Opinion ID: 465441
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: errors relating to instructions

Text: 35 Electrolux objected to two portions of the district court's jury charge. The first contested passage reads: 36 Furthermore, the manufacturer is not required to furnish an accident free product, nor are they required to incorporate the ultimate in safety devices unless to do so is practical. An automobile is a dangerous instrumentality. There may be devices which can be placed on it which would make it safer. But, unless it would be practical to equip automobiles with such safety devices they are not required to do so. In other words, a manufacturer, be it a chain saw or an automobile or any other device, is not required to make the device accident proof. [Emphasis added.] 37 Electrolux specifically objected to the unless to do so is practical phrase. Electrolux contends that it has never been the law in Alabama that, if practical, a manufacturer has a duty to put safety devices on its products. The charge constituted reversible error, in Electrolux's view, because the court, in effect, directed a verdict in Nettles's favor. 38 While it is true that the court's language cannot be found in any cases, the charge taken as a whole is a correct statement of the law. We have already examined Alabama products liability law and find it unnecessary to do so again. We simply point to Caterpillar to show that the charge was correct. The manufacturer in Caterpillar was subjected to liability because he failed to equip his product with a practical safety device. A manufacturer may not be required to make his product as safe as possible under Alabama law, but if it does not, it may be liable. The district court noted that in some instances it is impractical for a manufacturer to incorporate the ultimate in safety devices, and in those situations, a manufacturer cannot be held liable. 39 The charge did not engender confusion. A reasonable juror would know, given the context, that the charge refers to what is practical for a manufacturer to do. The whole of the disputed charge concerns the manufacturer's duties. If practical, manufacturers must make their products as safe as possible or subject themselves to liability. That is the law in Alabama. That is what the charge stated. 40 The second contested portion of the charge read: 41 The defendant in this case brought evidence that chain brakes were available for chain saws as optional equipment at the time the chain saw in question was sold. If you find from the evidence that the chain saw in this case was unreasonably dangerous without a chain brake then I charge you that that is no defense, and that Electrolux Motor A.B. cannot escape liability by showing that a chain brake could have been, but was not purchased with the saw. 42 Electrolux argues that this charge is argumentative and misleading, and that it obliterates the assumption of risk defense. Electrolux offered as a defense to liability the fact that it offered chain brakes as optional equipment. The court correctly charged the jury that the availability of optional safety equipment is no defense if a product is found unreasonably dangerous. The Caterpillar court stated that if the [product] was defective in the condition in which it was sold, liability for resulting injury cannot be escaped by showing that the customer could have but did not buy an item which would have removed the defect. Caterpillar at 857. Moreover, the district court in this case gave a separate adequate charge relating to assumption of risk.