Court Opinion

ID: 9486138
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:38:54.668781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:32.660267
License: Public Domain

FLAUM, Circuit Judge,
with whom CUDAHY, Circuit Judge, joins, concurring.
After some pause, I accept this court’s judgment and opinion — both affirming the district court’s order granting BIC summary judgment on Plaintiffs warning theory, and certifying the “consumer-contemplation” and “risk-utility” questions for resolution by the Illinois Supreme Court. See Opinion ante parts I & II respectively. While I remain partial to the view that Illinois’ supreme court case law required the federal district court to apply the risk-utility doctrine in product liability eases, the varying strong convictions of my colleagues have convinced me that perhaps Illinois law may not be as conclusive as I once thought. Nevertheless, I write separately to counsel restraint when diversity requires our interpretation of Illinois Supreme Court case law.
*1223When this court sits in diversity, federalism requires us to enforce the substantive law of the appropriate state, even when we conclude we see a more enlightened path. See Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 822, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938) (“Except in matters governed by the Federal Constitution or by acts of Congress, the law to be applied in any case is the law of the state.... [a]nd whether the law of the state shall be declared by its Legislature in a statute or by its highest court in a decision is not a matter of federal concern.”); see also Guaranty Trust v. York, 326 U.S. 99, 110, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 1470, 89 L.Ed. 2079 (1945) (“Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins has been applied with an eye alert to essentials in avoiding disregard of State law in diversity cases. A policy so important to our federalism must be kept free from entanglements with analytical or terminological niceties.”), overruled on other grounds by Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 1138, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965). Federalism proscribes unwarranted federal judicial meddling in state matters because such interference would “prevent the informed evolution of state policy by state tribunals.” Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 429-30, 99 S.Ct. 2371, 2380, 60 L.Ed.2d 994 (1979), citing Trainor v. Hernandez, 431 U.S. 434, 445, 97 S.Ct. 1911, 1919, 52 L.Ed.2d 486 (1977).
While I appreciate the sound and persuasive policy reasons for limiting access to a risk-utility jury test when a plaintiff has freely undertaken to use a product with obvious risks, the Illinois Supreme Court, in cases such as Lamkin, 138 Ill.2d at 528, 150 Ill.Dec. at 570, 563 N.E.2d at 457, and Doser, 142 Ill.2d at 197-98, 154 Ill.Dec. at 603, 568 N.E.2d at 824, appears to disagree. In Lam-kin, the Illinois Court defines a defective product as one that fails the risk-utility test. See ante at 6, discussing Lamkin, 138 Ill.2d at 528,150 Ill.Dec. at 570, 563 N.E.2d at 457. In Doser, the Illinois Court confirmed the appropriateness of the risk-utility test for products with patent dangers. 142 IU.2d 176, 154 Ul.Dec. at 598, 568 N.E.2d at 819. When analyzing unreasonably dangerous products in Illinois, “[t]he balancing of the likelihood and gravity of harm must be weighted against the burden of the precaution which would be effective to avoid the harm.” Id., citing Burke v. Illinois Power Co., 57 Ill.App.3d 498, 511, 15 Ill.Dec. 670, 683, 373 N.E.2d 1354, 1367 (1st Dist.1973). As the Illinois Supreme Court explained, in Illinois, “[wjhether a product is unreasonably dangerous for failure to incorporate safety devices is ordinarily a question of fact which the jury should resolve.” Doser, 142 Ill.2d 176, 154 Ill.Dec. at 609 & 613, 568 N.E.2d at 820 & 824.
Neither Lamkin nor Doser appear to hint at any limitation of the risk-utility doctrine in Illinois. While Scoby, a decision from the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court, may have rejected the risk-utility test as a means of analyzing whether lid-covers are required on cooking pots,1 211 Ill.App.3d 106, 155 Ill.Dec. 536, 540, 569 N.E.2d 1147, 1151 (1991), Scoby cannot in any way constrain Lamkin and Doser. In an hierarchical judiciary, judges of inferior courts may not limit decisions of superior courts. See Gacy v. Welborn, 994 F.2d 305, 310 (7th Cir.1993). It is a “fundamental principle of judicial construction that the lower judicial tribunals in Illinois are bound by decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court, and it is the duty of such tribunals to follow those decisions in similar cases.” Greenlee v. Shedd Aquarium, 36 Ill.App.3d 924, 925, 344 N.E.2d 788, 790 (1st Dist.1976) citing Agricultural Transp. Ass’n. v. Carpentier, 2 Ill.2d 19, 116 N.E.2d 863 (1953). Definitive pronouncements of the State’s Supreme Court, such as Lamkin and Doser, are binding upon inferior courts applying State law, “contrary [Illinois] appellate court decisions notwithstanding.” Greenlee, 36 Ill.App.3d at 925, 344 N.E.2d at 790. Whatever the preferences of this court, the Illinois Supreme Court’s adoption of the *1224risk-utility doctrine cannot be refashioned by the interpretive prowess of this tribunal.
Nevertheless, notwithstanding my initial read on Illinois Supreme Court case law, I assent to the majority’s view — that some room for interpretation may exist in Illinois’ law, and that certifying these questions to the Illinois Supreme Court is not wholly inappropriate. Thus, I join this court in its decision to affirm the district court’s grant of BIC’s motion for summary judgment on Plaintiffs warning theory, and to certify the consumer-contemplation and risk-utility questions for resolution by the Illinois Supreme Court.

. A close reading of Scoby suggests that the Illinois appellate court actually conducted its own risk-utility test and concluded that a reasonable jury could never have found any economically feasible improvements to a cooking pot given the measured amount of risk. See Scoby, 211 Ill.App.3d 106, 155 Ill.Dec. 536, 540, 569 N.E.2d 1147, 1151. Thus Scoby, the case cited by my colleagues, indeed may not at all have held that a risk-utility balancing test is inapplicable for all patently dangerous products in the Fourth District.