. v. Clarke, (1976) Ind.App., 354 N.E.2d 779; Columbia Realty Co. v. Harrelson, (1973) 155 Ind.App. 604, 293 N.E.2d 804. We find there was a question of fact for the jury which precludes our reversal.

Conders argue each of the following elements of strict liability were established by the evidence as a matter of law:

1. Defendant Hull was in the business of leasing forklift trucks and did lease a forklift truck which was expected to and did reach the plaintiff Raymond Conder in substantially the same condition as it was leased to his employer.
2. Conder was the user of the forklift.
3. The forklift was in a defective condition and unreasonably dangerous when it left the possession of Hull.
4.

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Bluebook (online)
405 N.E.2d 538, 76 Ind. Dec. 381, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conder-v-hull-lift-truck-inc-indctapp-1980.