Opinion ID: 1901361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the circuit court committed reversible error by granting defendants' jury instruction d-2, which incorrectly stated the substantive law of strict products liability using the mississippi products liability act.

Text: ¶ 10. On March 25, 1993, this Court adopted the risk-utility test for determining whether a product is defective and unreasonably dangerous. Sperry-New Holland v. Prestage, 617 So.2d 248 (Miss. 1993). Soon thereafter, the Legislature passed the Products Liability Act, Miss. Code Ann. § 11-1-63 (Supp.2001), codifying strict products liability law. Procedural provisions of the Act became effective for all cases pending on July 1, 1993, but the remaining substantive provisions took effect on July 1, 1994, the same date the plaintiffs' amended complaint was filed. ¶ 11. Plaintiffs contend the trial court committed reversible error in giving Jury Instruction D-2 because it is an application of a substantive provision of Mississippi's Products Liability Act, Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-63, a provision, which they argue essentially adopted the consumer expectation analysis for product liability cases. They argue that the court, therefore, committed reversible error because, pursuant to the Act's mandate, their case was subject to the statute's procedural provisions only. ¶ 12. Instruction D-2 reads as follows: You cannot find that the Mack Truck was defectively designed if the harm for which the Plaintiffs seek damages was caused by an inherent characteristic of the truck which is a generic aspect of the truck that cannot be eliminated without substantially compromising the truck's usefulness or desirability and which is recognized by the ordinary person with ordinary knowledge common to the community. ¶ 13. The Products Liability Act, Miss. Code Ann. § 11-1-63(1)(b), provides in pertinent part that: (b) A product is not defective in design or formulation if the harm for which the claimant seeks to recover compensatory damages was caused by an inherent characteristic of the product which is a generic aspect of the product that cannot be eliminated without substantially compromising the product's usefulness or desirability and which is recognized by the ordinary person with the ordinary knowledge common to the community. ¶ 14. Presenting the jury with Instruction D-2's consumer expectation standard as codified in the Act was error, the plaintiffs argue, because the statutory notes of Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-63, as follows, indicate that only the procedural provisions of the Act applied while the case was pending. It reads: This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1993. Procedural provisions of this act including subsections (1)(a), (b),(c) and (d) of Section 2 shall apply to all pending actions in which judgment has not been entered on the effective date of the act and al actions filed on or after the effective date of the act. All other provisions shall apply to all actions filed on or after July 1, 1994. (emphasis added). ¶ 15. Mack Trucks does not directly respond to plaintiffs' contention that only the procedural provisions of the statute were applicable except to underscore that plaintiffs' amended complaint substituted a new theory for the cause of the accident on the same date that the Act's substantive provisions were scheduled to go into effect. The apparent significance being, that the plaintiffs changed their theory of liability by substituting the fuel tank theory for the defective brake theory as the proximate cause of the accident, or rather, the fire. The claim then was that the truck was not crash worthy, a theory based upon a completely different set of strict liability principles. ¶ 16. As plaintiffs contend, however, it is well established that an amended complaint, pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 15(c), relates back to the date of the filing of the original complaint. Universal Computer Servs., Inc. v. Lyall, 464 So.2d 69, 74 (Miss.1985). This case is subject only to the procedural provisions of the Act as plaintiffs filed suit on March 2, 1993, clearly before the Act was enacted on July 1, 1993. [1] Plaintiffs submit that it remains unclear what substantive products liability law applied, but argue the risk-utility standard adopted in Sperry-New Holland v. Prestage, 617 So.2d 248 (Miss.1993), is the controlling law. ¶ 17. Under the risk-utility theory, a plaintiff may recover for any injury as a result of the use of a dangerous product, provided that the utility of the product is outweighed by its danger. In balancing a product's utility against the risk of injury it creates, the factors to be considered are: (1) The usefulness and desirability of the productits utility to the user and to the public as a whole. (2) The safety aspects of the product the likelihood that it will cause injury, and the probable seriousness of the injury. (3) The availability of a substitute product which would meet the same need and not be as unsafe. (4) The manufacturer's ability to eliminate the unsafe character of the product without impairing its usefulness or making it too expensive to maintain its utility. (5) The user's ability to avoid danger by the exercise of care in the use of the product. (6) The user's anticipated awareness of the dangers inherent in the product and their avoidability, because of general public knowledge of the obvious condition of the product, or of the existence of suitable warnings or instructions. (7) The feasibility, on the part of the manufacturer, of spreading the loss by setting the price of the product or carrying liability insurance. Id. at 256. ¶ 18. In contrast, under the consumer expectations theory, a plaintiff could not recover for a product which caused injuries if he, applying the knowledge of an ordinary consumer saw a danger and could have appreciated that danger. Id. at 254. The ordinary consumer's contemplation is the focus of the inquiry into the degree of danger presented by a product. In Prestage, this Court determined that, like most federal and state jurisdictions, however, the Court had clearly moved away from a consumer expectations analysis towards risk utility. Id. at 256. ¶ 19. Mack Trucks argues, nevertheless, that there is no basis under our law for the application of the risk-utility test. In support, it cites Cooper v. General Motors Corp., 702 So.2d 428, 443 (Miss.1997), which was decided after Prestage. There, the plaintiffs, in light of Prestage, advocated that risk-utility, not consumer expectations, be applied because it was not so much that they were `expecting,' but that the `risk' of driving a 1984 car without an air bag outweighed its `utility'. Id. at 442. What Mack Trucks argues, however, is that this Court affirmed the application of the consumer expectations test because it was the law in Mississippi in 1992. Since the plaintiffs here likewise filed suit prior to Prestage, in 1991 to be exact, Mack Trucks asserts that consumer expectation is the controlling standard, not riskutility. ¶ 20. On the contrary, we find express language in Prestage which contradicts that argument. In rejecting the Fifth Circuit's representation that consumer expectation was still the basis for products liability in Mississippi, we stated in Prestage: We today apply a `risk-utility' analysis as adopted in Whittley v. City of Meridian, 530 So.2d 1341 (Miss.1988) and Hall v. Mississippi Chemical Exp., Inc., 528 So.2d 796 (Miss.1988) and write to clarify our reasons for the adoption for that test. 617 So.2d at 253 (emphasis added). ¶ 21. That said, to characterize the law of 1992, as the parties have here, is to suggest that the Court's declarations of law are like statutes when the opposite is true. Unless the Court directs otherwise, declarations of law are given retroactive effect. See Prestage. Because Prestage 's declaration clearly approved the risk utility standard and was in no way prospective only, we find that Mack Trucks' argument is without merit. In sum, plaintiffs are correct in their contentions that only the procedural provisions of Products Liability Act and that risk utility is the controlling standard. Therefore, the circuit court committed reversible error.