Opinion ID: 1679735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: did the trial court err in granting a peremptory instruction for the appellee, bill gordon?

Text: Bill Gordon, d/b/a Bill Gordon Enterprises manufactured the refuse bin. Gordon sold the bin to Taylor Properties, Ltd. on July 12, 1978. The plaintiff was injured on June 1, 1981. The trial court granted Gordon's peremptory instruction. The basis for granting the instruction was that the court determined that Gordon had contacted Taylor Properties on at least three (3) occasions to inform them that the dumpster needed repairing to prevent it from being unstable. The court reasoned that since the owner was given notice by Gordon of the instability of the dumpster, but refused to allow Gordon to repair it that Gordon was cured of any liability on his behalf and was therefore entitled to a directed verdict. The rule for determining whether a peremptory instruction is appropriate requires that all evidence favorable to the party against whom the peremptory instruction is requested must be accepted as true, all evidence in favor of the party requesting the peremptory instruction in conflict with that of the other party must be disregarded, and, if the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from same will support a verdict for the party against whom it is requested, then the peremptory instruction should be refused. Paymaster Oil Mill Co. v. Mitchell, 319 So.2d 652 (Miss. 1975). The basis of Maranda Whittley's claim against Gordon rests on the theory of strict liability in tort based on the defective design of the garbage bin. Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) Torts (1965) requires proof of three elements in order to prevail in an action based on strict liability in tort. These are, (1) that the plaintiff was injured by the product, (2) that the injury resulted from a defect in the product which rendered it unreasonably dangerous, and (3) that the defect existed at the time it left the hands of the manufacturer. Mississippi adopted the language of 402A in State Stove Mfg. Co. v. Hodges, 189 So.2d 113 (Miss. 1966); Brown v. Williams, 504 So.2d 1188, 1191 (Miss. 1987). In determining whether a product is unreasonably dangerous a reasonable person must conclude that the danger-in-fact, whether foreseeable or not, outweighs the utility of the product. This is a question for the finder of fact. Frequently, the negligent conduct of a third person is, in combination with a product defect, the cause of an injury. That conduct may be of such a nature or kind as to constitute a superceding cause. There is a tendency for courts to hold that intervening conduct or misconduct of a kind that is rare and unusual, and in that sense not reasonably foreseeable, will sever the chain of causation. This use must be one that a maker could not be expected to guard against in the designing of his product. So if the product was defective as designed for its ordinary and reasonably foreseeable uses or if defective because of a flaw in it, but a use was made of the product that the maker could not be expected to guard against, then the accident was not proximately caused by the product defect. Thus, the manufacturer of a power mower was held not liable when a seven-year-old boy was using the mower as a toy and a plaything even though the mower might have been defectively designed. Wenzell v. MTD Products, Inc., 32 Ill. App.3d 279, 336 N.E.2d 125 (1975). Likewise, any substantial alteration of a product that was not contemplated by the manufacturer is likely to sever the chain of causation. The defense of intervening cause has been successfully used in a products liability case in Mississippi grounded solely in negligence. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Ladner, 221 Miss. 378, 73 So.2d 249 (1954). In DuPont v. Ladner, a retail merchant was given a warning (received by letter) by the defendant, a chemical manufacturer, informing him that soybean meal purchased by the retailer from the defendant and treated with a certain poison was poisonous to cattle. We held that failure to heed the warning was an intervening act by the retailer breaking the chain of causation between the negligence of the defendant and the injury and death of plaintiff's cattle. The test for a directed verdict requires that all evidence in favor of Maranda Whittley be accepted as true and all evidence in favor of Gordon be rejected. If the evidence of Maranda Whittley and reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom will support a verdict in her favor the directed verdict should be denied. Maranda put on evidence that Gordon manufactured the refuse bin in a defective condition. Gordon's argument that Taylor Properties' negligent maintenance constituted an intervening cause must be disregarded for purposes of a motion for directed verdict. Therefore, the court erred in granting Gordon's motion for a directed verdict when it should have allowed the jury to determine whether the garbage bin was in fact defective and whether or not there was an intervening cause breaking the chain of causation and relieving Gordon of any liability. This Court reverses and remands for a new trial based on this assignment of error. REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.