Yanmar America Corporation v. Randy Nichols

166 So. 3d 70, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 165, 2014 WL 4851514
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 30, 2014
Docket1130214
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 166 So. 3d 70 (Yanmar America Corporation v. Randy Nichols) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yanmar America Corporation v. Randy Nichols, 166 So. 3d 70, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 165, 2014 WL 4851514 (Ala. 2014).

Opinions

BOLIN, Justice.

Yanmar America Corporation (“Yanmar America”) appeals from a judgment entered in favor of Randy Nichols following a trial by a jury of his claims alleging a negligent failure to warn. We reverse and remand.

Facts and Procedural History

I. The Accident

In May 2005, Autrey Nichols purchased a Yanmar model 2210BD tractor from Northside Motors, LLC (“Northside”), in Hamilton. The Yanmar tractor came equipped with a front-end loader and a “bush hog” attachment.1 The Yanmar tractor did not have a rollover-protection structure (“ROPS”). On May 1, 2008, Randy Nichols, the plaintiff and Autrey’s brother, used the Yanmar tractor to bush hog a neighbor’s property. The particular area of the property Randy was to bush hog was a field that contained a hill, the slope of which increased as he moved toward the center of the field. Randy did not “walk” the field to inspect the terrain before bush hogging the field. Randy testified that he was operating the tractor in tall grass at “walking speed” when he glanced back at the bush hog to make sure it was operating properly. Randy stated that when he looked forward it appeared that the right front tire suddenly “took a dip,” causing the tractor to roll over. The right front tire of the tractor encountered a slight “drop off’ on the side of the hill, which caused the tractor to roll over 360 degrees and come to a rest upright on its tires. Randy was thrown from the tractor. He stated that he remembered the bush hog “coming over on me” and that he tried to roll out of the way but was unable to do so. Randy testified that he threw his arm up to protect his head and felt excruciating pain. Randy suffered severe injuries, including an amputated right arm, a crushed hip and leg, and various other injuries. Before the accident, Randy had more than 30 years’ experience operating tractors and other heavy equipment. Randy had operated the subject Yanmar tractor approximately 15 to 20 times without incident before the accident. Randy testified that he had experience operating tractors with implements such as front-end loaders, backhoes, bush hogs, “graderplates,” “breaking plows,” and “planters.” Randy testified that he had operated tractors both with and without the ROPS and that he was comfortable operating a tractor that was not equipped with the ROPS. Randy stated that he knew that any tractor had the potential to roll over and that, if a tractor that was not equipped with a ROPS rolled over, the driver could be seriously injured or killed. He further testified that he knew how to operate a [74]*74tractor, that he was a “safe” tractor operator, and that he had never rolled a tractor over before the accident in this case.

II. The Gray-Market 2 Tractor and Factors Contributing to the Rollover

The subject Yanmar tractor was manufactured on March 5, 1979, by Yan-mar Diesel Engine Co., Ltd. (‘Yanmar Japan”),3 at its Kinomoto plant in Japan. At the time of its manufacture, the tractor was equipped with a rotary tiller. The tractor was sold on March 29, 1979, to Kounomiya Yanmar, an authorized Yan-mar dealer in Japan. The Yanmar tractor was “purpose built” for primary use in the rice paddies of Japan. The tractor was designed and manufactured in accordance with Japanese industry and governmental standards in existence at the time. The original.operator’s manual for the tractor printed by Yanmar Japan and the warning labels affixed to the tractor were all written in Japanese.

Before 1991, Yanmar Japan had manufactured Yanmar brand tractors specifically for distribution in the United States. Subsequent to its entry into the United States market in the late 1970s, Yanmar Japan established Yanmar America in 1981. Yanmar America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yanmar Japan; one of its functions is to distribute parts for Yanmar tractors authorized for sale in the United States. In 1991, Yanmar Japan ceased manufacturing and distributing Yanmar tractors for sale in the United States market.

Significant design differences existed between those Yanmar brand tractors manufactured for use in the Japanese market and those Yanmar brand tractors manufactured for use in the United States market. The tractors manufactured for the Japanese market: (1) had relatively slow travel speed, which was conducive to rice-paddy tilling; (2) had much higher “lugs” on the tractor tires, which were specially suited for use in muddy rice paddies; (3) had a standard rotary-tiller attachment suitable for tilling rice paddies rather than a front-end loader or a bush hog; and (4) had a four-speed “power take-off’ to accommodate the varying tiller speeds required in rice-paddy tilling. The operator’s manuals and warning decals for those tractors were printed in Japanese. Because of the significant differences in the design and performance of the tractors, the tractors intended for the Japanese market were never intended to be sold or used in the United States market.

Dennis Skogen, Yanmar America’s engineering and accident-reconstruction expert witness, testified that the factors contributing to the rollover here included operating the tractor on the side slope; encountering the “drop off’ on the side slope; and the configuration of the tractor, which included operating the tractor with the front-end loader in the raised position, a lack of ballast in the tires, and the bush hog on the back. Skogen testified that ballast in the tires would have decreased the likelihood of a rollover because it would have lowered the center of gravity [75]*75of the tractor. Skogen also stated that operating the tractor with the front-end loader in the lowered position would also lower the center of gravity. Skogen also testified that a properly attached ROPS would have “more likely as not” prevented the tractor from rolling past 90 degrees, but, given the slope of the hill on which the rollover occurred, it was possible that the ROPS would not have prevented the tractor from rolling past 90 degrees. However, Skogen also stated that the tractor was not unreasonably dangerous because it was not equipped with a ROPS. Rather, Sko-gen testified that the tractor should not have been imported and sold in the United States in the first place because it was designed and manufactured for use in the rice paddies of Japan, and not for use in the United States equipped with a front-end loader and a bush hog. Skogen testified as follows:

“Q. Well, what ... made a difference, in your opinion, about this tractor rolling over and this injury to Randy ... occurring?
“A. Well, we talked about that before. It’s the slope. It’s the drop-off itself. We’re talking about what the tractor is, what the tractor — its configuration. It has tires on it, as an example, for use in rice paddies. It’s not the type of tire that would we would normally see for use on other tractors in a similar situation.... [TJhis tractor shouldn’t have been imported in the first place, so there wouldn’t have been a rollover with this tractor in the second place with or without a ROPS.
“Q. Okay. What differences that existed in this tractor that you have listed, as you say it was designed for use in Japan, made a difference in causing this rollover or the injuries to Randy?
“A. Well, start off with a tiller on the back. Now, if you’re going to bring the tractor into this country, it would have a tiller on the back. It wouldn’t have a mower on the back.

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Bluebook (online)
166 So. 3d 70, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 165, 2014 WL 4851514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yanmar-america-corporation-v-randy-nichols-ala-2014.