Court Opinion

ID: 9463966
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:21:42.394247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:23.403613
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my judgment, the instruction complained of should not have been given. Under the facts, Collins was at most contributorily negligent in his use of the nitrogen bottle. He simply inflated the tire to a higher pressure than he should have. He did so under the mistaken impression that a “T valve would stop the flow of high pressure nitrogen” before the pressure reached explosive levels. Such negligence is not a bar to recovery. Something more is required. See Williams v. Brown Manufacturing Company, 45 Ill.2d 418, 261 N.E.2d 305 (1970); Note, A Reappraisal of Contributory Fault in Strict Products Liability Law, 2 William Mitchell L.Rev. 235, 239 (1976). Even if one assumes that the facts justify an instruction on assumption of risk, the one given was ambiguous and misleading in failing to make clear the difference between contributory negligence and assumption of risk. Finally, and most importantly, the language of the Missouri Supreme Court in Keener v. Dayton Electric Manufacturing Company, 445 S.W.2d 362, 364 (Mo.Sup.1969), cited by the majority, is applicable here. Collins knew that it was dangerous to overinflate a tire; he did not know that the procedure he used would lead to that result.
Had an appropriate instruction been given, the jury could have concentrated on the main issue, i.e., whether the tire rim was defectively designed. As it was, they may have been misled. I believe that the Supreme Court of Missouri would require a new trial. We should do the same.