Schmidt v. Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

39 Pa. D. & C.3d 647, 1986 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 388
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedApril 2, 1986
Docketno. 2226 Civil 1984
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. D. & C.3d 647 (Schmidt v. Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmidt v. Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 39 Pa. D. & C.3d 647, 1986 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 388 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1986).

Opinion

BAYLEY, J.,

Plaintiff R. Randall Schmidt was a service station employee loading 10-ounce, non-returnable Coca-Cola bottles into a vending machine on August 30, 1982. His complaint avers that one of the bottles, which was processed by defendant Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc., and designed, manufactured and supplied by defendant Brockway, Inc., exploded without warning while he was placing it into the machine. The accident caused.a permanent injury and partial loss of vision in his right eye.

Against Brockway, Inc., plaintiff has alleged causes of action in negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability. He avers that the explosion of the bottle was caused by Brockway’s lack of due care in manufacturing the bottle'in that it was defective, defectively designed and lacked adequate warnings, labeling, instructions, guarding or other safety devices.

Plaintiff retained an expert who reconstructed the broken Coca-Cola bottle. His report concluded that there was no defect in the bottle when it was manufactured by Brockway and that the glass was of the proper type and had been properly annealed. Plaintiff’s expert further concluded that the bottle had been impacted during its handling at the Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola bottling plant. The impact caused spalling of the glass which occurred internally and was undetectable by the naked eye and which resulted in its spontaneous explosion in plaintiff’s hand on August 30, 1982. This report supported plaintiff’s substantial settlement of his claim against Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc:, on a joint-tortfeasor’s release. Brockway, Inc., now seeks a summary judgment on the basis of the pleadings, depositions, admissions and answers to interrogatories.

[649]*649DISCUSSION

A party who moves for summary judgment has the burden of convincing the court that there is no genuine issue of fact or inferences that could be drawn from facts whereby plaintiff would be entitled to recover a judgment as a matter of law. Schacter v. Albert, 212 Pa. Super. 58, 239 A.2d 841 (1968); Marchese v. Marchese, 457 Pa. 625, 326 A.2d 321 (1974); Thompson Coal Co. v. Pike Coal Co., 488 Pa. 198, 412 A.2d 466 (1979).

Plaintiff maintains that the record does not support the entry of summary judgment because under Pennsylvania law it is possible that more than one substantial factor brought about the harm suffered by him. Accordingly, he claims that his averments that the Coca-Cola bottle was defectively designed and contained inadequate warnings is sufficient to take his cause of action on strict liability to a jury. Since plaintiff’s expert discounts any manufacturing defect as causing the accident and pinpoints the cause as being the impacting of the bottle while under' the control of Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company, plaintiff has filed an answer to an interrogatory propounded by Brockway suggesting that he will proceed to trial without calling an expert witness on the issue of liability.

In order to recover on a strict liability theory the plaintiff is required not only to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the subject bottle was defective, whether in manufacture, design or because it lacked adequate warnings to make it safe, but that such a defective condition as existed for whatever reasons was a substantial factor in causing harm to him. Sherk v. Daisy-Heddon, 498 Pa. 594, 450 A.2d 615 (1982); Gottfried v. American Can Company, 339 Pa. Super. 403 (1985); Bascelli [650]*650v. Randy, Inc., 339 Pa. Super. 254, 488 A.2d 1110 (1985). Ordinarily, where evidence suggests a defective condition by the mere occurrence of a malfunction and the absence of evidence of a reasonable secondary cause for an accident, the issue of liability may be submitted to the jury without the necessity of calling an expert. Agostino v. Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 236 Pa. Super. 434, 345 A.2d 735 (1975); Calhoun v. Jersey Shore Hospital, 250 Pa. Super. 567, 378 A.2d 1294 (1977). However, as noted in Lenkiewicz v. Lange, 242 Pa. Super. 87, 363 A.2d 1172 (1976):

“We do not hold that a plaintiff must refute all possible explanations offered by a defendant. ... ‘It is not necessary that plaintiff prove with mathematical exactness that the accident could only have been caused in one manner to the exclusion of all other possibilities . . . but he must eliminate those other causes, if any, as were fairly suggested by the evidence. . . . And it is the duty of the trial court to determine whether or not this requirement has been met in the first instance before the issue can be submitted to the jury.. . .’ ” Citing Cuthbert v. Philadelphia, 417 Pa. 610, 614-15, 209 A.2d 261, 263-64 (1965). 242 Pa. Super, at 92, 363 A.2d at 1175. (Emphasis added.)

As further set forth in Thompson v. Anthony Crane Rental, Inc., 325 Pa. Super. 386, 473 A.2d 120 (1984):

“We fully recognize that in most circumstances, both a strict liability claim and a regular negligence claim can be alleged, proven, and submitted to a jury in a case. See Sherk v. Daisy-Heddon, 285 Pa. Super. 320, 427 A.2d 657 (1981). However, in cases, like the instant one, where the plaintiff’s strict liability case depends not upon the actual proof of a defect, but only upon the mere occurrence of a mal[651]*651function, it is inconsistent to permit him to proceed on the strict liability ground where he also advances a theory of human intervention which purportedly caused the harm. Plaintiff’s own evidence in this case created the existence of a ‘reasonable secondary cause’ for the accident. See Wojciechowski v. Long-Airdox Division of Marmon Group, Inc., 488 F.2d 1111 (3rd Cir. 1973), which discusses this type of situation.”

In Liney v. Chestnut Motors, Inc., 421 Pa. 26, 218 A.2d 336 (1966), the Supreme Court held that while questions of causation are generally for a jury, nevertheless, if the relevant facts are not in dispute as to how the accident occurred, the question becomes one of law. We are satisfied under these standards that Brockway, Inc., is entitled to summary judgment, notwithstanding the law that under certain factual situations there may be multiple causes of an accident which are each a substantial factor in causing harm to a plaintiff.

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Related

Bascelli v. Randy, Inc.
488 A.2d 1110 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Marchese v. Marchese
326 A.2d 321 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Liney v. Chestnut Motors, Inc.
218 A.2d 336 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Berkebile v. Brantly Helicopter Corp.
337 A.2d 893 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Sherk v. Daisy-Heddon
427 A.2d 657 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)
Incollingo v. EWING
282 A.2d 206 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
Thompson Coal Co. v. Pike Coal Co.
412 A.2d 466 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
Schacter v. Albert
239 A.2d 841 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1968)
Gottfried v. American Can Co.
489 A.2d 222 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Sherk v. DAISY-HEDDON, ETC.
450 A.2d 615 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Calhoun v. Jersey Shore Hospital
378 A.2d 1294 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)
Thompson v. Anthony Crane Rental, Inc.
473 A.2d 120 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
Lenkiewicz v. Lange
363 A.2d 1172 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Cuthbert v. Philadelphia
209 A.2d 261 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)
Agostino v. Rockwell Manufacturing Co.
345 A.2d 735 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. D. & C.3d 647, 1986 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmidt-v-mid-atlantic-coca-cola-bottling-co-pactcomplcumber-1986.