Opinion ID: 2202443
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Practice in the Industry.

Text: The affidavits and other materials submitted by the merchants represent that their review procedures conform to those generally used by members of their industry, or at least by many of them. Such evidence is undoubtedly relevant to the issue of negligence. Princemont Constr. Corp. v. Smith, 140 U.S.App.D.C. 111, 114, 433 F.2d 1217, 1220 (1970) (per curiam); see also Noble v. Worthy, 378 A.2d 674, 676-77 (D.C.1977). Industry custom and practice are commonly looked to for illumination of the appropriate standard of care in a negligence case. Erlich v. First Nat'l Bank of Princeton, 208 N.J.Super. 264, 291, 505 A.2d 220, 234 (1984). Put more conceptually, proof of a common practice aids in formulating the general expectation of society as to how individuals will act in the course of their undertakings, and thus to guide the common sense or expert intuition of a jury or commission when called on to judge of particular conduct under particular circumstances. Trimarco v. Klein, 56 N.Y.2d 98, 107, 436 N.E.2d 502, 505, 451 N.Y.S.2d 52, 55 (1982) (quoting R. Pound, Administrative Application of Legal Standards, 44 ABA Rep. 445, 456-57). Nevertheless, evidence of conformity to industry practice is not conclusive, and cannot set the standard of conduct. Princemont, supra, 140 U.S.App.D.C. at 114, 433 F.2d at 1220. To borrow Justice Holmes' pithy formulation, [w]hat usually is done may be evidence of what ought to be done, but what ought to be done is fixed by a standard of reasonable prudence, whether it usually is complied with or not. Texas & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Behymer, 189 U.S. 468, 470, 23 S.Ct. 622, 623, 47 L.Ed. 905 (1903). [7] Much the better view, therefore, is that of the great majority of the cases, that every custom is not conclusive merely because it is a custom, that it must meet the challenge of `learned reason,' and be given only the evidentiary weight which the situation deserves. PROSSER & KEETON, THE LAW OF TORTS § 33, at 195 (1984). Accordingly, we do not think that the merchants have established their own due care for summary judgment purposes by attempting to equate their own procedures with industry custom. Rather, their motion must stand or fall on deficiencies in Beard's submission.