Woods ex rel. Woods v. International Harvester Co.

697 F.2d 635, 35 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1086
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 7, 1983
DocketNo. 81-3534
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 697 F.2d 635 (Woods ex rel. Woods v. International Harvester Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woods ex rel. Woods v. International Harvester Co., 697 F.2d 635, 35 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1086 (5th Cir. 1983).

Opinions

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a jury verdict for the plaintiffs in a diversity case from Louisiana. The action was for redhibition, under La.Civ.Code Ann. art. 2545, alleging that plaintiffs’ decedent was killed by a defect in his International Harvester Scout II.

The Scout II is a vehicle designed and promoted for use over terrain wilder than asphalt. In particular, it can travel through a greater depth of water than normal passenger vehicles can withstand, though not without limits. The exhaust pipe terminates inside the rear wheel well. At water levels below twenty-five inches this causes no problems; at water levels above thirty-two inches the motor quits. At water levels between twenty-five and thirty-two inches, the exhaust gases are trapped in the wheel well. In less than a minute, lethal carbon monoxide can pass through holes in the wheel well and fill the passenger compartment.

Plaintiff’s decedent, Mr. Woods, owned a Scout II. On May 3,1978, heavy rain flooded New Orleans. Mr. Woods used his Scout II to take a friend home and then headed toward his own home. He never made it there. He later was found in his Scout II, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning.

On March 16, 1979, plaintiff, Cynthia Woods individually and on behalf of her two minor children (“Woods"), filed a complaint against International Harvester (“IH”), manufacturer of the Scout II, in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. After lengthy discovery, a jury trial was held from February 5 to February 12,1981. The jury found that Mr. Woods’ Scout II was defective and that the defect caused his death and fixed damages at $890,703. A final judgment was entered on September 1, 1981, awarding damages and attorney’s fees to Woods.

On appeal IH raises four issues. First, IH argues that the court should have directed a verdict in its favor on the issue of liability. Second, IH claims it was prejudiced by Woods’ tardy disclosure of the substance of one of her expert witnesses’ testimony. Third, IH contends it was prejudiced by the admission of the testimony of two witnesses. Fourth, IH argues that the award of attorney’s fees according to Louisiana law violates due process. Woods cross-appeals claiming that the quanta of attorney’s fees awarded was too small. We shall treat these arguments in turn.

I. JURY VERDICT

IH’s first point on appeal is that reasonable jurors could not have found that the Scout II design was defective.

A manufacturer of a product which involves a risk of injury to the user is liable to any person, whether the purchaser or a third person, who without fault on his part, sustains an injury caused by a defect in the design, composition, or manufacture of the article, if the injury might reasonably have been anticipated. However, the plaintiff claiming injury has the burden of proving that the product was defective, i.e., unreasonably dangerous to normal use, and that the plaintiff’s injuries were caused by reason of the defect.

Weber v. Fidelity & Casualty Insurance Co., 259 La. 599, 250 So.2d 754, 755 (1971). The test, initially, is whether the product was “unreasonably dangerous to normal use.” In this context, however, the phrase “normal use” does not take on its everyday meaning. For example, in a similar case the Fifth Circuit found that driving a sports car on a highway at a speed over 100 MPH was “normal use.”

Certainly the operation of the Cougar in excess of 100 miles per hour was not “normal” in the sense of being a routine or intended use. “Normal use,” however, is a term of art in the parlance of Louisiana products liability law, delineating the scope of a manufacturer’s duty and con[638]*638sequent liability; it encompasses all reasonably foreseeable uses of a product. See, e.g., Rey v. Cuccia, 298 So.2d 840, 844 n. 2, 845 (La.1974) (duty to warn of “possible hazard” known to manufacturer); Amco Underwriters of the Audubon Insurance Co. v. American Radiator & Standard Corp., 329 So.2d 501, 504 (La.App.1976) (duty to warn of dangers even from improper use of otherwise non-defective product). See also, e.g., Jones v. Menard, 559 F.2d 1282, 1285 n. 4 (5th Cir.1977) (dictum, construing Louisiana law to the effect that “[i]n inadequate warning cases misuse means that the seller had no duty to warn against unforeseeable uses of its products, while in design cases misuse means that the manufacturer had no duty to design a product so as to prevent injuries from unforeseeable uses of that product”). The sports car involved here was marketed with an intended and recognized appeal to youthful drivers. The 425 horsepower engine with which Ford had equipped it provided a capability of speeds over 100 miles per hour, and the car’s allure, no doubt exploited in its marketing, lay in no small measure in this power and potential speed. It was not simply foreseeable, but was to be readily expected, that the Cougar would, on occasion, be driven in excess of the 85 mile per hour proven maximum safe operating speed of its Goodyear tires. Consequently, Ford cannot, on the basis of abnormal use, escape its duty either to provide an adequate warning of the specific danger of tread separation at such high speeds or to ameliorate the danger in some other way.

LeBouef v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 623 F.2d 985, 989 (5th Cir.1980). For the purpose of this case, the issue of whether the Scout II was defective resolves into whether a jury could have found that it was “reasonably foreseeable” that the Scout II would be operated in water between 25 and 32 inches for a minute, leading to Woods’ asphyxiation.

In determining whether a jury could find that this use was “reasonably foreseeable,” we are guided by the standard enunciated by this Court in Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374-75 (5th Cir.1969) (en banc):

On motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict the Court should consider all of the evidence—not just that evidence which supports the non-mover’s case—but in the light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable to the party opposed to the motion. If the facts and inferences point so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the Court believes that reasonable men could not arrive at a contrary verdict, granting of the motions is proper. On the other hand, if there is substantial evidence opposed to the motions, that is, evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions, the motions should be denied, and the case submitted to the jury. A mere scintilla of evidence is insufficient to present a question for the jury. The motions for directed verdict and judgment n.o.v. should not be decided by which side has the better of the case, nor should they be granted only when there is a complete absence of probative facts to support a jury verdict. There must be a conflict in substantial evidence to create a jury question.

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697 F.2d 635, 35 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woods-ex-rel-woods-v-international-harvester-co-ca5-1983.