Court Opinion

ID: 9702655
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:20:16.574221+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:40.308294
License: Public Domain

Johnson, J.,
dissenting. Although there are three votes in this Court for reversal of the judgment below, the differences among the members of the majority are such that there is no direction to the trial court on how to proceed. Justice Dooley would remand with instructions to charge the jury on a theory of “pure” comparison; Justice Morse would remand with instructions to charge on the theory of comparative negligence (sometimes characterized as “half or nothing”) embodied in 12 V.S.A. § 1036; and Justice Peck would reverse because no form of comparative negligence was charged, but without any direction on precisely what or how to compare. Thus, even though the next unfortunate trial judge will have been told to apply some form of comparative negligence doctrine, he or she will not know which of several versions should be applied, and the use of any of them will inevitably result in reversal in this Court if another appeal is taken.
*138To remand this case for a third trial transforms the litigants into rats in a maze, compelled to run indefinitely between a place called “trial,” where one or the other would prevail, and a place called “appeal,” where the party prevailing at “trial” would inevitably be defeated. In other words, unless this case is settled, or one of the parties becomes too exhausted to continue, the case will proceed indefinitely. The only honest course is to acknowledge that the Court is stalemated on this issue, summarily affirm on that basis, and leave the issue for another day or for resolution by the legislature. Cf. Suhor v. Gusse, 377 So. 2d 1259, 1262-63 (La. Ct. App. 1979) (on rehearing) (where two justices would affirm jury verdict, two would reverse, and one would remand, judgment is affirmed for lack of majority to change it). The worst we can do is force these parties to stay in a litigation maze with no exit.
Justice Dooley’s opinion asserts that if I “would accept that comparative causation has now become the rule in products liability cases in Vermont, and participate in an implementation design to guide future cases, the trial judge. . . might know exactly what to do on remand.” 166 Vt. at 122, 692 A.2d at 344. I disagree. Without concurrence on the details of implementation, the doctrine of comparative negligence is meaningless, indeed, nonexistent. It would be as if one were to say that the state recognizes the doctrine of divorce, when there was no agreement as to what constituted the grounds therefor. Acceptance of the general concept is by itself insufficient to let trial judges know what to do. Thus, even if Justice Gibson and I agreed that some form of comparative negligence should be applied, there would be no majority position unless the two of us were also in agreement on what variant of the doctrine to apply, and our position coincided with that of either Justice Morse or Justice Dooley.1
Forced to this disposition, I state my views on the substantive issues.
I.
Justice Dooley and Justice Morse would hold, under varying circumstances, that when a plaintiff alleges injury caused by a defective product, the defendant that produced or distributed the product can reduce or eliminate its liability for damages by showing *139that the plaintiff’s negligent conduct was a contributing cause of the injury. I believe that such a holding would take a major step toward abolition of the doctrine of strict products liability by undermining the principal purpose of the doctrine — to promote the manufacture and distribution of safe products. I see no justification in law, policy, or the facts of this case to extend the doctrine of comparative fault to strict products liability actions.2
Notwithstanding assertions to the contrary in Justice Dooley’s opinion, my position is followed by a significant number of jurisdictions. 1 A. Best, Comparative Negligence: Law and Practice § 9.20[6], at 41-42 (1996) (significant number of jurisdictions continue to reject or limit application of comparative negligence in strict products liability actions); Annotation, Applicability of Comparative Negligence Doctrine to Actions Based on Strict Liability in Tort, 9 A.L.R.4th 633, 638-41 (1981) (reviewing cases in which courts have refused to compare fault); see, e.g., Kinard v. Coats Co., 553 P.2d 835, 837 (Colo. Ct. App. 1976) (better-reasoned position is that comparative negligence has no application to products liability actions); Lippard v. Houdaille Indus., Inc., 715 S.W.2d 491, 493 (Mo. 1986) (en banc) (refusing to apply comparative fault principles to products liability actions); Bowling v. Heil Co., 511 N.E.2d 373, 380 (Ohio 1987) (better-reasoned decisions are those that have declined to inject plaintiff’s negligence into law of products liability); Kimco Dev. Corp. v. Michael D’s Carpet Outlets, 637 A.2d 603, 605-06 (Pa. 1993) (agreeing with cited jurisdictions refusing to extend negligence concepts to products liability actions).3
Further, although a majority of jurisdictions compare fault in products liability actions, that majority is hopelessly divided on when and what to compare and how to implement the comparison. See M. Roszkowski & R. Prentice, Reconciling Comparative Negligence and *140Strict Liability: A Public Policy Analysis, 33 St. Louis U. L.J. 19, 40-47 (1988) (discussing various approaches taken by jurisdictions that compare fault in products liability actions). Some courts compare any and every type of contributory negligence, other courts compare only contributory negligence that rises to the level of assumption of risk or unforeseeable misuse, and still others compare all types of contributory negligence except when the negligence can be labeled as a failure to discover or guard against the risk posed by the defective product. See id. at 47; Lippard, 715 S.W.2d at 493 n.2; W McNichols, The Relevance of the Plaintiff’s Misconduct in Strict Tort Products Liability, the Advent of Comparative Responsibility, and the Proposed Restatement (Third) of Torts, 47 Okla. L. Rev. 201, 253-65 (1994). As I point out below, these attempts to label types of contributory negligence to determine what conduct may be compared complicate the law and detract from the principal issues that need to be resolved in products liability actions. Courts also differ, as we do here, on whether to apply a “pure” form of comparison, under which all plaintiffs less than 100% at fault may recover damages to the extent that defendants are at fault, or a “modified” form of comparison, under which plaintiffs are barred from any recovery if their negligence is equal to or greater than that of defendants. McNichols, supra, at 244-46. Courts that compare are also splintered on what to compare — causation, fault, or some other factor. Id. at 246-52.
