Potter v. Ford Motor Co.

213 S.W.3d 264, 2006 Tenn. App. LEXIS 409, 2006 WL 1698971
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 21, 2006
DocketE2005-01578-COA-R3-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 213 S.W.3d 264 (Potter v. Ford Motor Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Potter v. Ford Motor Co., 213 S.W.3d 264, 2006 Tenn. App. LEXIS 409, 2006 WL 1698971 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARON G. LEE, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court,

in which CHARLES D. SUSANO, JR., J., joined. HERSCHEL PICKENS FRANKS, P.J., filed a concurring opinion.

While traveling on a rain-slick road at a moderate rate of speed, Betty Potter lost control of her 1997 Ford Escort which spun around and crashed into a tree. Her seat back collapsed into the rear seat and her spinal cord was severed. Betty Potter was rendered a paraplegic. She and her husband sued Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) for the enhanced injuries Ms. Potter received as a result of the collapse of her seat back. The jury found Ford to be 70% at fault, Ms. Potter to be 30% at fault, and determined Ms. Potter’s compensatory damages to be ten million dollars. Judgment was entered for Ms. Potter in the amount of seven million dollars. The primary issues Ford raises on this appeal are (1) whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant Ford a judgment notwithstanding the verdict; and (2) whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the doctrine of intervening cause. We hold that Ms. Potter presented material evidence from which the jury could reasonably conclude that the Ford Escort was defective, and that the trial court correctly found the intervening cause doctrine inapplicable in a case such as this one, where the alleged intervening cause is the negligent conduct of the plaintiff. We therefore affirm the judgment of the trial court.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On September 26, 2002, Betty Potter was driving her 1997 Ford Escort on Genesis Road north of Crossville, Tennessee. It had been raining lightly that morning and the roads were wet. Ms. Potter testified that she had her seat belt on and was driving between 35 and 40 miles per hour in a 40 m.p.h. zone. The rear tires on her car were excessively worn; the passenger side rear tire had bald spots. Shortly after she rounded a curve in the road, the Ford Escort began to slide off the road, struck two road signs, spun around approximately 180 degrees, and, traveling backwards, struck a tree. The car was traveling approximately 30 miles per hour at the time of impact.

At the time of the accident, Ms. Potter weighed approximately 230 pounds. When the rear of the Ford Escort struck the tree, Ms. Potter’s seat back collapsed, allowing her to “submarine” under her seat [267]*267belt and strike the rear seat back. Her collision with the rear seat fractured four thoracic vertebrae, severed her spinal cord and paralyzed her from the chest down. Ms. Potter, who was 42 years old at the time of the wreck, lost the ability to walk, control her bladder or bowels, and tend to her daily needs. She is dependent on her husband and others to take care of her.

Ms. Potter and her husband sued Ford alleging that the seat back of the Ford Escort was defective and that Ford was negligent in that, among other things, it designed, manufactured, and distributed the Ford Escort with a seat frame of inadequate strength to prevent the seat back from collapsing in a foreseeable rear-end collision. Ms. Potter admitted responsibility for losing control of her car and thus causing the accident; therefore, her only claim for damages was for the enhanced injuries she incurred because of the seat back collapse and her collision with the back seat of the car. Ford answered, denying that the Ford Escort was defective and alleging, among other things, that Ms. Potter’s comparative negligence was greater than Ford’s and that her conduct was an intervening cause which superseded its own negligence, if any.

At the conclusion of the roughly three-week trial, the trial court declined to instruct the jury on the intervening cause doctrine, over Ford’s objection. The jury returned a verdict finding Ford 70% at fault and setting Ms. Potter’s total damages at ten million dollars. The jury did not award Mr. Potter any damages and he did not appeal.1 Ford moved the trial court for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial. The trial court denied the motion and, acting as thirteenth juror, expressly approved the verdict. The trial court entered judgment for Ms. Potter in the amount of seven million dollars, and Ford appealed.

II. Issues Presented

Ford raises the following issues for our review:2

(1) Whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant Ford a judgment notwithstanding the verdict because Ms. Potter failed to prove the Ford Escort was defective.

(2) Whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the doctrine of intervening cause.

(8) Whether the verdict form and jury charge on enhanced damages were deficient under Tennessee law.

III. Defective Product

Ford argues that the trial court erred in refusing to grant it a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, because, it alleges, Ms. Potter failed to carry her burden of proving that the Ford Escort was defective when it left Ford’s control. Our Supreme Court has stated the standard of review in ruling on a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or JNOV, as follows:

The standards governing trial courts in ruling on motions for directed verdict or JNOV in negligence cases are well established. In ruling on the motion, the court must take the strongest legitimate view of the evidence in favor of the non-moving party. In other words, the court must remove any conflict in the evidence by construing it in the light most favorable to the non-movant and discarding [268]*268all countervailing evidence. The court may grant the motion only if, after assessing the evidence according to the foregoing standards, it determines that reasonable minds could not differ as to the conclusions to be drawn from the evidence. Sauls v. Evans, 635 S.W.2d 377 (Tenn.1982); Holmes v. Wilson, 551 S.W.2d 682 (Tenn.1977). If there is any doubt as to the proper conclusions to be drawn from the evidence, the motion must be denied. Crosslin v. Alsup, 594 S.W.2d 379 (Tenn.1980).

Eaton v. McLain, 891 S.W.2d 587, 590 (Tenn.1994).

In this case, we are presented not only with a ruling denying the motion for a JNOY, but also with a duly approved jury verdict. In the case of Johnson v. Settle, No. M1999-01237-COA-R3-CV, 2001 WL 585093 at *2 (Tenn. Ct.App. M.S., June 1, 2001), the court analyzed the relationship between the above-stated standard of review and the “material evidence” standard of review of a jury verdict, Tenn. R.App. P. 13(d), as follows:

In Alexander v. Armentrout, our Supreme Court has recently discussed the interplay between the standard of review for directed verdict and the material evidence rule. In that case, the Court determined that the Court of Appeals had correctly stated the applicable standard of review for a motion for directed verdict, as set out above, but had misapplied the standard when evaluating the evidence. 24 S.W.2d at 271. The error on the part of the intermediate court was engaging in a de novo review of the evidence “in that it appears to have disregarded the jury’s findings and to have reevaluated the evidence in its entirety.” Id.; see also Williams v. Brown,

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Potter v. Ford Motor Co.
213 S.W.3d 264 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
213 S.W.3d 264, 2006 Tenn. App. LEXIS 409, 2006 WL 1698971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/potter-v-ford-motor-co-tennctapp-2006.