Court Opinion

ID: 9775790
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:09:07.718756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:30.991500
License: Public Domain

*605GAERTNER, Presiding Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion, but write separately in order to emphasize the narrow scope of the decision and to point out my disagreement with certain of the conclusions drawn by the majority.
In the vast majority of strict liability cases under § 402A, Restatement of Torts Second, expert opinion testimony is necessary to establish the existence of a manufacturing or design defect. Some cases, however, where the defect is glaringly obvious, such as the failure to install a material component of a product, permit jurors without technical expertise to easily appreciate the danger to the user of such a product. Another exception to the general rule is where the nature of the occurrence itself, viewed in the light of common knowledge and widely known irrefutable scientific principles, points unerringly to but a single conclusion; it could only have occurred because of a manufacturing defect. This is such a case. Therefore, while I am not disposed to hold that a reasonably probable inference an injury resulted from a manufacturing defect suffices to make a submissible case under § 402A where other explanations are possible, I see no other explanation here.
The incident, as recounted by plaintiffs evidence is extraordinary, to say the least. However, this evidence is unrefuted, indeed, unchallenged. It was accepted as true by the jury. We, therefore, accord it similar treatment. The tremendous force of the explosion is not only described by oral testimony, but is vividly established by examination of the tablecloth introduced as an exhibit at trial and filed with this court. Even after being wiped off by plaintiffs mother-in-law, subjected to the inevitable handling and examinations involved in pretrial and trial procedures, numerous fragments of glass remain embedded in the oilcloth surface. They are so small most can be detected only by feel, not sight. None of those remaining are larger than a grain of salt. The bottle did not just shatter, it virtually disintegrated, thus bespeaking tremendous pressure. The bottle contained only the dregs of the child’s grape drink. It was capped by a rubber nipple. Pressure from within the bottle’s cavity would have escaped through the weakest point, the nipple. There is no evidence of external pressure which would have caused a collapsing type of implosion rather than an explosion scattering glass shards in all directions throughout the kitchen. It does not take scientific expertise to conclude that the only logical explanation for such an occurrence is a defect within the glass forming the walls of the bottle which, subjected to the anticipated temperature variations over a period of months, built up ever increasing pressure until, like an unexploded bomb, the slight disturbance of picking it up caused the bottle to explode. Ergo, plaintiff’s evidence established a condition which could only have been created during the manufacturing process.
Further, I am not persuaded that the dearth of evidence concerning the handling of the bottle by wholesalers and retailers is overcome simply by the eleven month period of use by plaintiff or by the difficulty of obtaining evidence relating to this subject. An essential element of plaintiff’s case is proof that the defect existed when the product left the hands of the manufacturer. I find this proof in the nature of the occurrence, explainable only by a defect within the glass and excluding an explanation resulting from mishandling.
It has long been settled in Missouri that circumstantial evidence combined with expert opinion testimony that a manufacturing defect was “the more reasonable probable cause” of an incident was sufficient to make a submissible case under § 402A, even in the absence of evidence of causation which reached the degree of reasonable certainty. Winters v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 554 S.W.2d 565, 570 (Mo.App.1977). I do not believe that circumstantial evidence standing alone is sufficient to overcome an absence of proof of the twofold requirement that a product contained a manufacturing defect dangerous to users *606when it left the hands of the manufacturer and that it reached the consumer in an unchanged condition unless, as is the case here, the nature of the occurrence itself is such as to exclude other possibilities.