Schmitt v. Koehring Cranes, Inc.

798 N.W.2d 491, 2011 WL 649650
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 23, 2011
DocketNo. 10-0618
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 798 N.W.2d 491 (Schmitt v. Koehring Cranes, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmitt v. Koehring Cranes, Inc., 798 N.W.2d 491, 2011 WL 649650 (iowactapp 2011).

Opinion

VOGEL, P.J.

Koehring Cranes, Inc. appeals following a jury verdict in favor of Richard Schmitt. On appeal, Koehring Cranes asserts that the district court erred in (1) denying its motion for a directed verdict; (2) not instructing the jury on sole proximate cause; and (3) admitting a learned treatise without proper foundation. First, we find that because there was a fact question regarding the design defect issues, the district court did not err in denying Koehring Cranes’ motion for a directed verdict and submitting the case to the jury. Next, we find that because Koehring Cranes only asserted that Schmitt was the cause of his own injuries and did not introduce a third party or event as a cause, there was no evidence to support a sole proximate cause instruction and the district court did not err in denying Koehring Cranes’ request. Finally, the district court did not err in admitting portions of an engineering handbook. We affirm.

I. Background Facts & Proceedings.

Schmitt was a longtime iron worker, beginning his career in 1965. In 2006, Schmitt and Devere Lindquist co-owned AB Construction, which installed machinery and provided ironwork services for different companies. AB Construction had purchased a Terex TB42 boom lift in 2002 from Koehring Cranes, the designer, manufacturer, and distributor of the boom lift. The boom lift was designed to allow a worker to use a platform or basket to do ironwork at different heights.

On December 28, 2006, Schmitt was injured while operating the boom lift. Schmitt was lengthening rails on an overhead bridge crane system. He positioned the basket of the boom lift below the crane rail, with the guardrail of the basket directly under the crane rail approximately four to five inches. When Schmitt reached over the guard rail to operate the boom lift controls, the welding glove he was wearing moved the control forward and caused the boom lift basket to move upward. His left arm was caught between the boom lift’s guard rail and a steel overhead beam, causing a crushing injury. Lindquist operated the controls at the base of the boom lift to lower the basket and free Schmitt.

On October 17, 2008, Schmitt filed a design defect products liability suit against [494]*494Koehring Cranes.1 Trial was held February 16 to 24, 2010. Both Schmitt and Koehring Cranes presented expert testimony regarding whether there was a design defect. Schmitt presented the testimony of a mechanical engineer, Dr. Jerry Hall. Dr. Hall explained that a “pinch point” is a space between two solid objects, with one object movable relative to the other, and where someone would need to put their hand or arm into so that they could accomplish some task. He stated that the boom lift had a pinch point — the space between the guard rail and an overhead object where the operator would have to put his arm so that he could reach the controls — and the design of the control panel and the platform that created this pinch point was a defective design. Dr. Hall also explained that a reasonable alternative design would be one that protected the controls and operator, could be accomplished in a few ways, and was economically feasible.

At the close of the evidence, Koehring Cranes moved for a directed verdict asserting because the pinch point was “external” — created by the operator between the boom lift and another object — and an operator could avoid the “external” pinch point by reaching under the guard rail in order to reach the controls, the placement of the guardrail was not a defective design. The district court denied its motion.

The jury returned its verdict finding that (1) the TB42 boom lift was defective in design at the time Koehring Cranes sold it to Schmitt; (2) the fault of Koehring Cranes was a proximate cause of damage to Schmitt; and (3) the TB42 boom- lift did not conform to the state-of-the-art design at the time it was designed, manufactured, and sold. Additionally, the jury found Schmitt was also at fault at the time of the accident and Schmitt’s fault was a proximate cause of his damages. The jury found Schmitt was forty percent at fault and Koehring Cranes was sixty percent at fault. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $800,608. The district court entered judgment in favor of Schmitt and against Koehring Cranes in the amount of $480,364.80, which reflected the percentage of fault assessed. Koehring Cranes moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial, and the district court denied both motions on April 5, 2010.

Koehring Cranes appeals and challenges the district court’s denial of its motion for a directed verdict, the jury instructions, and certain expert testimony.

II. Directed Verdict.

Our review of a trial court’s ruling on a motion for directed verdict is for correction of errors at law. Deboom v. Raining Rose, Inc., 772 N.W.2d 1, 5 (Iowa 2009).

In doing so we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and take into consideration all reasonable inferences that could be fairly made by the jury. If substantial evidence in the record supports each element of a claim, the motion for directed verdict must be overruled. When reasonable minds would accept the evidence as adequate to reach the same findings, evidence is substantial. On appeal our role is to determine whether the trial court correctly determined there was sufficient evidence to submit the issue to the jury.

[495]*495Easton v. Howard, 751 N.W.2d 1, 5 (Iowa 2008).

The jury was instructed,

In order to recover on a claim that the TB42 boom lift involved in this case was defective in design, Mr. Schmitt must prove all the following propositions:
1. [Koehring Cranes] sold and distributed the TB42 boom lift involved in this case.
2. [Koehring Cranes] was engaged in the business of selling or distributing the TB42 boom lifts;
8. The TB42 boom lift involved in this case was in a defective condition at the time it left the control of [Koehring Cranes], in that it was not designed to guard against a known pinch point along a portion of the platform guardrail which was in front of the control panel.
4. A reasonable alternative safer design could have been practically adopted at the time of sale or distribution.
5. The alternative design would have reduced or avoided the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the TB42 boom lift involved in this case;
6. The omission of the alternative design renders the TB42 boom lift involved in this case not reasonably safe;
7. The alternative design would have reduced or prevented the harm to Mr. Schmitt;
8. The design defect was a proximate cause of damage to Mr. Schmitt; and
9. The amount of damage.
If Mr. Schmitt has failed to prove any of these propositions, he is not entitled to damages. If Mr. Schmitt has proved all of these propositions, then you will consider the state of the art defense as explained in Instruction No. 17.

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798 N.W.2d 491, 2011 WL 649650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmitt-v-koehring-cranes-inc-iowactapp-2011.