Opinion ID: 1720415
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: adequacy of plaintiff's proof

Text: The evidence of record before us shows only that a 4½ month old tire, driven approximately 30,000 miles, blew out while mounted on a truck carrying 11,862 dozen eggs on a paved highway under normal weather conditions. To permit an inference of defect from such meager evidence would be to allow the fact finder to indulge in mere conjecture and speculation. While the gravamen of the injured consumer's claim of culpability is shifted from the Defendant's lack of due care in the product's manufacture or design to its sale in a defective condition, the traditional burden of proof standards applicable to tort cases, generally, remain intact. The burden of proof is not shifted to Defendant until, under traditional standards, Plaintiff has established a prima facie case. The rule that mere failure of a product does not presuppose the existence of a defect is accepted in other jurisdictions. In Shramek v. General Motors Corp., Chevrolet M. Div., 69 Ill.App.2d 72, 77-78, 216 N.E.2d 244, 247 (1966), the Court stated: Whether the charge is breach of implied warranty, negligence or the strict tort liability ... the cornerstone of plaintiff's cause of action is the existence of a defect in the tire at the time it left the control of the manufacturer or seller. Without this proof his case must fall.       The mere fact of a tire blowout does not demonstrate the manufacturer's negligence, nor tend to establish that the tire was defective. Blowouts can be attributed to myriad causes, including not only the care with which the tires are maintained, but the conditions of the roads over which they are driven and the happenstance striking of damaging objects.