Opinion ID: 372611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Rollover Protection and Placement of the Breather Cap.

Text: 16 At trial Wagner asserted that he would not have suffered such extensive injuries when the 500C crawler tipped over if IHC had provided rollover protection for the operator and if it had not located the transmission breather cap between the operator's legs. In its special verdict the jury found the crawler defective and IHC negligent on both counts. Notwithstanding the testimony of three expert witnesses in support of Wagner's allegations, IHC argues that the proof underlying the jury's conclusions was insufficient. We disagree. 17 This court has held that a manufacturer must consider the environment in which its product is used. Where a product cannot be used as intended without a known risk of accidents, the manufacturer must design that product with reasonable care so as to minimize the damage or injury arising in the event of accident. Larsen v. General Motors Corp., 391 F.2d 495 (8th Cir. 1968). That is to say, a manufacturer is liable not only for defects that cause accidents, but also for defects that predictably enhance resultant injuries. In this case, the jury in effect found that both the absence of rollover protection and the design or placement of the transmission fluid breather cap constituted enhanced injury defects in the Model 500C crawler. 7 18 Whether a manufacturer should be held liable for enhanced injuries turns on general negligence principles. Larsen v. General Motors Corp., supra, 391 F.2d at 502. If the likelihood of harm multiplied by its probable magnitude is greater than the cost of preventing that harm, then failure to take the necessary precautions makes the product unreasonably dangerous. Id. at 502 n.3. 19 IHC argues initially that the absence of rollover protection did not make the 500C crawler unreasonably dangerous because the danger of rollover and resultant injuries was within the contemplation of the ordinary consumer or crawler operator. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A, comment i; Orfield v. International Harvester Co., 535 F.2d 959 (6th Cir. 1976). In Orfield, supra, a crawler operator with thirty years' experience was injured by a falling tree while windrowing brush without a protective overhead canopy. The operator, who was held to be an ordinary consumer, testified that he was fully aware of the substantial hazards presented by that activity, and the court directed a verdict for the defendant. In this case the record reflects no comparable consumer knowledge of the danger of rollover, and the district court did not err in submitting the issue of IHC's liability to the jury. 20 IHC next argues that the likelihood of a 500C tipping over was so small (and the cost of rollover protection so great) that it should not be held liable. The record reflects, however, that approximately 30,000 tractor operators had been crushed in rollover accidents before 1971. Although most of these accidents involved less stable wheeled tractors, the jury could consider that evidence and draw from it the conclusion that IHC should have foreseen rollovers of Model 500C crawlers. 21 Lastly, IHC argues that it fully satisfied its duty of reasonable care by making rollover protection available and advertising it as optional equipment. See Biss v. Tenneco, Inc., 64 A.D.2d 204, 409 N.Y.S.2d 874 (1978). Contra, Robinson v. International Harvester Co., 44 Ill.App.3d 439, 3 Ill.Dec. 150, 358 N.E.2d 317 (1976), Rev'd on other grounds, 70 Ill.2d 47, 15 Ill.Dec. 850, 374 N.E.2d 458 (1978). According to this theory, the purchaser of multi-use equipment knows best the dangers associated with its particular use, and so it should determine the degree of safety provided. That is to say, the purchaser may be in the best position to make the cost-benefit analysis implicit in the principles of general negligence. Imposing liability on such a purchaser would result in minimizing the sum of accident and preventive costs. 22 While we accept this theory as basically sound, the facts of this case do not support its application here. In 1971, IHC did not offer a rollover protective structure satisfying Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standards as optional equipment on the 500C. 8 IHC did offer as an optional item a so-called ESCO canopy, which apparently would survive rollovers. However, IHC advertised that canopy as a device providing overhead protection in the timber industry; the ESCO canopy in 1971 was neither tested nor marketed for rollover protection. It is unrealistic to expect a 1971 purchaser of the 500C to know that overhead protection and rollover protection were both incorporated in the ESCO canopy, and it would be inappropriate to impose liability on such a purchaser. 23 In sum, appellee Wagner presented testimony of expert witnesses together with other evidence from which the jury could conclude that IHC was negligent and the 500C crawler defective because it was sold without rollover protection. 24 Wagner also introduced substantial evidence that supports the jury's verdicts regarding the design or placement of the transmission fluid filler pipe and breather cap. IHC knew of the dangers presented to the operator by engine fluids in the event of upset; indeed, an IHC engineer had authored a 1968 special report describing and warning of those dangers. Moreover, precautions that would have averted or mitigated the burns suffered by Wagner were very inexpensive. Thus the jury could find that placement of the vented breather cap between the operator's legs constituted both negligence and a design defect. Nor are we persuaded by IHC's proximate cause argument, that Wagner could well have sustained similar injuries from the hot transmission fluid if the breather cap had been located elsewhere. The evidence indicates that transmission fluid leaking from a location more distant from the operator would have cooled substantially as it traveled along the ground. 9 25