Opinion ID: 1221373
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: res ipsa loquitur instructions

Text: [1a] The evidence is clearly sufficient to satisfy the requirement of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur that the accident must be of such a nature that it probably was the result of negligence by someone, since it may be assumed that an insecticide such as the product involved here, which is designed for use on plants, will not ordinarily damage cotton crops if it is properly manufactured and applied. The evidence also meets the requirement that it must appear that the defendant is probably the one who is responsible. [2] The fact that an accident occurs after the defendant relinquishes control of the instrumentality which causes the accident does not preclude application of the doctrine provided there is evidence that the instrumentality had not been improperly handled or its condition otherwise changed after control was relinquished by the defendant. ( Zentz v. Coca Cola Bottling Co., 39 Cal.2d 436, 444 [247 P.2d 344].) [1b] In the present case the codefendants are the only persons likely to have been responsible for any alteration of the insecticide after the sealed drums were delivered by Sherwin Williams to the cooperative, and these defendants gave explanations of their activities which would indicate that they had not mishandled or improperly changed the condition of the spray which damaged plaintiffs' crop. Moreover, as we have seen, there is evidence that unopened drums of the insecticide in the warehouse of the cooperative also contained sufficient 2,4-D to injure cotton plants. [3] Under all the circumstances the evidence warrants the conclusion that the damage to the crop was probably due to some negligent conduct on the part of Sherwin Williams in allowing its product to become contaminated or in failing to discover the contamination before it relinquished control of the product. The trial court, therefore, was justified in giving instructions on the doctrine. [4a] The procedural effect of res ipsa loquitur is presented by the contention that the court erred in telling the jurors that the inference of negligence based upon the doctrine is mandatory rather than permissive. They were instructed that from the occurrence of the damage involved in this case, as established by the evidence, there arises an inference of negligence by the defendants and that it is incumbent upon the defendants to rebut the inference. [5, 6] It is settled, of course, that res ipsa loquitur raises an inference, not a presumption, and the general rule is that whether a particular inference shall be drawn is a question of fact for the jury, even in the absence of evidence to the contrary. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 1958 [] ; Blank v. Coffin, 20 Cal.2d 457, 461 [126 P.2d 868]; Hamilton v. Pacific Elec. Ry. Co., 12 Cal.2d 598, 602-603 [86 P.2d 829].) [7] This, however, does not preclude the conclusion that res ipsa loquitur may give rise to a special kind of inference which the defendant must rebut, although the effect of the inference is somewhat akin to that of a presumption. ( Hardin v. San Jose City Lines, 41 Cal.2d 432, 435 et seq. [260 P.2d 63], and cases there cited; see Code Civ. Proc., § 1959. [] ) The Hardin case held that an instruction similar to the one involved here was properly given in an action against a common carrier for injuries received by a passenger and that the carrier was obliged to meet the res ipsa loquitur inference by evidence sufficient to offset or balance it. (41 Cal.2d at p. 435 et seq.) A similar burden has been placed upon defendants in other cases where there were special relationships between the parties. ( Dierman v. Providence Hospital, 31 Cal.2d 290, 295-296 [188 P.2d 12] [medical patient]; Ales v. Ryan, 8 Cal.2d 82, 106 [64 P.2d 409] [medical patient]; see Ybarra v. Spangard, 25 Cal.2d 486, 490, 492, 494 [154 P.2d 687, 162 A.L.R. 1258] [medical patient]; cf. George v. Bekins Van & Storage Co., 33 Cal.2d 834, 839-841 [205 P.2d 1037] [bailment].) It has also been held that the defendant must show that he was not at fault where the plaintiff was injured as a result of a dangerous activity in which the defendant was engaged and as to which the defendant was required to exercise great care. (See Chutuk v. Southern Calif. Gas Co., 218 Cal. 395, 398-400 [23 P.2d 285] [furnishing gas]; Damgaard v. Oakland High School Dist., 212 Cal. 316, 318-324 [298 P. 983] [dangerous chemical experiment]; Bergen v. Tulare County Power Co., 173 Cal. 709, 719-721 [161 P. 269] [furnishing electricity]; Diller v. Northern Cal. Power Co., 162 Cal. 531, 536-537 [123 P. 359, Ann.Cas. 1913D 908] [furnishing electricity]; Ficken v. Jones (1865), 28 Cal. 618, 625-628 [driving cattle through city]; Junge v. Midland Counties etc. Corp., 38 Cal. App.2d 154, 157, 159 [100 P.2d 1073] [furnishing electricity]; Harmon v. San Joaquin L. & P. Corp., 37 Cal. App.2d 169, 175 [98 P.2d 1064] [furnishing electricity].) In some types of situations, because of the nature of the particular accident, an inference of negligence upon the part of the defendant may be so strong that no reasonable man could fail to accept it in the absence of explanatory evidence. (See Alabama & V. Ry. Co. v. Groome, 97 Miss. 201 [52 So. 703, 704]; Angerman Co. v. Edgemon, 76 Utah 394 [290 P. 169, 171, 79 A.L.R. 40]; Pillars v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 117 Miss. 490 [78 So. 365, 366]; Prosser on Torts [1941], 304.) Facts of this character appear to have been presented in Ales v. Ryan, 8 Cal.2d 82 [64 P.2d 409]. where there was evidence that the defendant surgeon closed an incision without having removed a sponge. (See also cases collected in Prosser, Res Ipsa Loquitur in California [1949], 37 Cal.L.Rev. 183, 220-221.) Another basis for imposing