Spesco, Inc. v. General Electric Co.

719 F.2d 233, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 213
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 23, 1983
DocketNo. 83-1056
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 719 F.2d 233 (Spesco, Inc. v. General Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spesco, Inc. v. General Electric Co., 719 F.2d 233, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 213 (7th Cir. 1983).

Opinion

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

General Electric Co. (G.E.), the defendant below in this diversity action, appeals from a jury verdict in favor of Spesco, Inc., Marvin Nelson, American States Insurance Co., Federal Insurance Co., Audree Baker, and Chester Baker.1 Our jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1291. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I.

The dispute underlying this appeal arose following a fire in the second floor loft at Spesco’s building in Valparaiso, Indiana. The parties agree that the loft area was illuminated by eight foot strip fluorescent light fixtures. Each light fixture contained a ballast manufactured by G.E. A ballast is a transformer designed to start and power fluorescent lights. According to Spesco, the suspect ballast in the present case did not contain a thermal protector. Spesco defines a thermal protector as an internal safety device designed to disconnect a ballast in the event of overheating.

In the case before us, the parties dispute the origin of the fire. Spesco asserts that the fire resulted from a defect in the suspect ballast retrieved from the fire. Specifically, it is Spesco’s position that the absence of a thermal protector in the G.E. ballast caused the ballast to overheat and subsequently ignite. G.E. maintains that the fire was set deliberately by a Spesco employee.

Spesco’s experts offered substantial expert testimony at trial to support its theory of causation. These experts testified that a short circuit occurred in one of the coils inside the ballast. This short circuit created intense overheating. Each ballast is packed with a potting compound; the overheating in the coil caused the compound to liquify and vaporize. Next, the liquid compound was ejected through wire holes at the end of the ballast onto cardboard containers below in the loft. In response to Spesco’s experts, G.E.’s own experts offered testimony that it was technically impossible for the fire to have originated according to Spesco’s theory.

In a bifurcated trial, the jury resolved all liability issues in favor of the plaintiffs and against G.E. The jury awarded damages against G.E. in the following amounts: $239,743.05 to Federal Insurance. Co.; $23,-230 to Nelson; $1,245,482.03 to American States Insurance Co.; $600,000 to Chester and Audree Baker. G.E. appeals from the jury verdicts as to both liability and damages.

II.

G.E. presents five issues for review. Initially, G.E. alleges that the jury verdict is against the weight of the evidence. Second, G.E. contends that the district court abused its discretion in admitting the trial testimony of Spesco’s expert, Roy Martin, and in denying G.E.’s motion for a continu[237]*237anee to prepare a defense to Martin’s testimony. Third, G.E. asserts that the jury was not properly instructed on the “adverse inference” rule, G.E.’s tendered jury instruction number 23. Fourth, G.E. urges that the district court abused its discretion by permitting Spesco to introduce rebuttal testimony that could have been offered in Spesco’s case in chief. Finally, G.E. offers several challenges to the jury’s calculation of damages for the destruction of Spesco’s real property. We reject all of G.E.’s attacks on the judgment below.

A. Review of a Jury Verdict

Under Indiana law,2 the jury is the trier of fact and is vested with the responsibility of evaluating the evidence presented and assessing the credence of witnesses who testify. State Highway Commission v. Jones, 173 Ind.App. 243, 363 N.E.2d 1018 (1977). Because great deference is accorded to the jury’s judgment in this circuit, it is well-settled that a jury verdict will not be set aside if a reasonable basis exists in the record to support that verdict. Lenard v. Argento, 699 F.2d 874 (7th Cir.1983). We are satisfied that a reasonable basis exists in the record here to support the jury verdict.

In the present case, G.E. asserts that there was insufficient evidence from which the jury could draw a reasonable inference that the suspect ballast caused the fire. G.E. maintains that Spesco failed to establish that there was a defect in the ballast’s insulation and that this defect was the proximate cause of the fire. Moreover, G.E. urges that the district court erred by not granting its motion for a directed verdict.

The record clearly reveals that both parties offered expert testimony to the jury addressing whether the suspect G.E. ballast contained proper insulation. Spesco’s expert testified that the suspect ballast and its companion ballasts retrieved from the fire did not contain insulating thermal protectors. In contradiction, G.E. proffered evidence indicating that the ballasts at issue incorporated heat sensing devices.

As this court determined in Lenard v. Argento, supra, 699 F.2d at 882, questions involving the weight of the evidence are within the purview of the jury despite a clear conflict of testimony. Because such a conflict is present here, the jury was in the best position to determine that the G.E. ballast, purchased and used by Spesco, did not contain a thermal protector or heat sensing device. Accordingly, this court will not substitute its judgment for that of the jury.

G.E. also argues that Spesco failed to establish that the defect in insulation, if such a defect existed, was the proximate cause of the fire. In so arguing, G.E. asserts that Spesco’s experts failed to refute G.E.’s own experts’ testimony about the origin of the fire. Moreover, G.E. suggests that we reject Spesco’s evidence about the origin of the fire as contrary to scientific principles under the “physical facts” rule. We disagree.

In Indiana, the physical facts rule holds that “where a court cannot say as a matter of law that the testimony of a witness is contrary to scientific principles, the law of nature or the physical facts, the question of whether such testimony does so conflict is a question for the jury to determine.” Connor v. Jones, 115 Ind.App. 660, 59 N.E.2d 577, 581 (1945). See also Zollman v. Symington Wayne Corp., 438 F.2d 28 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 827, 92 S.Ct. 59, 30 L.Ed.2d 55 (1971). In the case before this court, G.E. failed to establish that the testimony offered by Spesco’s experts about the origin of the fire is factually or physically impossible. In our view, this case presents a typical example of opposing experts offering conflicting views to the jury about the laws of science as relevant to causation of the fire. It is within the province of the jury to determine which of two contradictory expert statements is deserv[238]*238ing of credit. Riggs v. Penn Central R. R. Co., 442 F.2d 105 (7th Cir.1971). Here, the jury properly rejected application of the physical facts rule and accepted Spesco’s version about the proximate cause of the fire.

Finally, G.E.

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