Fields v. Walpole Tire Service, L.L.C.

37 So. 3d 549, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 726
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 19, 2010
DocketNo. 45,206-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 37 So. 3d 549 (Fields v. Walpole Tire Service, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fields v. Walpole Tire Service, L.L.C., 37 So. 3d 549, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 726 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, J.

bln this products liability action, plaintiff, Cecil Fields, appeals a jury verdict in favor of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (“Goodyear”). For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

In September 2003, Goodyear manufactured a G362 UNISTEEL radial truck tire in its plant located in Topeka, Kansas. Subsequently, the tire was purchased by Dontrell Trucking, LLC (“Dontrell Trucking”) and placed into service on one of its [553]*553trucks. In March 2006, the tire had been in service for approximately 100,000 miles, so Dontrell Trucking sent the tire to Walpole Tire Service, Inc. (“Walpole”) to be retreaded. Walpole retreaded the tire and it was remounted on the truck.

Plaintiff was employed by Dontrell Trucking as a driver of a semi-tractor-trailer. On March 80, 2006, approximately two weeks after the tire was retreaded, plaintiff drove the truck with the retreaded tire from Farmerville to Shreveport. After plaintiff arrived at his destination, he parked the truck and exited it. As he was walking past the truck, a “zipper rupture” occurred in the tire. The pressure from the rupture knocked plaintiff to the ground. As a result of the incident, plaintiff sustained serious injuries.

On April 2, 2007, plaintiff filed a products liability action, naming Goodyear and Walpole as defendants. Plaintiff alleged that the defendants failed to properly mount and/or inspect the tire; failed to properly manufacture the tire; failed to produce a product free from defects; and failed to produce a reasonably safe product. Dontrell Trucking and its | .¿workers’ compensation insurer, Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company (“Stone-trust”), intervened in the lawsuit, asserting a workers’ compensation lien.1

On October B, 2008, plaintiff filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss his claims against Walpole with prejudice, “while reserving rights against any remaining defendants) to the suit.” The trial court granted the motion, and the matter proceeded to trial against Goodyear. Following a lengthy trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Goodyear, finding that the tire did not possess “a defect which rendered it unreasonably dangerous.” In accordance with the jury’s verdict, the trial court signed a judgment in favor of Goodyear and against plaintiff and the interve-nors, Dontrell Trucking and Stonetrust, dismissing all claims. Plaintiff and the intervenors appeal.

DISCUSSION

Motion to Supplement Record

|sOn appeal, plaintiff filed a “Motion to Supplement the Record on Appeal,” arguing that “newly discovered” evidence proved “that Goodyear was aware of a defect in the G362 and [an] alternative design [existed].” Plaintiff argues that in 2005, a Florida appeals court ordered Goodyear to make certain documents public, and Goodyear failed to do so. On the morning of oral argument in this matter, plaintiff filed a second motion to supplement the record, accompanied by an affi[554]*554davit from an attorney in Florida and documents from the 2005 Florida case.2 Goodyear filed an opposition to plaintiffs motion. This court deferred both motions for consideration with the merits of the appeal.

A record on appeal which is incorrect or contains misstatements, irregularities or informalities, or which omits a material part of the trial record, may be corrected even after the record is transmitted to the appellate court, by the parties by stipulation, by the trial court or by the order of the appellate court. LSA-C.C.P. art. 2132. The purpose of LSA-C.C.P. art. 2132 is to assure that the record on appeal is correct, irrespective of why or by whose fault it is found to be inaccurate. See, Johnson v. Williams, 268 So.2d 522 (La.App. 3d Cir.1972).

In White v. West Carroll Hospital, Inc., 613 So.2d 150 (La.1992), the plaintiffs sought to supplement the appellate record with the record in |4another lawsuit. This court refused to consider the record in the prior lawsuit, and the Supreme Court affirmed, stating:

To receive the record in [the] prior suit ... in evidence in this suit would constitute the taking of evidence and the exercise of original jurisdiction in a matter in which neither the court of appeal nor this court is vested with authority to do so. This is not a matter dealing with correcting erroneous records or supplementing records which are deficient as to matters actually introduced in evidence.

Id. at 154. See also Doe v. Dunn, 39,179 (La.App.2d Cir.12/22/04), 890 So.2d 727, writ denied, 2005-0443 (La.4/29/05), 901 So.2d 1066.

In this case, plaintiffs motion does not concern the correction of an erroneous record or supplementation of a record which is deficient as to matters actually introduced into evidence in the trial court. To receive the documents offered by plaintiff would constitute the taking of new evidence and the exercise of original jurisdiction in this matter. This court cannot consider evidence which was not part of the record before the trial court. Accordingly, plaintiffs motion is denied.

Defect in Construction or Composition

Plaintiff contends the jury erred in concluding that the tire did not contain a defect which rendered it unreasonably dangerous. Plaintiff argues that the evidence showed that one of the protector belts on the tire was off-center, and plaintiffs expert testified that the off-centeredness of the belt constituted a defect which existed when the tire was manufactured. Therefore, plaintiff maintains that the jury’s verdict was erroneous.

In reviewing the factual findings of a trial court, we are limited to a determination of manifest error. Hill v. Morehouse Parish Police Jury, 95-p.100 (La.1/16/96), 666 So.2d 612. It is well settled that an appellate court may not disturb a jury’s finding of fact unless the record establishes that a factual, reasonable basis does not exist and the finding is [555]*555clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Syrie v. Schilhab, 96-1027 (La.5/20/97), 693 So.2d 1173. An appellate court must do more than simply review the record for some evidence which supports or controverts the findings. Stobart v. State, Dept. of Transp. & Dev., 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). It must instead review the record in its entirety to determine whether the factual findings were clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Id. Significantly, the issue to be resolved is not whether the jury was right or wrong, but whether its conclusion was reasonable. Id. Thus, an appellate court, after a full review of the record, may not reverse reasonable findings, even if we had weighed the evidence differently sitting as the trier of fact. See, Siverd v. Permanent General Ins. Co., 2005-0973 (La.2/22/06), 922 So.2d 497.

To maintain a successful products liability action under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (“the LPLA”), a plaintiff must establish four elements: (1) that the defendant is a manufacturer of the product; (2) that the claimant’s damage was proximately caused by a characteristic of the product; (3) that this characteristic made the product “unreasonably dangerous;” and (4) that the claimant’s damage arose from a reasonably anticipated use of the product by the claimant or someone else. LSA-R.S. 9:2800.54(A).

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Fields v. WALPOLE TIRE SERVICE, LLC
37 So. 3d 549 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2010)

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37 So. 3d 549, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 726, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fields-v-walpole-tire-service-llc-lactapp-2010.