Webb v. Volvo Cars of North America, LLC

148 A.3d 473, 2016 Pa. Super. 203, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 517, 2016 WL 4721460
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 9, 2016
Docket1367 EDA 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 148 A.3d 473 (Webb v. Volvo Cars of North America, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Webb v. Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, 148 A.3d 473, 2016 Pa. Super. 203, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 517, 2016 WL 4721460 (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION BY

STABILE, J.:

Appellant, Mark Webb, as administrator for the estate of Sabino Webb, appeals from the March 26, 2014 judgment in favor of Appellees Volvo Cars of North America, LLC and Volvo Cars Corporation (collectively, “Volvo”), and Graco Children’s Products, Inc. (“Graco,” and collectively with Volvo, “Appellees”). We vacate and remand.

The trial court summarized the pertinent facts in its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion:

[Appellant] brought this action before this Court on various theories of liability including both negligence and strict product liability in an action that would best be described as a crashworthiness case. The action arose from a fatal automobile collision that occurred on May 4, 2009 between a 1997 Volvo Sedan and a Chrysler PT Cruiser at the intersection of Tacony Street and Fraley Street. The Additional Defendant, Ana (Webb) Soares, was traveling northbound on Ta-cony Street operating a 1997 Volvo 850 Sedan when she unfortunately attempted an unsafe left-hand turn across traffic onto Fraley Street, immediately into the path of an oncoming Chrysler PT Cruiser operated by Defendant William Julian. Her Volvo 850 was struck on the rear passenger side door by the Chrysler PT Cruiser. At the time of the accident, two-month-old Sabino Webb was strapped in a SnugRide car seat manufactured by [Graco]. The car seat had been placed in the passenger side rear seat of the 1997 Volvo 850 Sedan right at what became the point of impact beside the rear passenger side door.
[Appellant],. Administrator of the Estate of his son, brought this action seeking monetary damages for the death of Sabino Webb on behalf of himself and the estate. Ana (Webb) Soares, the mother of Sabino Webb, was joined to the action as an additional defendant (at the time of the accident, Mrs. Webb was not yet married to [Appellant] and was known by her maiden name, “Ana Soares”). [Appellant] sued, among other named parties, [Volvo] and [Graco]. In the case against Volvo, he alleged that the 1997 four-door Volvo 850 Sedan was defective because [... ] the Volvo 850 lacked rear door bars to prevent side-impact intrusion during side-impact col[477]*477lision. The primary allegation against Graeo was that the SnugRide car seat should have been designed or manufactured with additional padding or Styrofoam in the headrest to absorb impact during collision.
This Court directed a verdict in favor of Defendant William Julian at the conclusion of all defense evidence. The Jury thereafter returned a verdict in favor of Volvo and Graco. Finally, the Jury found in favor of [Appellant] and against Additional Defendant Ana (Soares) Webb,

Trial Court Opinion, 11/10/2014, at 1-2.

A jury trial commenced on November 4, 2013 and concluded on November 15, 2013. At the close of evidence, the trial court directed a verdict in favor of defendant William Julian and entered nonsuit on Appellant’s negligence and deceptive trade practices causes of action against Appel-lees. Appellant has not appealed those dé-cisions. On November 15, 2013, the jury entered a defense verdict on Appellant’s strict products liability causes of action against Appellees. Appellant filed post-trial motions on November 25, 2013. The trial court heard argument on the post-trial motions on March 20,2014, and entered an order denying relief on March 24, 2014. The verdict was reduced to judgment on March 26, 2014. This timely appeal followed. Appellant raises seven issues for our review;

1. Whether it was reversible error for the Court to instruct the jury that federal standards were relevant after the Trial Court dismissed all negligence claims from the case and only strict product liability claims remained in front of the jury.
2. Whether, per the [Passarello v. Grumbine, 624 Pa. 564, 87 A.3d 285 (2014)] decision of the Supreme Court, Appellees exploited the incorrect federal standard jury instruction during closing arguments magnifying the Court’s initial error and requiring a new trial.
3. Whether Appellant’s expert Dr. David Renfroe’s rebuttal FMVSS 214 testi- . mony and testing was impropérly precluded by the Trial Court because the Court mistakenly assumed only the ' U.S. Government could perform FMVSS testing.
4. Whether it was error for the Court to preclude Appellant from using Volvo’s own highly relevant advertising material to impeach the credibility of Volvo’s corporate designee.
5. Whether the Court improperly precluded Appellant from calling Volvo’s corporate designees as if on direct, thereby arbitrarily dictating to Appellant what witnesses he could call in his case in chief.
6. Whether it was reversible error for the Court to allow unqualified defense experts to speculate that the car accident in question was not sur- ■ . vivable for the deceased.
7. Whether the Court improperly kept ■ ■ defendant Ana Webb in the case after she had no reason to be in the case.

Appellant’s Brief at 10,

Appellant’s first assertion of error challenges the propriety of one of the trial court’s jury instructions.1 As noted, [478]*478Appellant proceeded against Appellees on negligence and strict products liability causes of action. The record therefore contains extensive evidence relevant to all of Appellant’s causes of action, including evidence of the involved Volvo 850’s (the “Involved Automobile”) and the Graco Car Seat’s (the “Car Seat”) compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (“FMVSS”).2 Appellant argues the FMVSS evidence was relevant only to his negligence causes of action, and that the trial court should have instructed the jury to disregard that evidence given its entry of nonsuit on all but the strict products liability causes of action. Appellant cites Gaudio v. Ford Motor Co., 976 A.2d 524, 547 (Pa.Super.2009), appeal denied, 989 A.2d 917 (Pa.2010), and Lewis v. Coffing Hoist Div., Duff-Norton Co., Inc., 515 Pa. 334, 528 A.2d 590, 593-94 (1987), for the proposition that evidence of a product’s compliance with government standards is not relevant to a strict products liability claim.

Before we turn to the merits of this issue, we must address Appellees’ argument that Appellant failed to preserve it. To preserve a challenge to a jury instruction, a party must lodge a timely objection. We have held that a trial court’s ruling against a jury charge will preserve the issue for review. Faherty v. Gracias, 874 A.2d 1239, 1249 (Pa.Super.2005). If the trial court rules against a proposed jury charge, the party need not take exception to the charge under Pa.R.C.P. No. 227(b). Id.

Prior to the charging conference, Appellant submitted a proposed instruction:

You have heard evidence that Volvo and Graco’s products were compliant with testing required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 A.3d 473, 2016 Pa. Super. 203, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 517, 2016 WL 4721460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webb-v-volvo-cars-of-north-america-llc-pasuperct-2016.