Johnson v. Auto Handling Corp.

523 S.W.3d 452, 2017 WL 2774620, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 260
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 27, 2017
DocketNo. SC 95777
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 523 S.W.3d 452 (Johnson v. Auto Handling Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Auto Handling Corp., 523 S.W.3d 452, 2017 WL 2774620, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 260 (Mo. 2017).

Opinion

Laura Denvir Stith, -Judge

Defendant Cottrell, Inc., appeals a jury verdict entered in favor of the plaintiff, Robert Johnson, in a products liability case, on his claims of negligence .and strict liability failure to warn. Mr. Johnson cross-appeals, challenging the exclusion of evidence of other Cottrell accidents and a directed verdict in favor of the other defendant, Auto Handling Corporation, on all of his claims.

The trial court erred in granting a directed verdict to Auto Handling, as Mr. Johnson made a submissible case that Auto Handling negligently inspected and maintained the tractor trailer driven by Mr. Johnson. The trial court also erred in submitting Mr. Johnson’s negligence claims against Cottrell based on MAI 17.02 rather than MAI 25.09, which is mandatory for use where, as here, the plaintiff alleges negligent manufacturing, design, or warning about a product defect that caused plaintiffs accident and injuries. It further erred in submitting the negligence instruction because it allowed the jury to find for Mr. Johnson based on evidentiary rather than ultimate facts. For these reasons, the trial court’s judgment is reversed and the case is remanded.

1. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Mr. Johnson was employed by Jack Cooper Transport Company, Inc., as a vehicle hauler—the driver of a tractor trailer that transported new automobiles. The trailer was manufactured by Cottrell. In his amended petition, Mr. Johnson alleged an accident occurred in the early morning hours of July 3, 2007, involving the chain and ratchet system on the trailer used.to “tie-down” vehicles being transported on the trailer.

On the morning of the accident, Mr. Johnson’s pre-driving inspection revealed a loose “tie-down” chain on one of the vehicles being transported. As he attempted to tighten the chain, the idler through which it was threaded broke,. su4denly releasing tension on the chain and causing Mr. Johnson to fall onto his tailbone, causing him pain and injury. Mr. Johnson subsequently sought medical care for back pain resulting from the accident. ..He was diagnosed with a herniated lumbar disk that was repaired by surgery, a discectomy, in January 2008. Mr. Johnson also sustained other injuries both before an.d after the idler accident,1 but the record contains substantial evidence he has not recovered from the.báck injury caused, in whole or in part, by the idler accident.

[458]*458Mr. Johnson brought this action against Cottrell, the manufacturer of the trailer. He claimed the accident was caused by an idler weld and a manual chain and ratchet system negligently designed by Cottrell so as to require the use of more force in securing the vehicles than the design of the system and the strength of the weld on the idler could withstand.. He also alleged Cottrell gave' inadequate warnings as to the risks involved in using the idler as designed. Additionally, he variously claimed that Cottrell was negligent in failing to review, analyze, and communicate industry injury and testing data related to the chain and ratchet tie-down system to his employer.

Mr. Johnson also sued Auto Handling, a company contracted by Jack Cooper to maintain and repair thé tractor trailers, alleging negligent inspection and maintenance of the trailer, negligent repair of the ■idler, and negligent failure to warn as to the allegedly dangerous design of the original idler weld and of the" repair weld.

Jack Cooper had truck transport terminals located near auto manufacturing plants across the country. Many of these terminals, including the Fairfax terminal near Kansas City, Kansas, used exclusively Jack Cooper mechanics, but three of the terminals, including the Wentzville, Missouri, terminal, employed only Auto "Handling mechanics.

At trial, Mr. Johnson presented expert testimony from Dr. Gerald Micklow. Dr. Micklow testified Cottrell’s weld on the broken idler was defective in design because it was a metal inert gas (MIG) weld. He testified MIG welds áre more superficial than other types of welds; while.a MIG weld creates a nicer surface for painting, it can result in an inadequately weak attachment when used in a manual chain and ratchet system such as that designed by Jack Cooper.

Dr. Micklow also testified the manual chain and ratchet tie-down system used on the trailer required force greater than what the welds can withstand when properly tightened. According to Dr. Micklow, safer alternative designs have been available for at least 20 years. This conclusion was based on industry reports, testing data, and prior patent applications submitted" by various entities, including Cottrell itself.

Dr. Micklow further testified that at an unknown point the Cottrell MIG weld in question had been repairSd using an arc welder. An “arc weld” provides a stronger, though lumpier, weld because it fuses metals at a deeper thickness. But, according to Dr. Micklow, as supported by Mr. Johnson’s photographic evidence, this arc weld was negligently made because it went only partially around the circumference of the idler, leaving a weak spot at the bottom of the idler which was attached to the trailer only by the more superficial original MIG weld. Dr. Micklow said the -bottom of the idler is the part that sustains the most stress when a vehicle is being secured, and the. idler failure began at this weak spot.

Mr. Johnson presented evidence that Auto Handling knew or should have known about the alleged defects in the design of the manual chain and ratchet system in general, the idler in particular, and the defective attempt, to repair the idler with a bad arc weld, and that it failed to warn him or his employer about these defects. He also attempted to show that Auto Handling itself had made the defective arc weld repair attempt. Auto Handling denied it performed the weld repair, denied it undertook any duty to warn of flaws in a chain and ratchet system it took no part in designing, and denied it undertook inspection for other defects. At the conclusion of Mr. Johnson’s case the trial court directed [459]*459a verdict in favor of Auto Handling on all of Mr. Johnson’s.theories against it.

The- trial court denied Cottrell’s motion for directed verdict. It found Mr. Johnson made a submissible case against Cottrell on his claims of negligence, strict liability product defect, and strict liability failure to warn as to the allegedly defective idler and manual chain and ratchet system. It overruled Cottrell’s objections that Instruction 10, the negligence instruction offered by Mr. Johnson, was improperly based on MAI 17.02 rather than on MAI 25.09, and the case was submitted only against Cott-rell.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Cottrell on -Mr. Johnson’s strict product liability claim involving the allegedly defective idler and chain and ratchet system. Mr. Johnson did not preserve claims of error in entry of that verdict, and this Court does not further.,address it.2 The jury returned verdicts in favor of Mr. Johnson on his claims against Cottrell of negligence as submitted in Instruction 10 and of strict liability failure to warn as submitted in Instruction 13 in regard to the broken idler and chain and ratchet system. The jury found Cottrell 55 percent at fault arid Mr. Johnson 45 percent at fault on the negligence submissions in Instruction 10, and Cottrell 49 percent at fault and Mr. Johnson 51 percent at fault on his strict liability failure to warn claim. The jury found Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 S.W.3d 452, 2017 WL 2774620, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 260, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-auto-handling-corp-mo-2017.