Melancon v. Western Auto Supply Co.

628 F.2d 395
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 15, 1980
DocketNo. 79-1425
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 628 F.2d 395 (Melancon v. Western Auto Supply Co.) 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
Melancon v. Western Auto Supply Co., 628 F.2d 395 (5th Cir. 1980).

Opinion

THOMAS A. CLARK, Circuit Judge:

This products liability case was brought by the plaintiff-appellant, Roy Melancon, to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by him when he was set afire as his wife started their gasoline-powered rotary lawn mower. Melancon appeals from the district court’s grant of a directed verdict in favor of the defendants at the close of the plaintiff’s case. After a thorough review of the record, we have determined that the district court erred in granting the directed verdict. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the case for a new trial.

The lawn mower which is the focal point of this action was purchased by Roy Melancon and his wife Lillian from defendant-appellee Western Auto Supply Co. (“Western Auto”). The mower was sold under Western Auto’s trade name “Wizard.” The mower’s engine, including its muffler, had been manufactured by defendant Briggs & Stratton Engine Company, Inc. (“Briggs & Stratton”).1 The mower itself was manufactured by defendant-appellee M.T.D. Products, Inc. (“M.T.D.”).

The facts can be summarized briefly. The Melancons had used their “Wizard” mower for approximately two years to cut [397]*397the lawn surrounding their home in Kaplan, Louisiana. On the morning of July 30, 1976, Mrs. Melancon used the mower for several hours. Apparently not having completed her lawn mowing task and with the mower out of gasoline, Mrs. Melancon placed the mower in the shade around noon and took a break for lunch. Sometime after lunch Mrs. Melancon proceeded to refuel the lawn mower. She used a gas can which had a flexible funnel to fill the mower’s gasoline tank. It was undisputed at trial that Mrs. Melancon did not spill any gasoline on or near the mower as the tank was filled. Mrs. Melancon then set the gas can about ten feet away and attempted to start the mower by pulling the crank rope. Twice the mower would not start.

Noticing that his wife was encountering some difficulty in starting the mower, Roy Melancon approached the mower from the side opposite from where Mrs. Melancon was pulling the starter rope. Roy Melancon alleged that as he stood some two to three feet away from the mower, but directly in line with the mower’s exhaust muffler, his wife successfully started the mower and a flame shot out from the muffler and set his trousers on fire. Before the fire was extinguished Mr. Melancon had suffered third-degree burns over approximately 75% of his body.

At trial Mr. Melancon attempted to prove that the muffler on the mower had been defectively designed and began to malfunction shortly after the mower was purchased from Western Auto. He testified that the muffler had emitted sparks when the mower was in operation. Through the testimony of plaintiff’s expert witness, Bertram I. Strauss, the plaintiff sought to establish that an “envelope” of gasoline fumes had formed around the mower when the refueling of the gas tank displaced the fumes present in the empty tank. Thus, according to the appellant, the accident was caused by the combination of the invisible fuel envelope and the defective “A-type” or “wiener”-shaped muffler which created a “flamethrower” or “blowtorch” effect when the mower was started.

In granting the defendants’ motion for directed verdict, the trial court held that the lawn mower in question was not defective when it left the manufacturer. Furthermore, recognizing that under Louisiana law a manufacturer of a product is under a duty to warn users of its product when a potential danger is known to the manufacturer but such danger “cannot justifiably be expected to be within the knowledge of users generally,” Chappuis v. Sears Roebuck and Co., 358 So.2d 926, 930 (La.1978), the trial court ruled that the potential danger here was “obvious” to Melancon. Thus, the defendants were not under a duty to warn, and Western Auto and M.T.D. could not be held liable to Melancon.

In determining if the appellant proffered sufficient evidence to warrant submission of the case to the jury on the question of whether the lawn mower presented a potential danger which was not obvious, we are obliged to apply the standard announced by this court sitting en banc in Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365 (5th Cir. 1969):

On motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict the Court should consider all of the evidence-not just that evidence which supports the non-mover’s case-but in the light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable to the party opposed to the motion. If the facts and inferences point so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the Court believes that reasonable men could not arrive at a contrary verdict, granting of the motions is proper. On the other hand, if there is substantial evidence opposed to the motions, that is, evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions, the motions should be denied, and the case submitted to the jury. A mere scintilla of evidence is insufficient to present a question for the jury. The motions for directed verdict and judgment n. o. v. should not be decided by which side had the better of the case, nor should they be granted only when there is a complete [398]*398absence of probative facts to support a jury verdict. There must be a conflict in substantial evidence to create a jury question. However, it is the function of the jury as the traditional finder of the facts, and not the Court, to weigh conflicting evidence and inferences, and determine the credibility of witnesses.

411 F.2d at 374r-5 (footnote omitted).

We have carefully reviewed the record before us on appeal, “in the light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable” to Mr. Melancon, the party opposed to the motions. Our review leaves us convinced that there was more here than a “mere scintilla” of evidence in support of the appellant’s case. Indeed, we feel that there was “substantial evidence” put forth at trial over which “reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions.”

Specifically, we disagree with the trial court’s conclusion that the danger created by the combination of a spark-emitting muffler and an invisible “fuel envelope” is, or should be, obvious to a typical user of the type of lawn mower owned and used by the Melancons. Appellant’s witness, Bertram Strauss, an expert in the field of lawn mower safety, provided extensive testimony on how, in his opinion, the potential danger developed and how it could have been avoided. He testified that when a lawn mower tank is filled, the gasoline fumes already in the tank will be displaced as the tank fills with gasoline. According to Strauss these fumes, because they are heavier than air, tend to envelop the lawn mower.

Strauss also testified at length that the combination of the stream of the hot exhaust with the fuel envelope could result in what he termed the “Venturi effect.” Basically, the Venturi effect would result in the formation of a partial vacuum around the rapidly moving flow of exhaust from the lawn mower’s muffler. This vacuum would serve to “pull” or suck the fuel envelope into the exhaust stream where it could be ignited by sparks passing through the muffler. Thus, a blowtorch or flamethrower effect would occur until presumably all of the gasoline fumes subject to the Venturi effect had been ignited.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
628 F.2d 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/melancon-v-western-auto-supply-co-ca5-1980.