Jennifer Jones v. Ryobi, Ltd A.B. Dick Corporation

37 F.3d 423

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: November 21, 1994
• Docket: 93-2719
• Status: Published

Opinions

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

Jennifer Jones was employed at Business Cards Tomorrow (BCT) as the operator of a small printing press known as an offset duplicator. Jones seriously injured her left hand when she caught it in the moving parts of the press. Alleging negligence and strict product liability for defective design, Jones brought this diversity lawsuit against Ryobi, Ltd. (the manufacturer) and A.B. Dick Corporation (the distributor). At trial, Jones dropped her negligence claims but she later moved to amend her complaint to reassert her negligence claim against the distributor. The district court denied Jones’s motion to amend. At the close of Jones’s case, the manufacturer and the distributor moved for judgment as a matter of law (JAML). The district court granted the manufacturer’s and the distributor’s motions for JAML. Jones appeals and we affirm.

The press involved in Jones’s injury operates by passing blank paper through several moving parts, imprinting an image on the paper, and dispensing the printed paper through upper and lower “eject wheels.” To avoid streaking the freshly printed image, on each job the operator must adjust the eject wheels to ensure the wheels do not touch the freshly printed area. The press was manufactured and sold to BCT equipped with both a plastic guard that prevented the operator from reaching into the moving parts to adjust the eject wheels, and an electric interlock switch that automatically shut off the press if the guard was opened. Sometime after the press was manufactured and delivered to BCT, the guard was removed and the interlock switch was disabled to allow the press to run without the guard. Because this modification increased production by saving the few seconds required to stop and to restart the press when the operator adjusted the eject wheels, the modification was a common practice in the printing industry.

Jones learned to operate the press by watching other BCT employees. Jones testified she knew the guard was missing and knew it was dangerous to have her hands near the unguarded moving parts, but her supervisor pressured her to save time by adjusting the eject wheels while the press was running. Jones feared she would be fired if she took the time to stop the press. While Jones was adjusting the eject wheels on the running press, a noise startled her. Jones jumped and her left hand was caught in the press’s moving parts and crushed.

In granting the manufacturer’s and the distributor’s motions for JAML, the district court relied on the open and obvious nature of the asserted danger. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A emt. i (1965) (consumer expectation test). The district court did not reach the manufacturer’s and the distributor’s other grounds for JAML. We review the district court’s grant of JAML de novo; thus, we may affirm on another ground. See McAnally v. Gildersleeve, 16 F.3d 1493, 1496 (8th Cir.1994); B.B. v. Continental Ins. Co., 8 F.3d 1288, 1291 (8th Cir.1993). Because we conclude the district court’s grant of JAML was proper on an alternate ground, we need not consider the ground relied on by the district court.

To recover on a theory of strict liability for defective design under Missouri law, Jones must prove she was injured as a direct result of a defect that existed when the press was sold. Jasinski v. Ford Motor Co., 824 S.W.2d 454, 455 (Mo.Ct.App.1992) (explaining elements of defective design claim). Jones had the burden to show the press had not been modified to create a defect that could have proximately caused her injury. Id. Jones failed to meet this burden because her evidence showed the press had been substantially modified by removing the safety guard and disabling the interlock switch, and showed the modification caused her injury. When a third party’s modification makes a safe product unsafe, the seller is relieved of liability even if the modification is foreseeable. Gomez v. Clark Equip. Co., 743 S.W.2d 429, 432 (Mo.Ct.App.1987). Jones did not show who modified the press, but her evidence clearly showed that a third party, not the manufacturer or the distributor, was responsible for the modification.

Although the manufacturer provided tools for general maintenance of the press that could also be used to remove the guard, we do not believe this made the manufacturer responsible for the guard’s removal. Jones produced no evidence that any representative of the manufacturer or the distributor removed the guard or instructed BCT to remove the guard from the press involved in Jones’s injury. Indeed, the distributor’s service representative testified he told BCT’s owner several times the guard should be replaced, but BCT’s owner shrugged off the suggestion. Because BCT knew the guard was missing and the interlock switch was disabled, but did not follow the distributor’s advice to repair the disabled safety features, the distributor’s service work on the press did not extend the distributor’s liability to defects that were not present when the press was sold. See Winters v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 554 S.W.2d 565, 572-73 (Mo.Ct.App.1977) (seller’s servicing of product has effect of redelivery only if plaintiff produces evidence no third party altered product to create defect causing injury).

Jones argues the modification rule does not apply because the press was not safe even before the modification. We disagree. The press was safe before the modification because the press would not run without the safety guard covering the moving parts. The fact BCT encouraged Jones to operate the press without the safety features to increase production does not show the press was sold “in a defective condition [and thus] was unreasonably dangerous when put to a reasonably anticipated use.” Jasinski, 824 S.W.2d at 455. Although several witnesses testified the press operated more efficiently without the safety guard and interlock switch, other witnesses testified similar presses operated satisfactorily with the designed safety features intact. The press could be operated safely without removing the guard because the eject wheels did not have to be adjusted while the press was running. . Jones’s expert witness opined the press was unsafe as designed, but the expert based his view on the printing industry’s tendency to disable the press’s safety features to achieve greater production. Thus, the expert’s testimony does not show the press was unreasonably dangerous when used in the same condition as when it was sold. See id.

Because Jones’s evidence showed a third party’s modification, not a defect existing when the press was sold, was the sole cause of her injury, her strict product liability claim for defective design fails as a matter of law. See Gomez, 743 S.W.2d at 433. The district court thus properly granted the manufacturer’s and the distributor’s JAML motions.

Finally, Jones contends the district court committed error in refusing to allow her to amend her complaint to reassert her negligence claim against the distributor. We disagree. The district court did not abuse its discretion to deny the amendment because the evidence presented did not show color-able grounds for Jones’s negligence theory. See Williams v. Little Rock Mun. Water Works, 21 F.3d 218, 224 (8th Cir.1994).

Accordingly, we affirm.