Opinion ID: 1901361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the circuit court's jury instructions as a whole were prejudicial and constituted reversible error.

Text: ¶ 22. Plaintiffs contend the trial court committed reversible error in instructing the jury on both risk utility (P-4) and consumer expectation standards (D-2), because these two alternate standards comprise the substantive analyses by which courts determine products liability and are in conflict. That the jury was instructed to reach a verdict using two completely different standards of law which, read together, in no way reasonably represent the applicable law, was erroneous. ¶ 23. Instruction P-4 reads: You are instructed that one who sells a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer of the product or to his property is liable for physical harm the product may cause to the user or consumer, or to his property, if the seller was engaged in the business of selling such a product, and the product is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. Accordingly, if you find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case that: 1. Mack Trucks, Inc. and or/Jackson Mack Sales, Inc. were in the business of selling the Mack Truck and did in fact sell the Mack Truck: 2. The Mack Truck was at the time of the sale in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer o the product or to his property; 3. The Mack Truck was expected to and did reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold; 4. Jeffery D. Kilcrease was injured while the Mack Truck was being used in manner and for a purpose for which the product was intended and which was reasonably foreseeable by Mack Trucks, Inc. and/or Jackson Mack Sales, Inc. and 5. The defective condition of the product was the sole cause or proximate contributing cause of the resulting injury or damage; then your verdict shall be for the Plaintiffs. However, if you find that the plaintiffs have failed to prove any of these five elements by a preponderance of the evidence in this case, then your verdict shall be for the Defendants. You are further instructed that, under Mississippi law, accidents are always foreseeable to manufacturers. In the circumstances stated above, it is not a valid defense that Mack Trucks, Inc. and Jackson Mack Sales, Inc. exercised all possible care in preparing and selling the product. Mack Trucks, Inc., had a duty to make its product reasonably safe, regardless of whether Jeffery D. Kilcrease is aware of its dangerousness. Also, in the circumstances stated above, it is not a valid defense that Jeffery D. Kilcrease neither brought the Mack truck nor contracted with Mack Trucks, Inc. or Jackson Mack Sales, Inc. Additionally, compliance with the federal standards governing Class 8 heavy trucks does not protect Mack Trucks, Inc., from liability for design defects in connection with matters not covered by the federal standards. Stated more simply, you have a sworn duty to find for the plaintiffs in this case if you find that: 1. The Mack truck was in a defective condition, unreasonably dangerous to Jeffery D. Kilcrease; 2. The defect existed when Mack Trucks, Inc., and/or Jackson Mack Sales, Inc., sold the Mack truck; and 3. Jeffery D. Kilcrease was injured and ultimately killed by that defect. ¶ 24. D-2, reads in its entirety as follows: The Plaintiffs allege that the Mack truck was defectively designed because the fuel tanks and batteries were improperly located and/or the fuel tanks were inadequately guarded or protected. the Court instructs the jury that the Plaintiffs cannot prevail on their claim of defective design unless they prove by a preponderance of the evidence each of the following: (1) that the Mack Truck was designed in a defective manner; (2) that the alleged defective condition rendered the truck unreasonably dangerous to its users; and (3) that the alleged defective and unreasonably dangerous condition of the truck proximately caused the Plaintiffs's damages. You cannot find that the Mack Truck was defectively designed if the harm for which the Plaintiffs seek damages was caused by an inherent characteristic of the truck which is a generic aspect of the truck that cannot be eliminated without substantially compromising the truck's usefulness or desirability and which is recognized by the ordinary person with ordinary knowledge common to the community. In addition, you cannot hold Mack Trucks and Jackson Mack liable for defective design unless the Plaintiffs prove by a preponderance of the evidence each of the following: (1) that Mack Trucks and Jackson Mack knew, or in light of reasonably available knowledge, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have know, about the alleged danger regarding the fuel tanks and batteries, (2) that the truck failed to function as expected by its users; and (3) that there existed a feasible design alternative that would have to be a reasonable probability prevented the injuries to Jeffery Kilcrease. A feasible design alternative is a design that to a reasonable probability prevented the harm without impairing the utility, usefulness, practicality or desirability of the truck to its users. If the Plaintiff fails to prove even of these elements, then it is your sworn duty to return a verdict for Mack Trucks and Jackson Mack on the Plaintiffs' claim of defective design. (emphasis added). ¶ 25. The second paragraph of D-2, which parallels the Act is the most relevant to the Court's inquiry. Mack Trucks argues that this language is not merely a recitation of the consumer expectations test because the Products Liability Act combines elements of both the risk-utility and consumer expectation analyses. Section 1(b) of the Act, for example, includes both risk-utilityusefulness or desirability and consumer expectationordinary person with ordinary knowledge common to the community language. This suggests a bifurcated approach for determining whether a product is defective in design and unreasonably dangerous. One commentator has agreed, stating that: Section 1(b) relieves a manufacturer of liability for harm caused by an inherent characteristic of the product if, but only if, (1) such aspect of the product cannot be eliminated without compromising the product's usefulness or desirability, and (2) the harm-causing inherent characteristic is one that would be recognized by the ordinary person with the ordinary knowledge common to the community. Bobby Marzine Harges, An Evaluation of the Mississippi Products Liability Act of 1993, 63 Miss. L.J. 697, 715 (1994) quoting William Liston, Products Liability in Mississippi After the Enactment of House Bill 1270: The People's Perspective 26, a paper delivered for Mississippi Bar Summer School for Lawyers in Biloxi, Mississippi (July 19, 1993) (available at Mississippi Bar Center, Jackson, Mississippi). The conclusion, therefore, is that under the Products Liability Act, a manufacturer or seller can only obtain protection if the product which causes harm passes both the risk-utility and the consumer expectations tests. ¶ 26. This Court has said that with any granted jury instruction challenged on appeal, two questions are necessarily implicated: Does the instruction contain a correct statement of the law, and is the instruction warranted by the evidence? Langston v. Kidder, 670 So.2d 1, 5 (Miss. 1995). In Lovett v. Bradford, 676 So.2d 893 (Miss.1996), this Court held that jury instructions should not be reviewed in isolation; rather they should be read as a whole to determine if the jury was properly instructed. Id. at 896. ¶ 27. Here, the jury was not properly instructed. There is no question that Instruction D-2 did not provide the jury with a correct statement of the law. In fact, it required the jury to apply the consumer expectations test, which was clearly in error. While Instruction P-4 is not a classic risk-utility instruction, it also does not contain any reference to the consumer expectations test. ¶ 28. Finally, Mack Trucks argues that even if there was an error in the jury instructions, the error was harmless because the jury's verdict was supported by the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Mack Trucks bases its argument on its assertion two of plaintiffs' experts disagreed on the source of the fire. Even though it is not clear where the fire began, the primary focus of the case is on the defective design of the battery. Both of plaintiffs' experts recommended alternative designs consistent with their theories of defective design. Therefore, the reversible error found in the jury instructions is not made harmless in light of the entirety of the evidence.