Opinion ID: 389929
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Stewart Instruction

Text: 12 Judge Green gave the following instruction to the jury regarding GM's liability: 4 13 (P)laintiffs need not prove a specific defect (in the Buick). 14 It is sufficient if you find from the evidence that the motor vehicle in question went out of control causing the accident as a result of some mechanical failure due to an obvious or hidden defect in the car which existed at the time that it left General Motors Corporation. 15 In Stewart v. Ford Motor Co., 553 F.2d 130, 136, 141 (D.C.Cir.1977), based on District of Columbia precedent, we approved this form of instruction for use in motor vehicle accident product liability cases. GM asserts that the state of the evidence in this case warranted an instruction less generous to the plaintiffs. The jury should have been instructed to return a verdict for the Halls, GM contends, only if it found that some unreasonably dangerous defect in the drive shaft assembly caused the accident. 5 We conclude that Judge Green properly patterned her instruction on the Stewart model. 16 This court held in Stewart that a plaintiff established her case by presenting (1) evidence tending to negate causes for the accident other than a defect in the car, and (2) evidence tending to show that the defendant-manufacturer introduced into the car whatever defect might have existed. Id. at 137. The court stated explicitly that the quantum of evidence required for these showings is not great. Further, the Stewart opinion indicated that proof that the product was new would warrant a jury inference that a defect, if there was one, existed at the time the product entered the stream of commerce. In addition, Stewart observed that a plaintiff would be called upon to negate only the most obvious causes, such as intoxication or excessive speed, unless the defendant offered specific accounts of how the accident might have happened in the absence of a defect in the automobile. Id. at 138. 17 The Halls brought their case comfortably within the Stewart frame. Mrs. Hall testified that, prior to the accident, her physical condition was excellent. She did not drink, suffer from diabetes, sickle cell anemia, epilepsy, or any other disease that could have caused dizziness or blackout spells. She did not have any mental disorders or high blood pressure and did not use any drugs. She further testified that she was an experienced driver (for fourteen years she had been a part-time cab driver), that she was familiar with the area in which the accident occurred (it was about a mile from her home), and that her speed at the time she heard an explosion had been 40-45 miles per hour. 6 18 Mrs. Hall had purchased her Buick five months prior to the accident. 7 From the start, the Halls experienced difficulties with the vehicle and sought correction from the seller, GM dealer Larry Buick, Inc. On several occasions following the purchase, the Halls complained to the dealer that the engine would miss, vibrate, hesitate upon acceleration, backfire, and run hot; the brakes would squeal; the idle was rough; sometimes the car would pull to the right, sometimes it would just take off. 8 19 GM did not vigorously contest these facts. It did, however, strenuously challenge the testimony of experts called by the Halls to show that a drive shaft defect caused the accident. GM put on a massive array of technical evidence to convince the jury that the accident was not caused by any defect in Mrs. Hall's Buick. Most of this evidence was designed to rebut the plaintiffs' proof concerning the drive shaft. In addition, GM sought to eliminate other possible manufacturer-related causes of the accident. Experts called by GM stated and explained their opinion that the drive shaft did not fail and that no other defects in Mrs. Hall's Buick could have occasioned the accident. Moreover, on cross-examination, both of the plaintiffs' experts conceded that they had identified no specific defect in the car, other than the drive shaft. In particular, they acknowledged that, as far as they could determine, there was no malfunction in the automobile's steering, acceleration, or braking systems. 9 20 GM urges that its evidentiary presentation and the concessions it elicited from plaintiffs' expert witnesses eliminated every possible cause of the accident apart from a defect in the drive shaft and Mrs. Hall's own negligence. Accordingly, GM maintains, Judge Green's instructions should have riveted the jury's attention to the drive shaft as the sole legally permissible basis for a finding of manufacturer's liability in this case. 10 21 We believe the showing GM made did not warrant displacement of the Stewart instruction. The Halls sought to present the jury with alternative arguments: (1) a specific theory that an identifiable automobile part had failed, causing the accident; and (2) a general theory that some unpinpointed defect introduced into the automobile by the manufacturer was responsible for the accident. Stewart held that the effort to prove a specific defect does not foreclose submission of the case to the jury on a general theory. If an attempt to pinpoint a defect tied plaintiffs to a specific theory, personal injury claimants would be deterred from introducing evidence beyond proof tending to show absence of fault on the part of the accident victim and unexplained malfunctioning of the vehicle. 553 F.2d at 141. 22 In this case, in addition to post-accident expert testimony concerning the drive shaft, Mrs. Hall presented substantial evidence of numerous unresolved problems she had experienced with her Buick prior to the accident. She could not detect the source of the problems, nor had GM's dealer eliminated them when Mrs. Hall complained and brought in the car for post-purchase inspections. We cannot say that GM's evidence or its cross-examination of witnesses for the Halls foreclosed the jury from finding that Mrs. Hall's Buick was defective when she purchased it, was never put in proper repair despite Mrs. Hall's repeated efforts to secure dealer correction, and went out of control as a result of some mechanical failure, apart from the drive shaft, attributable to GM.