In re Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.

134 F. App'x 86
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJune 6, 2005
DocketNo. 04-1611
StatusPublished

This text of 134 F. App'x 86 (In re Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., 134 F. App'x 86 (7th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER

Valerie Jett was injured in an automobile accident while driving her Ford Explorer. She later sued Bridgestone/Firestone (“Firestone”), alleging that the tread on one of her Explorer’s Firestone tires separated and caused the accident. The allegedly defective tire was not preserved, however, and no expert ever examined the tire. The district court granted Firestone’s motion for summary judgment, reasoning that Jett had not presented sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that a defect in the tire caused Jett’s accident. For the reasons that follow, we agree and affirm.

I. Background

Valerie Jett purchased a new Ford Explorer in October 1997 that came equipped with Firestone Wilderness AT tires. On March 26,1998, while driving her Explorer on a state highway in Arkansas, Jett heard a “tapping” noise emanating from the rear tire on the passenger side of her vehicle. According to Jett, it then “went out of control, the Ford Explorer began to spin, and [she] woke up in the hospital.”

After the accident, Jett went to a salvage yard and saw her vehicle, where she observed that the tread had separated from the body of the tire on the rear passenger tire. The separated tread was underneath the vehicle, however, and she could not recover the damaged tire. Later, her Explorer was sold to a second salvage yard. When she visited the second salvage yard, she was told her vehicle had been sold and no longer belonged to her.

Approximately two years later, Jett learned from newspaper and television reports that some Firestone Wilderness AT tires had experienced tread separation problems. She stated in an affidavit that had she known in March 1998 about these problems, “I would have made sure that I could have recovered the tire.” Firestone later recalled certain of its Wilderness AT tires that had been provided with Ford Explorers. By the time Jett learned of the recall, she could not locate her vehicle, and the allegedly defective tire was not preserved. Jett filed this products liability action against Firestone in federal court in Arkansas alleging strict liability, negligence, and breach of an implied warranty of merchantability.1 This case was then transferred to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, where similar cases had been consolidated under an order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. See 28 U.S.C. § 1407.

Firestone filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Jett had not provided sufficient evidence that any defect in the tire caused her accident. Along with her June 27, 2002 response to Firestone’s motion for summary judgment, Jett attached as exhibits an affidavit from Kenneth Pearl dated June 8, 2002, which had as an exhibit Pearl’s “Firestone Tire Report” dated January 30, 2002;2 portions of the deposition testimony of Vivian Brown [88]*88and Kenneth Brown; and her own affidavits dated April 24, 2002 and May 20, 2002. (R. 11.) On October 31, 2002, Jett filed a supplemental affidavit, as well as a supplemental affidavit from Pearl. Firestone filed a motion to strike these supplemental affidavits. The district court granted Firestone’s motion for summary judgment, and, in light of this ruling, did not rule on Firestone’s motions to strike these affidavits and other materials.

II. Analysis

Firestone maintains the district court properly granted summary judgment in its favor because, it argues, Jett has not sufficiently shown that any defect in a Firestone tire was a proximate cause of her injury. Firestone also contends that Jett relies on documents that either are not in the record or are not properly in the record. We will begin by reviewing the district court’s grant of summary judgment under the assumption that all the documents on which Jett relies are properly in the record.

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Davis v. G.N. Mortg. Co., 396 F.3d 869, 877 (7th Cir.2005). In a case such as this one where our jurisdiction is premised on diversity, summary judgment should be granted when there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), and “the non-moving party lacks enough evidence to sustain a jury verdict according to the federal standard: whether reasonable minds could deem the evidence adequate under the governing [state] substantive rule.” Knoblauch v. DEF Exp. Corp., 86 F.3d 684, 687 (7th Cir.1996) (quoting Mayer v. Gary Partners & Co., 29 F.3d 330, 334 (7th Cir.1994)). If the non-moving party fails to make a sufficient showing on an element for which she has the burden of proof, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The parties agree that the substantive law of Arkansas applies.

Under Arkansas law, to recover under a strict liability theory of product liability, “a plaintiff must prove that the product as supplied was defective so as to render it unreasonably dangerous and that such defect was the proximate cause of the accident.” Yielding v. Chrysler Motor Co., 301 Ark. 271, 783 S.W.2d 353, 355 (1990); Ark.Code Ann. § 4-86-102. A plaintiff may prove the product’s defective condition by showing defective design, defective manufacture, or inadequate warning. Harrell v. Madison County Miss. Mote Co., Inc., 370 F.3d 760, 762 (8th Cir.2004) (applying Arkansas law); Hill v. Searle Laboratories, Inc., 884 F.2d 1064, 1066-67 (8th Cir.1989) (same). Here, Jett alleges that the Firestone tire on her vehicle was defectively designed or manufactured.

Like strict liability claims, negligence and warranty claims brought under Arkansas law also require that the plaintiff prove that her injuries were proximately caused by the defendant’s product. Mason v. Jackson, 323 Ark. 252, 914 S.W.2d 728, 730 (1996) (negligence); Lakeview Country Club, Inc. v. Superior Products, 325 Ark. 218, 926 S.W.2d 428, 431 (1996) (breach of implied warranty of merchantability). Arkansas law provides that proximate cause can be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Brady, 319 Ark. 301, 891 S.W.2d 351, 353 (1995); Yielding, 783 S.W.2d at 355. Because proximate cause can be shown by circumstantial evidence, the absence of the tire is not fatal to Jett’s claim.

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Related

Connie Hill v. Searle Laboratories
884 F.2d 1064 (Eighth Circuit, 1989)
St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Brady
891 S.W.2d 351 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1995)
Ford Motor Co. v. Massey
855 S.W.2d 897 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1993)
Mason v. Jackson
914 S.W.2d 728 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1996)
Lakeview Country Club, Inc. v. Superior Products
926 S.W.2d 428 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1996)
Yielding v. Chrysler Motor Co., Inc.
783 S.W.2d 353 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1990)
Mixon v. Chrysler Corp.
663 S.W.2d 713 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1984)
Higgins v. General Motors Corp.
465 S.W.2d 898 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
134 F. App'x 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bridgestonefirestone-inc-ca7-2005.