Case Title: Ford Motor Co. v. Simpson

Citation: 233 So. 2d 797

Docket Number: 

State: mississippi

Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Date: 1970-04-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
233 So. 2d 797 (1970) FORD MOTOR CO. v. Laverne Bryant SIMPSON. No. 45740. Supreme Court of Mississippi. April 6, 1970. Watkins & Eager, Elizabeth Hulen, Jackson, for appellant. Farese, Farese & Jones, Ashland, John W. Bryant, Jr., Holly Springs, for appellee. JONES, Justice: Appellee sued appellant and recovered judgment in the Circuit Court of Benton County. Hence, this appeal. We reverse and enter judgment for appellant. The suit is for damages because of personal injuries received by appellee while riding in a 1966 Ford pickup truck, operated by W.T. Simpson. A car driven by a young lady approached from the opposite direction, swerved to her left toward the truck, and into the lane in which the truck was traveling. The said truck was thereupon pulled off of the road and stopped. The automobile, nevertheless, drove headon into the vehicle where appellee was riding. It was alleged that appellee was thereby thrown violently forward and her knee struck the heater of the truck, located under the dashboard, causing injury. There is no dispute as to the facts. The case was settled as to the driver of the other vehicle and proceeded against appellant on the theory of negligent design by the appellant; that the said heater was negligently placed where injury could result if an accident occurred to the car. After the case was tried and appealed here, but before hearing, this Court decided Walton v. Chrysler Motor Corporation, et al., 229 So. 2d 568 (Miss., Dec. 15, 1969), where an election was made as to which of two lines of authorities we would follow. The facts there are very similar to these, in that a car collided with Walton's car, but are stronger toward liability than the instant case. There a car ran into the back of Walton's car while it was stopped; Walton was propelled backwards and then forward. A screw holding a nylon plate onto the seat was sheared, causing the plaintiff to be thrown into a prone position *798 and then forward against the steering wheel, receiving serious injuries. The manufacturer was sued for negligent design and for manufacturing a seat which was not reasonably safe for its intended use. Settlement was made with the driver of the other car. As here, there was no issue as to the facts. It was stated that the issue was whether the strict liability rule as to manufacturers would be extended to instances where the alleged defect in the car or its design did not cause the initial accident. It is clear that the claimed defect did not cause the initial accident in this matter. It can not be said that had the appellee been thrown from the car and struck a tree stump off of the road, that the stump was any part of the cause of the collision; so with the heater. In the Walton case, it was held: If every state decided what part of an automobile was negligently designed, the manufacturers might be required to have fifty different models of its cars one for each state. This, of course, would be ridiculous. Having decided the course we shall follow, and this controversy not being within that lane of travel, we can only reverse and enter judgment here for appellant. Reversed and judgment here for appellant. GILLESPIE, P.J., and RODGERS, BRADY and SMITH, JJ., concur.