Opinion ID: 1191612
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: was jury instruction unconstitutional

Text: The trial court instructed the jury that contributory negligence is not a defense to a claim of strict products liability. [3] This is a correct statement of law. See O.S. Stapley Co. v. Miller, 103 Ariz. 556, 561, 447 P.2d 248, 253 (1968). The trial court also gave the following instruction at Gosewisch's request: A party who manufactures or sells a product which he has reason to foresee may cause an injury from a particular use, is required to give adequate directions for safe use of the product. If he fails to do so, he is liable for any injury resulting from the failure to give adequate directions. Honda requested and the trial court added the following to the above-noted instruction: However, if the defendants prove that the particular use was contrary to any express and adequate instructions appearing on or attached to the product, or on its original container or wrapping, if the injured person knew or with exercise of reasonable and diligent care should have known of such instructions, the defendants are not liable. These combined instructions constitute the misuse instruction at issue. The instruction was modeled after A.R.S. § 12-683(3). [4] At trial, the only objection raised by Gosewisch to Honda's request was an alleged lack of evidentiary support. On appeal, Gosewisch asserts that the giving of an instruction pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-683(3) violates article 18, section 5 of the Arizona Constitution. [5] Honda argues that Gosewisch failed to timely object to the constitutionality of the jury instruction at issue. However, constitutional arguments are not necessarily waived by lack of objection in the trial court. Questions of constitutional guarantees and violations thereof may be raised for the first time on appeal. Hawkins v. Allstate Ins. Co., Inc., 152 Ariz. 490, 493, 733 P.2d 1073, 1086 (Ariz. 1987) (consideration of constitutional issue raised for the first time on appeal is discretionary). We exercise our discretion to consider the constitutional issue presented by the petition for review. The issue in this case is whether the jury was instructed in a manner that violates the Arizona Constitution. It is well settled that if contributory negligence is a defense to a particular action, article 18, section 5 mandates that the jury determine its existence. See Hall v. A.N.R. Freight System, Inc., 149 Ariz. 130, 134, 717 P.2d 434, 438 (1986); Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. v. Conwell, 21 Ariz. 480, 486-87, 190 P. 88, 90-91 (1920) (jury is sole and conclusive arbiter of question of contributory negligence or assumption of the risk). Thus, where contributory negligence is a defense, an instruction that the defendant is not liable if the jury finds that the facts establish contributory negligence contravenes article 18, section 5. See Layton v. Rocha, 90 Ariz. 369, 370-71, 368 P.2d 444, 444-45 (1962) (instruction that jury must find for defendant if it finds that the facts establish contributory negligence would be unconstitutional); Heimke v. Munoz, 106 Ariz. 26, 30, 470 P.2d 107, 111 (1970) (jury should be instructed on law of contributory negligence but cannot be peremptorily required to follow the instruction); cf. Brannigan v. Raybuck, 136 Ariz. 513, 518, 667 P.2d 213, 218 (1983) (court cannot find contributory negligence or assumption of the risk as a matter of law). Gosewisch and amicus urge that there is no meaningful distinction between contributory negligence and the defenses articulated in A.R.S. § 12-683(3) and that the jury instruction based on this statute violated article 18, section 5. Specifically, Gosewisch argues that because the jury instruction mandates that defendants are not liable if the product was used contrary to express and adequate instructions about which the plaintiff knew or should have known, the instruction violated the jury's constitutionally-guaranteed right to be the sole and exclusive arbiter of contributory negligence. (emphasis supplied). Further, Gosewisch asserts that there was no evidence of misuse and that the misuse instruction at issue was based upon Gosewisch's contributory negligence. We believe that the statutory defenses articulated in A.R.S. § 12-683(3) do not encompass contributory negligence. Contributory negligence is generally defined as conduct of the plaintiff which falls below the standard to which he is required to conform for his own protection and which contributes as a logical cause to the harm he has suffered. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 463 (1965); W. Keeton, D. Dobbs, R. Keeton & D. Owen, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 65, at 451 (5th ed. 1984). A.R.S. § 12-683(3) expresses defenses to a products liability action in two parts: (1) use for a purpose, in a manner or in an activity other than that which was reasonably foreseeable, or (2) use contrary to any express and adequate instructions or warnings appearing on or attached to the product or on its original container or wrapping, if the injured person knew or with the exercise of reasonable and diligent care should have known of such instructions or warnings. The statute provides that a defendant shall not be liable if the defendant proves that either of these were [t]he proximate cause of the injury. Neither of the statutory defenses focuses on the plaintiff's fault in failing to meet the standard of the ordinary, prudent person. The first defense focuses on whether the use of the product was reasonably foreseeable. Thus, if the plaintiff uses the product in a foreseeable manner, regardless of whether such use was negligent, recovery is not barred. Likewise, the second defense focuses on whether the use was contrary to express and adequate instructions appearing on the product. We interpret the phrase if the injured person knew or ... should have known of such instructions or warnings as a modifier describing, at least in part, the quality of instructions or warnings necessary to bar recovery. In other words, this language describes instructions that are reasonably calculated to reach the plaintiff. Thus, the second part of A.R.S. § 12-683(3) bars recovery if the proximate cause of the injury was a use contrary to adequate and express instructions or warnings appearing on or with the product if the instructions or warnings are of such a nature that the injured person reasonably should have known of them. In reaching this conclusion, we note that the statute does not predicate recovery on whether the plaintiff read or should have read the instructions. Thus, a jury instruction pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-683(3) is constitutional although it instructs that the defendant is not liable if the defendant proves one of the statutory defenses. The constitutional guarantee in article 18, section 5 is inapplicable to a jury instruction based on A.R.S. § 12-683(3) because the statutory defenses do not encompass contributory negligence. However, we believe that the jury instruction at issue in this case incorrectly stated the legal principles in A.R.S. § 12-683(3). The jury instruction mirrored the language of the second part of the statute  use contrary to express and adequate instructions ...  but did not convey that such use must be [t]he proximate cause of the incident. We find this omission critical. It is well settled that there may be more than one proximate cause of an injury and that those causes may act concurrently and in combination to produce the injury. We interpret A.R.S. § 12-683(3) to bar recovery if the proximate cause, meaning the sole proximate cause, of the incident giving rise to the injury was either of the actions listed in the statute. The statute does not bar recovery if the circumstances described is a proximate cause or one of the proximate causes of the incident. Therefore, we do not interpret the statute as establishing a superceding cause as a matter of law. Instead, A.R.S. § 12-683(3) bars recovery if the only proximate cause is one of the circumstances listed. The facts of this case illustrate our point. The court instructed the jury that if the defendant proved that Gosewisch was using the ATC in a manner contrary to adequate instructions that came with the product, then the defendant shall not be liable. Under this instruction, the jury could impermissibly render a defense verdict if the jury concluded that the instructions were of such a nature that Gosewisch knew of them, even if use contrary to the instructions was not a cause of the injury and even if the jury also concluded that the ATC's defective design rendered the ATC unreasonably dangerous and proximately caused the injury. We hold that the jury was erroneously instructed and remand to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this opinion. HAYS, Retired J., and CAMERON and HOLOHAN, JJ., concur. FELDMAN, V.C.J., recused himself and did not participate in the determination of this matter. SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION