Opinion ID: 602383
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Other Lawsuits and Claims

Text: 14 Johnson's first evidentiary challenge involves evidence of five other lawsuits against Ford and claims made by four other customers. Ford moved in limine to prohibit Johnson from presenting this evidence, and, to show the court the nature of the allegations in these other cases, attached copies of the complaints and customer letters to its motion. 2 In short, Ford argued that (1) these other lawsuits are not relevant because their facts and circumstances are not substantially similar to the facts and circumstances in the case before us, and, (2) even if relevant, these other unadjudicated claims and lawsuits constitute mere hearsay which is more prejudicial than probative. Rather than showing substantial similarity, Johnson argued that these other lawsuits (1) are relevant to the issue of notice and (2) constitute the type of evidence commonly relied upon by experts to establish the existence of a defect. 15 Similarly, Johnson attempted to admit two letters from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to Ford, and a responsive letter by Ford. The letters from the NHTSA state that the agency received twenty-four reports of alleged steering system failures in its 1984 Tempo and Topaz vehicles and twenty-five reports of alleged transaxle halfshaft assembly failures in its 1984-1986 Tempo and Topaz vehicles. The NHTSA asked Ford to provide copies of owner complaints and to identify and describe all accidents and lawsuits known to Ford pertaining to the alleged defect. Ford's letter to the NHTSA provided all the information requested, and an attachment to the letter summarized the two accident reports and three lawsuits alleging failure, separation, malfunction or similar unsatisfactory performance of transaxle halfshaft assemblies in 1984-1987 Tempo and Topaz vehicles. 3 Again, Ford moved in limine to exclude this evidence on the grounds that: the letters constitute hearsay; the information they contain is irrelevant because it pertains to other vehicle lines and concerns different defects; and, to the extent it is relevant, information in the form of correspondence with an agency charged with ensuring highway safety would be more prejudicial than probative. The district court granted Ford's motions to prohibit Johnson from presenting this evidence. The court based its rulings on findings that the evidence at issue constitutes hearsay, the probative value of which is substantially outweighed by the unfair prejudice that would result from its admission. 16 On appeal, Johnson reasserts his contentions that this evidence is relevant and that it has probative value outweighing its prejudicial effect. We reject Johnson's assertions for the following reasons: 17 Ford's summary of claims and lawsuits. This is the same type of evidence which this court found to constitute inadmissible hearsay in Roberts v. Harnischfeger Corp., 901 F.2d 42, 44-45 (5th Cir.1989). In Roberts, the plaintiff sought to introduce an affidavit of an employee of the defendant that briefly summarized copies of notices of pending litigation against the defendant, along with other reports concerning the allegedly defective products. This court held that the evidence was properly excluded because Harnischfeger did not prepare the notices and reports, and the allegations made therein were hearsay. 901 F.2d at 45. Similarly, in the case at issue, Johnson has attempted to introduce a brief summary of claims, lawsuits, and complaints (as opposed to a summary of Ford investigations and tests, for example), which amounts to nothing more than a summary of allegations by others which constitute hearsay. 18 Evidence of other accidents. When evidence of other accidents or occurrences is offered for any purpose other than to show notice, the proponent of that evidence must show that the facts and circumstances of the other accidents or occurrences are closely similar to the facts and circumstances at issue. See McGonigal v. Gearhart Industries, Inc., 851 F.2d 774, 778 (5th Cir.1988); Jackson v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 788 F.2d 1070, 1082-83 (5th Cir.1986). Moreover, even when a substantial similarity of circumstances is established, the district court has broad discretion to exclude such evidence under Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. See FED.R.EVID. 403. 19 None of the other alleged accidents at issue appear to have involved the precise mechanical defect alleged by Johnson. 4 Moreover, all of these complaints and claims involved either different models of Ford vehicles or Escorts with model years different from the 1983 1/2 Ford Escort driven by Darlene at the time of her accident. 5 Nevertheless, in response to Ford's motion in limine, Johnson asserted that this evidence regarding other accidents and claims was relevant to the issue of notice--thereby relaxing the substantial similarity requirement for admissibility. Jackson, 788 F.2d at 1083 (the substantial similarity requirement for admissibility is relaxed when evidence of other accidents is offered solely to show notice). However, even when it is offered solely to show notice, the proponent of such evidence must establish reasonable similarity. See Mills v. Beech Aircraft Corp., Inc., 886 F.2d 758, 762 (5th Cir.1989). 20 In the case before us, Johnson has failed to establish any recognizable similarity between his claim and those that are the subject of the evidence at issue: none of these other claims involved allegations that contamination in an inboard C.V. joint caused the steering mechanism to freeze up and the car to react as Johnson alleges Darlene's car reacted. 6 Moreover, as stated by Ford, 21 Johnson made no showing or even attempted to establish that Ford had notice of any of the claims or lawsuits before Darlene Johnson's accident in November 1985.... [T]here is no evidence that Ford was served with any of the complaints or received any of the claims before November 1985. See [Julander v. Ford Motor Co., 488 F.2d 839, 846 (10th Cir.1973) ]. 7 22 Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to admit this evidence. 23 The NHTSA letters. Johnson also challenges the district court's exclusion of NHTSA letters regarding a preliminary inquiry which did not result in any action by the NHTSA. Johnson asserts that these letters should have been admitted to impeach Mann's testimony that he was unaware of any incident in which an inboard C.V. joint seized and caused a vehicle to go out of control. See supra note 6. The letters at issue regard a NHTSA investigation, but they were not written to Mann and do not bear on Johnson's assertion that Mann was aware of these NHTSA inquiries. Moreover, beyond the fact that these were merely preliminary inquiries which did not result in any action by NHTSA, and the fact that they were directed at different lines of cars, as stated by Ford, the 'official' nature of the inquiries could have misled the jury into believing that 'something' was wrong with Ford cars. See Fowler v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 92 F.R.D. 1, 2 (N.D.Miss.1980) (in addressing the inadmissibility of a NHTA report, stating that, because this documentary evidence is in the form of reports promulgated by agencies of the United States government, its apparent 'official' nature is likely to cause a jury to give the evidence inordinate weight). Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to admit the NHTSA correspondence. 24 Summation. The evidence at issue involves nine complaints regarding several lines of Ford cars and allegations of mechanical defects distinguishable from the defect alleged in the case before us. We hold, therefore, that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the probative value of this evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to Ford. See FED.R.EVID. 403; Hardy, 870 F.2d at 1009; Brooks v. Chrysler Corp., 786 F.2d 1191 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 853, 107 S.Ct. 185, 93 L.Ed.2d 119 (1986). 8