Opinion ID: 1956862
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: State of the Art Evidence

Text: We are mindful that questions concerning the admission and exclusion of evidence are vested within the trial court's discretion. Absent an abuse of that discretion, such rulings will not be reversed. Burch v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., 320 Pa.Super. 444, 456, 467 A.2d 615, 621 (1983). In assessing the propriety of the trial court's actions, a fundamental consideration in determining the admissibility of evidence is its relevance. Evidence is relevant if it tends to make a fact at issue more or less probable. Martin v. Soblotney, 502 Pa. 418, 422, 466 A.2d 1022, 1024 (1983). Over Majdic's objection, Joseph L. Schwalje was permitted to testify concerning the custom in the industry in 1949 with respect to power press brakes. Cincinnati sold the press which injured Majdic to National Standard Machine in 1949. The witness testified that it was customary practice at that time for an employer or another party implementing the press brake into a metal forming system to provide the necessary safety devices. Further, Schwalje was permitted to refer to the 1973 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Safety Standards for power presses to demonstrate that the standard in 1973 was the same as the trade custom prevalent in 1949. At trial, Majdic argued that evidence of industry practices or trade customs was inadmissible in strict liability cases since it related to the reasonableness of a manufacturer's conduct. The trial court rejected this argument and found the testimony to be relevant as to whether the press brake was defective at the time it was sold to National Standard. The written 1973 ANSI reports were excluded from evidence; however, Schwalje was permitted to refer to them in order to determine the industry custom during 1949. Recently, our Supreme Court in Lewis v. Coffing Hoist Division, Duff-Norton Co., Inc., 515 Pa. 334, 528 A.2d 590 (1987), considered the identical issue presented by Majdic  the admissibility of custom and usage as well as industry standards in a products liability case. In Lewis, the plaintiff was injured while using a control box to operate an overhead hoist. The plaintiff stumbled and struck one of the control buttons, causing the overhead hoist chain to disengage, swing forward, and hit both of his legs. During trial, the trial court admitted the plaintiff's evidence that if the control box had been designed in a different fashion, the accident would have been prevented. The defendant attempted to put into evidence a publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which set forth standards with respect to the manufacture of electric hoists and other industrial lifting equipment. Likewise, the defendant sought to introduce evidence by an expert witness that at least ninety percent of the electric hoists manufactured in this country had control panels devoid of safety guards around the activating buttons. Both types of evidence were excluded by the trial court on grounds that such evidence injected into the case concepts of negligence. On appeal the Superior Court upheld the trial court's ruling and our Supreme Court affirmed. In this bellwether decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted that there existed a general consensus among the various jurisdictions that the manufacturer's due care has no bearing in a products liability case. However, there is a discrepancy among the courts with respect to the relevance and admissibility of evidence demonstrating industry standards, customs and practices of the design of products. Id., 515 Pa. at 342, 528 A.2d at 593. After embarking upon an analysis of the treatment of such evidence among our sister states, the Lewis court opined: [h]aving reached the conclusion that evidence of industry standards relating to the design of the control pendant involved in this case, and evidence of its widespread use in the industry, go to the reasonableness of the appellant's conduct in making its design choice, we further conclude that such evidence would have improperly brought into the case concepts of negligence law. We also conclude that such evidence would have created a strong likelihood of diverting the jury's attention from the appellant's control box to the reasonableness of the appellant's conduct in choosing its design. For those reasons we conclude that the trial court correctly ruled the evidence to be irrelevant and hence inadmissible. Id., 515 Pa. at 343, 528 A.2d at 594. (Emphasis supplied).