Court Opinion

ID: 9682141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:05:57.04357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:37.480613
License: Public Domain

FRANKS, Judge,
dissenting.
The majority holds the warning on the go-kart was adequate or the danger in the operation of the go-kart on a public way was so obvious and open that, as a matter of law, no duty to provide other safety precautions was required to relieve the manufacturer of liability.1 I dissent.
The majority relies heavily upon Pemberton v. American Distilled Spirits Co., 664 S.W.2d 690 (Tenn.1984), which in my view is inapposite. Categorizing riding on go-karts with drinking excessive quantities of alcoholic beverages by minors is unrealistic. In this connection see Comment j of § 402(a), Restatement of Torts.
Whether a product is unreasonably dangerous is generally for the jury, Young v. Reliance Elec. Co., 584 S.W.2d 663 (Tenn.App.1979), and only when reasonable minds agree does the issue become one of law. Ford Motor Co. v. Eads, 224 Tenn. 473, 457 S.W.2d 28 (1970). Whether the plaintiff has carried the burden of establishing the product is unreasonably dangerous, is for the trier of fact. Wyatt v. Winnebago Industries, Inc., 566 S.W.2d 276 (Tenn.App.1977).
As to the adequacy of the warning, Frumer and Friedman in their treatises on products liability observe: “It is clear from the better-reasoned cases that directions for use, which merely tell how to use the product and which do not say anything about the danger of foreseeable misuse, do not necessarily satisfy the duty to warn.” 1 Frumer and Friedman, Products Liability, § 805(1), 162-68 (1968).
I also believe the record establishes disputed material facts on the issue of whether the go-kart was defectively dangerous, i.e., dangerous to the extent beyond which would be contemplated by a “foreseeable user.”2
The Supreme Court in Ellithorpe v. Ford Motor Company, 503 S.W.2d 516 (Tenn.1973), when confronted with an alleged design defect rendering the motor vehicle unreasonably dangerous, held manufacturers are required to design their product to be “as safe as is reasonably possible under the present state of the art” and recognized that abnormal use of the product would generally be a defense in the case of strict liability, but concluded: “However, the use of the product will not bar recovery if it is reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer.” Id., at 519. Clearly, it would reasonably be foreseeable by the manufacturer of go-karts that children would operate go-karts upon streets and highways and the issue of whether the manufacturer should have equipped the go-kart with warning devices to compensate for the vehicle’s low profile is a disputed issue of fact on this record.
If the other issues raised on appeal are without merit, I would vacate the summary judgment and remand for the purpose of developing the proof on the issue of adequacy of the warning and whether the vehicle’s design rendered it unreasonably dangerous within the meaning of the statute.

. Under The Restatement of Torts (Second), the only form of contributory negligence which would relieve the manufacturer of liability is "assumption of the risk”. Ellithorpe v. Ford Motor Co., 503 S.W.2d 516 (Tenn.1973).

. Evridge v. American Honda Motor Co., 685 S.W.2d 632 (Tenn.1985), requires a manufacturer, in formulating warnings, to take into account the design of the product and its foreseeable use.