Said v. Assaad

289 A.D.2d 924, 735 N.Y.S.2d 265, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12406
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided December 21, 2001·No. Appeal No. 3·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinions

Order and judgment reversed on the law without costs, order dated March 4, 1997 vacated, motion by defendants Gabriel A. Assaad and Momdouh A. Assaad granted and new trial granted in accordance with the following Memorandum: Plaintiff, individually and on behalf of his infant son, commenced this action seeking damages for serious injuries sustained by his son when the vehicle in which his son was riding collided with a pickup truck equipped with a snowplow attachment. Plaintiff sued Gabriel A. Assaad and Momdouh A. Assaad (Assaad defendants), the driver and owner of the vehicle in which plaintiff’s son was a passenger; Genesee Valley

[925]*925Club and William Gorley, the owner and driver of the pickup truck; and Western Products, Inc., a Division of Douglas Dynamics, Inc., and Douglas Dynamics, Inc. (Western Products), the manufacturers of the snowplow attachment. Plaintiffs son sustained severe and discrete injuries to his head and brain (head injuries) and to his hip and leg (leg injuries) as well as lesser injuries to his arm. Plaintiff sought to prove at trial that a heavy hydraulic cylinder came loose from the snowplow attachment and struck his son’s head, thereby causing the disabling brain injury. Plaintiff also sought to establish that a lower part of the snowplow attachment caused his son’s leg injuries. Plaintiff produced expert testimony to that effect, and his attorney argued on summation that the head injuries would not have occurred but for the snowplow attachment and that Western Products consequently should be held 95% responsible for the injuries as a whole. Western Products produced expert proof that neither injury was caused or enhanced by the snowplow attachment.

The jury found Gabriel Assaad negligent in his operation of the vehicle and found such negligence to be a substantial factor in bringing about the injuries of plaintiffs son. The jury found William Gorley negligent in his operation of the pickup truck, but found that such negligence was not a substantial factor in bringing about the injuries. The negligence of Gabriel Assaad thus was found to be the sole proximate cause of the accident. The jury further found that the negligent design of the snowplow attachment caused additional injury to plaintiffs son and that plaintiff had proven the extent of “additional injuries” attributable to or caused by the defective design. On the issue of apportionment, the jury found Gabriel Assaad 95% responsible and Western Products 5% responsible for the injuries. The jury was not asked to find which of the discrete injuries sustained by plaintiffs son were caused or contributed to by the defective design.

The jury awarded past and future damages totaling approximately $48,000,000, before reduction to present value. In response to postverdict motions and cross motions, that award was reduced by Supreme Court, which further held that Western Products was not jointly and severally liable for the entire award of damages, but was severally liable for only 5% of the award. Ultimately, following the court’s application of CPLR article 50-B, separate orders and judgments were entered awarding plaintiff approximately $17,000,000 against the Assaad defendants and approximately $1,300,000 against Western Products.

[926]*926In appeal No. 1, the Assaad defendants and Western Products (defendants) appeal and plaintiff cross-appeals from an order, dated March 4, 1997, granting defendants’ motions for a new trial on damages for loss of services only unless plaintiff agrees to reduce the award for loss of services from $2,500,000 to $15,000, and otherwise denying defendants’ motions to reduce the verdict as excessive. In appeal No. 2, plaintiff appeals from an order, dated October 9, 1997, denying his motion to hold Western Products jointly and severally liable for all damages awarded by the jury. In appeal No. 3, defendants appeal and plaintiff cross-appeals from the order and judgment entered against the Assaad defendants. In appeal No. 4, defendant Western Products appeals and plaintiff cross-appeals from the order and judgment entered against Western Products.

With respect to the jury’s apportionment of damages, we note at the outset that the separate and distinct head and leg injuries sustained by plaintiffs son distinguish this case from the situation addressed in Ravo v Rogatnick (70 NY2d 305). In Ravo, “the jury was unable to determine from the evidence adduced at trial the degree to which the defendants’ separate acts of negligence contributed to the [indivisible brain injury]” (Ravo v Rogatnick, supra, at 312). The Court wrote: “Certainly, a subsequent tort-feasor is not to be held jointly and severally liable for the acts of the initial tort-feasor with whom he is not acting in concert in every case where it is difficult, because of the nature of the injury, to separate the harm done by each tort-feasor from the other * * * Here, however, the evidence established that plaintiffs brain damage was a single indivisible injury, and defendant failed to submit any evidence upon which the jury could base an apportionment of damage” (Ravo v Rogatnick, supra, at 312). Here, in contrast, the evidence established that the head and leg injuries are each indivisible but separate and distinct from one another. Moreover, the evidence adduced at trial would have allowed the jury to find that the negligent design caused or contributed to either or both of those injuries. To the extent that the alleged negligent design of the snowplow attachment might have been found by the jury to have been a cause of all of the injuries, joint and several liability should have been imposed against the manufacturer for those injuries, as is implied by the Court of Appeals in Ravo (supra).

Commentators that have considered this issue have recommended or noted that joint and several liability should not be imposed whenever injuries are separate and distinct and may [927]*927be differentiated with respect to their causation. For example, the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability, states:

“§ 16. Increased Harm Due to Product Defect

“(a) When a product is defective * * * and the defect is a substantial factor in increasing the plaintiffs harm beyond that which would have resulted from other causes, the product seller is subject to liability for the increased harm.

“(b) If proof supports a determination of the harm that would have resulted from other causes in the absence of the product defect, the product seller’s liability is limited to the increased harm attributable solely to the product defect.

“(c) If proof does not support a determination under Subsection (b) of the harm that would have resulted in the absence of the product defect, the product seller is liable for all of the plaintiffs harm attributable to the defect and other causes.

“(d) A seller of a defective product that is held hable for part of the harm suffered by the plaintiff under Subsection (b), or all of the harm suffered by the plaintiff under Subsection (c), is jointly and severally liable or severally liable with other parties who bear legal responsibility for causing the harm, determined by applicable rules of joint and several liability.” Harper, James and Gray, Torts § 10.1 states: “[W]here the independent concurring acts have caused distinct and separate injuries to the plaintiff, or where some reasonable means of apportioning the damages is evident, the court generally will not hold the tortfeasors jointly and severally hable” (Harper, James and Gray, Torts § 10.1, at 5 [2d ed]).

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

Said v. Assaad, 289 A.D.2d 924, 735 N.Y.S.2d 265, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12406 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2001).

289 A.D.2d 924 (Said v. Assaad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Sally Qualls Mercer v. Vanderbilt University, Inc.
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2002
Sawyer v. Wight
196 F. Supp. 2d 220 (E.D. New York, 2002)
Said v. Assaad
289 A.D.2d 924 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2001)