Opinion ID: 435307
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: records of similar failures

Text: 28 During discovery, Weeks served interrogatories on Remington in an effort to learn about any other instances where one of its shotguns fired with the safety on. Remington responded by citing eight other alleged failures of the safety mechanism. Weeks then served Remington with a request to produce its files on the other accidents. Remington objected to the request for production but turned the documents over to the district court for an in camera inspection. Although the parties dispute the nature of the court's ruling after the inspection, 8 it is clear that the court did not permit Weeks to inspect the files and granted a mistrial when Weeks asked a Remington official about the existence of other accidents involving similar failures of the safety. 9 The files remained sealed and in the possession of the district court during the subsequent trial. 29 In this appeal, Remington does not seriously dispute the admissibility of its records concerning other failures of its safety mechanism; nor could it. The relevancy of similar accident evidence has been firmly established in this circuit: 30 Evidence of similar accidents might be relevant to the defendant's notice, magnitude of the danger involved, the defendant's ability to correct a known defect, the lack of safety for intended uses, strength of a product, the standard of care, and causation. 31 Ramos v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 615 F.2d 334, 338-39 (5th Cir.1980) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1112, 101 S.Ct. 921, 66 L.Ed.2d 840 (1981). Too, such evidence might be used to disprove a defendant's alternative theory of causation. See Dollar v. Long Mfg., N.C., Inc., 561 F.2d 613, 617 (5th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 996, 98 S.Ct. 1648, 56 L.Ed.2d 85 (1978). 10 32 Of course, Rule 403 restricts the admissibility of otherwise relevant evidence under certain circumstances: 33 Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. 34 Fed.R.Evid. 403. Because of the potential impact that evidence of similar accidents can have on juries, this court has placed two additional limitations on the use of such evidence: (1) the prior failure(s) must have occurred under conditions substantially similar to those existing during the failure in question, and (2) the prior failure(s) must have occurred at a time that is not too remote from the time of the failure in question. Ramos v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 615 F.2d at 339 (quoting Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Matherne, 348 F.2d 394, 400 (5th Cir.1965)). 11 35 In this case, Weeks was allowed no opportunity to establish substantial similarity of conditions because the district court refused to grant him access to Remington's records. 12 The same applies to the proximity in time limitation. His only attempt to establish the existence of the other accidents prompted a mistrial and an assessment of costs. We hold, that under these circumstances, the district court abused its discretion by refusing Weeks access to Remington's files. In any subsequent trial of this matter, Weeks is entitled to Remington's records of other similar failures by its safety mechanism. 13 36 AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; and REMANDED.