the burden of explanation on the defendant in res ipsa loquitur cases has been that the facts are peculiarly within his knowledge. ( Dierman v. Providence Hospital, 31 Cal.2d 290, 295-296 [188 P.2d 12] [failure to produce in evidence a tank of anesthetizing gas where possible cause of injury to plaintiff was that the gas was contaminated]; Druzanich v. Criley, 19 Cal.2d 439, 444-445 [122 P.2d 53] [failure of driver to explain what happened in automobile accident which occurred when automobile left road while plaintiff passenger was dozing].) In a number of cases, which are difficult to classify, the courts, without discussion of the problem involved here, have either sustained instructions similar to the one given in the present case or have stated as a part of the rule that it is incumbent upon the defendant to show that he was not negligent. (See Hinds v. Wheadon, 19 Cal.2d 458, 461 [121 P.2d 724] [explosion of tank]; Hinds v. Wheadon, 67 Cal. App.2d 456, 460-464 [154 P.2d 720] [same case, subsequent opinion]; Kenney v. Antonetti, 211 Cal. 336, 339-340 [295 P. 341] [straying horse]; Michener v. Hutton, 203 Cal. 604, 606, 609-611 [265 P. 238, 59 A.L.R. 480] [falling object]; Sherrillo v. Stone & Webster Eng. Corp., 110 Cal. App.2d 785, 790-791 [244 P.2d 70] [defective scaffold]; Meyers v. G.W. Thomas Drayage etc. Co., 108 Cal. App.2d 529, 532-533 [239 P.2d 118] [falling object]; Welch v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 96 Cal. App.2d 553, 558-561 [215 P.2d 796] [falling object]; Radisich v. Franco-Italian Packing Co., 68 Cal. App.2d 825, 840-841 [158 P.2d 435] [defective winch].) A few decisions have criticized instructions to the effect that res ipsa loquitur imposes a mandatory burden upon the defendant to rebut the inference of negligence and have apparently proceeded on the theory that the doctrine creates an inference which is enough to avoid a nonsuit but which the trier of fact may accept or reject as it sees fit, even though the defendant offers no evidence. ( Pruett v. Burr, 118 Cal. App.2d 188, 195-196 [257 P.2d 690] [action arising from the same spraying operation involved in the present case but as a result of damage to cotton belonging to plaintiffs' neighbor]; Black v. Partridge, 115 Cal. App.2d 639, 648-650 [252 P.2d 760]; Bazzoli v. Nance's Sanitarium, Inc., 109 Cal. App.2d 232, 239-241 [240 P.2d 672]; Albert v. McKay & Co., 53 Cal. App. 325, 329-330 [200 P. 83]; cf. Anderson v. I.M. Jameson Corp., 7 Cal.2d 60, 66-67 [59 P.2d 962].) This view, which is inconsistent with most of the California decisions, is very difficult to apply, and there are substantial reasons why we should hold that in every type of res ipsa loquitur case the defendant should have the burden of meeting the inference of negligence. It must now be regarded as settled that the requirement that the defendant rebut the inference of negligence is the rule with regard to the specific groups of cases noted above, which represent the great majority of the decisions in California relating to the question. Moreover, as a practical matter it will be much simpler, for both trial and appellate courts, to apply this rule uniformly to all situations where an inference of negligence is based upon res ipsa loquitur. Another result will be the elimination of much difficulty in the drawing of instructions which will adequately inform the jury of its duties. In the absence of such a uniform rule, the nature and extent of the burden of proof imposed upon the defendant might frequently depend upon how conflicting testimony is resolved, particularly in cases where there is a dispute as to which of the parties had a superior knowledge. [8] The doctrine, of course, does not apply at all unless it appears that there is a probability of negligence, and writers who support the view that the defendant should be required to rebut the inference of negligence point out that in res ipsa loquitur cases the defendant is almost always in a better position to explain what occurred. (See Harper on Torts [1933] 185; Cal. Jury Instructions, Civil, 1952 Pocket Part, 92; Carpenter, The Doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitur in California, 10 So.Cal.L.Rev. 166, 181; Carpenter, A Rejoinder to Professor Prosser, 10 So.Cal.L.Rev. 467, 470.) Accordingly, it is not unfair to require him to explain his conduct. [9] It is our conclusion that in all res ipsa loquitur situations the defendant must present evidence sufficient to meet or balance the inference of negligence, and that the jurors should be instructed that, if the defendant fails to do so, they should find for the plaintiff. [4b] The trial court, therefore, did not err in giving instructions that it was incumbent upon Sherwin Williams to rebut the inference of negligence. [10] The instructions given, however, were erroneous in that, while they purported to state all the conditions under which res ipsa loquitur would be applicable, they did not inform the jury that plaintiffs must show that the instrumentality which caused the damage was not mishandled or its condition otherwise changed after control was relinquished by the person against whom the doctrine is to be applied. In giving instructions which define res ipsa loquitur it is ordinarily necessary to cover this problem where, as here, there is evidence that several persons had control of the instrumentality at different times before the accident. ( Black v. Partridge, 115 Cal. App.2d 639, 650 [252 P.2d 760]; Zentz v. Coca Cola Bottling Co., 92 Cal. App.2d 130, 133 [206 P.2d 653]; see Gordon v. Aztec Brewing Co., 33 Cal.2d 514, 519-520 [203 P.2d 522].) Under the circumstances of the present case it was error to give the instructions which set forth the doctrine without mentioning plaintiffs' burden regarding the possibility that third persons may have been responsible for what happened.