Lee v. Martin

45 S.W.3d 860, 74 Ark. App. 193, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 491
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 13, 2001
DocketCA 00-1247
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 45 S.W.3d 860 (Lee v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Martin, 45 S.W.3d 860, 74 Ark. App. 193, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 491 (Ark. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Olly NEAL, Judge.

This is a negligence and products-liability case. On May 6, 1992, appellant John Lee, who was age eighteen, attended a party hosted by appellee Ashley Martin, age seventeen. Upon leaving the party, Lee accidently backed'a borrowed car into a concrete bridge. When the car came to rest, one of its tires was suspended over a ditch. Lee sought the assistance of those at the party to extricate the vehicle from its precarious position. At Lee’s request and direction, Ashley Martin sat in the driver’s seat and accelerated the vehicle while Lee and others attempted to push it free. When Martin accelerated, the suspended tire began spinning at a high rate of speed and exploded, seriously injuring Lee. He filed suit against Martin for negligence and against Sears, the supplier of the tire, on the theories of strict liability, breach of warranty, and failure to warn. Martin and Sears filed motions for summary judgment, which were granted by the trial court. On appeal, Lee contends that summary judgment was improperly granted. We disagree and affirm.

In summary-judgment cases, we need only decide if the grant of summary judgment was appropriate, considering whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion left a material question of fact unanswered. See Regions Bank & Trust v. Stone County Skilled Nursing Facility, 73 Ark. App. 17, 38 S.W.3d 916 (2001). All proof submitted must be viewed in a fight most favorable to the party resisting the motion, and any doubts and inferences must be resolved against the moving party. Inge v. Walker, 70 Ark. App. 114, 15 S.W.3d 348 (2000). The burden of sustaining a motion for summary judgment is always the responsibility of the moving party. Id. Once a moving party establishes a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment by affidavits, depositions, or other supporting documents, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. Id. Summary judgment is no longer considered a drastic remedy but is regarded as simply one of the tools in the trial court’s efficiency arsenal. See Wallace v. Broyles, 332 Ark. 189, 961 S.W.2d 712 (1998).

We address first the summary judgment entered in favor of Martin. Lee contended that Martin was negligent in over-accelerating the vehicle, which caused the free-spinning tire to explode. Lee’s expert, Loren Forney, explained in his deposition that, in his opinion, excessive centrifugal force caused the tire to come apart in this case. His opinion was bolstered by a page from a sample car owner’s manual and by the affidavit of a mechanic, each of which recognized that, when one drive wheel is stationary and the other is not, the free wheel spins twice as fast upon acceleration as it normally would. This rapid acceleration subjects the freely spinning tire to great centrifugal force, causing it to explode. This phenomenon is known as over-spinning or spin break. See Benoit v. Ryan Chevrolet, 428 So.2d 489 (La. Ct. App. 1982); Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Battle, 745 S.W.2d 909 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Martin moved for summary judgment arguing that she was unaware that a tire might explode under such circumstances, thus making the risk unforeseeable. To support her argument, she relied on Lee’s deposition in which he testified as follows:

Q.: [W]hat proof do you have that acceleration was the cause of this accident at all?
A.: I have no proof.
Q.: Given the allegations that Ashley Martin applied excessive acceleration ... did you know at that time or did you think at that time that excessive acceleration could cause a tire to explode?
A.: No, I had no idea.
Q.: Do you have any information that Ashley Martin should know any more than you about excessive acceleration in spinning a tire?
Q.: No.

Martin also relied on the testimony of Lee’s expert, Forney, who said that Martin had no way of knowing that the tire could explode under the circumstances and that the majority of the population would not be aware of such a possibility.

Foreseeability is a necessary ingredient of actionable negligence in this state. See Benson v. Shuler Drilling Co., 316 Ark. 101, 871 S.W.2d 552 (1994). There is no negligence in not guarding against a danger which there is no reason to anticipate. Id. Although a jury question is presented where there is a reasonable difference of opinion as to the foreseeability of a particular risk, see Keck v. American Employment Agency, Inc., 279 Ark. 294, 652 S.W.2d 2 (1983), where no difference of opinion exists, the question is decided by the trial court or appellate court. See McDaniel v. Linder, 66 Ark. App. 362, 990 S.W.2d 593 (1999).

Martin established, through Lee’s and Forney’s deposition testimony, that she had no reason to anticipate that acceleration of the vehicle would create a risk of harm. It was therefore incumbent upon Lee to meet proof with proof and show that a genuine issue of fact remained as to whether the risk was foreseeable. Lee’s proof fell short in this regard. To establish the foreseeability of the risk, he relied primarily on the fact that the car owner’s manual warned drivers that, when one wheel is spinning, acceleration should not exceed thirty-five miles per hour. However, Martin did not own the car that was involved in the incident; it was owned by a third person not a party to this case. Further, Lee offered no proof that Martin had ever driven the car or seen the manual, nor did he offer proof that the manual was in the car at the time of the incident. Under these circumstances, we uphold the grant of summary judgment as to Martin.

Next, we consider Lee’s argument that factual issues remain to be decided on each of the three theories he pled against Sears: strict liability for an alleged defect in the tire, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, and negligent failure to warn. To recover under a strict liability theory, a plaintiff must prove, inter alia, that the defendant supplied the product in a defective condition that rendered it unreasonably dangerous and that the defective condition was the proximate cause of the plaintiffs harm. See Ark. Code Ann. § 4-86-102(a) (Repl. 1996); E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Dillaha, 280 Ark. 477, 659 S.W.2d 756 (1983). A “defective condition” is a condition that renders a product unsafe for reasonably foreseeable use and consumption. Ark. Code Ann. § 16 — 116— 102(4) (1987).

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Bluebook (online)
45 S.W.3d 860, 74 Ark. App. 193, 2001 Ark. App. LEXIS 491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-martin-arkctapp-2001.