Matthews v. Remington Arms Co., Inc.

641 F.3d 635, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 10036, 2000 WL 35894124
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 18, 2011
Docket09-31217
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 641 F.3d 635 (Matthews v. Remington Arms Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matthews v. Remington Arms Co., Inc., 641 F.3d 635, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 10036, 2000 WL 35894124 (5th Cir. 2011).

Opinions

RHESA H. BARKSDALE, Circuit Judge:

Following a bench trial, judgment was rendered against Jerry Matthews’ claim under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (LPLA), La.Rev.Stat. Ann. §§ 9:2800.51-.59' (1988), for his injuries that resulted from his firing a Remington Model 710 rifle. When Matthews fired it, the bolt head, which was designed to be connected to the bolt body by a bolt-assembly pin, did not lock with the barrel, allowing an uncontained explosion.

At issue are the district court’s findings that: the bolt-assembly pin was missing, rather than out-of-specification, when Matthews fired the rifle; and, pursuant to LPLA, manufacturer Remington Arms Company, Inc., did not “reasonably anticipate” a user would fire its rifle after someone had removed, but failed to reinstall, that pin. Concerning that reasonably-anticipated-use finding, primarily at issue is whether the district court erred by con-[638]*638eluding that, for purposes of LPLA, the scope of Matthews’ “use” of the rifle included such removal and failure to reinstall; that is, whether his “use” was firing the rifle with the bolt-assembly pin missing, as opposed to only firing it. AFFIRMED.

I.

Following the bench trial in June 2009, the district court rendered findings of fact and conclusions of law. See Matthews v. Remington Arms Co., No. 07-1392, 2009 WL 2970441, at *1 (W.D.La. 16 Sept. 2009). The only contested finding is that, prior to Matthews’ firing the rifle, the bolt-assembly pin had been removed but not reinstalled, as opposed to its’ being in the rifle but out-of-specification or not functioning.

In 2000, Remington introduced its Model 710 bolt-action rifle. Instead of using a solid bolt, that model was manufactured with a two-piece bolt assembly: the bolt head is attached to the bolt body with a bolt-assembly pin. The bolt handle is attached to the bolt body. When the bolt handle and, therefore, the bolt body, is rotated downward, the bolt head (if the bolt-assembly pin is installed) simultaneously rotates downward and locks the “lugs” on the bolt head into the mating locking recesses in the receiving barrel interface (rifle receiver): the firing position. In such an instance, the rifle is “in battery”. Only when the rifle is in battery will it fire properly.

The bolt-assembly pin, a cylinder, is not of insignificant size; it is .685" long and .247" in diameter. It is made from low-strength, unhardened steel. The pin is essential to the simultaneous downward rotation of the bolt head and body. If the bolt-assembly pin is missing or malfunctioning, it is possible for the bolt handle and body to be rotated into locked position without the bolt head also rotating into locked position. In that situation, the lugs on the bolt head will not lock into the mating locking recesses in the rifle receiver, resulting in inadequate engagement between the bolt-head lugs and their locking recesses. In this situation, the rifle is “out of battery”. If the trigger is pulled while a round is chambered and the rifle is out of battery, the rifle will either misfire or, as happened to Matthews, have an uncontained explosion.

Under normal conditions (in battery), the bolt-assembly pin does not contain the pressure from the cartridge’s being fired; the bolt head contains the pressure with the seal that is created when the locking lugs are engaged with their mating recesses in the rifle receiver — that engagement is critical to pressure containment. Accordingly, the rifle can be fired without the pin in place if the bolt head is locked in place — the pin is not the critical pressure containment device.

The Model 710’s owner’s manual instructs users to disassemble the bolt assembly, including removing the bolt-assembly pin, for cleaning; and to reassemble the bolt assembly, by reinserting the bolt-assembly pin. Remington also instructs its factory assembly workers to keep a finger beneath the bolt-assembly-pin hole on the bolt body to prevent the bolt-assembly pin from falling out during assembly; however, this instruction is not included in the owner’s manual. The owner’s manual does not include any warnings of potential hazards if the bolt-assembly pin is not properly installed. Matthews, who borrowed, insteád of owned, the rifle, testified he neither received, nor read, the owner’s manual prior to the accident.

As of this action’s being filed in August 2007, Remington had sold nearly 500,000 [639]*639Model 710 rifles; but, it had not received a report of a user firing a Model 710 rifle without an installed bolt-assembly pin. Following the district court’s ruling in favor of Remington in September 2009, however, Matthews moved unsuccessfully, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60, for a new trial or to have the judgment altered or amended, based on newly discovered evidence of an October 2008 incident for which a Remington customer reported to Remington that his Model 770 rifle (part of the Model 710 series and also employing a two-piece bolt assembly) came apart when he tried to open the bolt to eject a cartridge. The district court ruled that this newly discovered evidence did not change the trial result and would not have provided Remington with notice of any problem when the rifle fired by Matthews was manufactured in September 2001. Matthews v. Remington Arms Co., No. 07-1392, 2009 WL 4456318, at *3 (W.D.La. 23 Nov. 2009).

When the rifle fired by Matthews left Remington’s control in 2001, it contained a bolt-assembly pin manufactured to specifications. Matthews’ mother-in-law, Margaret Minchew, purchased the rifle from her nephew in 2006. It had been owned by several persons before she purchased it; but, when she acquired it, she did not receive the owner’s manual.

Before the date of the accident, Matthews and others fired the rifle without incident; but, prior to Matthews’ accident, someone disassembled the rifle and the bolt assembly and failed to reinstall the bolt-assembly pin. (As noted supra, this critical finding of fact by the district court is contested by Matthews; he maintains that, when he fired the rifle, the bolt-assembly pin was either defective or malfunctioning, rather than missing.)

Approximately two to four weeks before the accident, Margaret Minchew loaned the rifle to her daughter, Amanda Min-chew. She and the man with whom she was living, Nicholas Glass, lived next door to Matthews and his wife, another of Margaret Minchew’s daughters.

Matthews borrowed the rifle from Amanda Minchew on the morning of the accident in October 2006; the bolt handle appeared to be closed. Matthews took the rifle to his house to obtain ammunition, and then proceeded to another’s to “sight” the scope that had been installed recently on the rifle by Nicholas Glass.

In preparing to fire the rifle, Matthews rotated the bolt handle upward; pulled it back in order to load a shell; loaded it; pushed the bolt handle forward; and rotated it downward into what appeared to be the closed position. When he pulled the trigger, the shell did not fire (misfired). He again rotated the bolt handle; pulled it back slowly (because he knew there could be compression); and removed the shell. Observing nothing wrong with the shell, Matthews reloaded a shell; pushed the bolt handle forward; rotated it downward into what appeared to be the closed position; and pulled the trigger. The rifle fired.

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641 F.3d 635, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 10036, 2000 WL 35894124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-remington-arms-co-inc-ca5-2011.