II.
A closer examination of the facts will be helpful before I detail the reasoning behind my position against comparing fault in products liability actions. On a wet, drizzly November night, Bruce Webb was awakened with the news that some of his cows might be out of the pasture. His father drove the tractor onto the highway in search of the cows while Bruce Webb stood on the tractor’s draw bar. En route, the tractor was struck in the rear by a car whose driver was allegedly intoxicated. As a result of the accident, Bruce Webb was permanently disabled.
The evidence at trial indicated that the manufacturer of the tractor, Navistar International Transportation Corporation, knew as early as the 1970s that white field lights on tractors were dangerous if used on the road, and that they were capable of causing precisely the kind of accident that occurred here — a rear-end collision. A retired product-performance engineer for Navistar, John Hassler, testified that it was “general knowledge” in the company, prior to 1978, that white lights *141on the back of tractors could be hazardous if used in road operation. Plaintiffs’ expert, John Sevart, confirmed that it was general knowledge in the industry that the risk of rear-end collisions between vehicles and tractors on roads should be considered in designing lighting systems for tractors. Sevart referred to technical literature from the 1970s detailing numerous safety studies. Different findings emerged from different studies, but one of the frequent factors identified in nighttime rear-end collisions was poor lighting. In Sevart’s opinion, there were two problems. First, the speed differential between cars and tractors caused errors in judging closure rates, and second, use of single white field lights was confusing to drivers and caused misidentification of the vehicle ahead.
In sharp contrast, the evidence indicated that Webb, and farmers in general, were unaware of the danger posed by using the tractor’s field light on the highway at night. Numerous witnesses testified that it was common practice for experienced farmers to use field lights in such a manner. Webb too testified at trial that it had not occurred to him that driving the tractor on the highway at night while using the rear field light was a hazard. He indicated that while travelling on the highway he employed both the headlights and the rear field light on the rationale that more light was better than less light. The owner’s manual contained a warning against using the white field light on the highway. Neither of the Webbs had read it. It is found on page 55 of the manual, while instructions for the safe operation of the tractor are found on pages 3 and 4. In a hurry, and oblivious to the danger posed by the field light, Webb and his father headed down the road looking for their cows with the white light shining from the rear of the tractor. The driver whose car struck the tractor testified that he believed the white light mounted on the left rear bumper was the headlight of an approaching “one-eyed” car. While defendant argues that the driver was not credible, the jury apparently felt otherwise.
In sum, the evidence showed that the accident was predictable to the manufacturer of the defective product, but was not foreseen by the consumer. Webb’s conduct may have been negligent, but if Navistar failed to provide adequate warnings of the tractor’s dangerous features, it is my view that Webb’s ordinary negligence should not lessen the liability of Navistar, which was in a better position to avoid the harm.
III.
The principal argument for comparing plaintiffs’ negligence in products liability actions is couched in terms of fairness. It is fairer to *142compare, so the argument goes, because the comparison avoids imposing upon manufacturers and careful consumers the costs caused by negligent consumers. But the real issue is whether a higher value should be placed on the deterrence of product defects than is placed on laying the correct amount of blame on the particular actors involved in an accident that was statistically predictable. When this Court adopted the doctrine of strict liability for defective products more than twenty-one years ago, see Zaleskie v. Joyce, 133 Vt. 150, 155, 333 A.2d 110, 114 (1975), it chose deterrence over fault. Neither defendant nor the amicus manufacturers’ association has cited any occurrence in the last twenty years that has rendered that judgment obsolete.
The ultimate goal of the doctrine of strict products liability is to protect consumers from unsafe products. See Smith v. Smith, 278 N.W.2d 155, 160 (S.D. 1979) (principal purpose behind strict products liability is to protect public). The doctrine’s most direct means of achieving that goal is to relieve plaintiffs of proving that the defendant was negligent or that there was privity of contract between the parties. Relieving plaintiffs of this burden of proof focuses products liability cases on the product rather than on the conduct of the parties. In contrast, allowing an allocation of damages based on the plaintiff’s conduct will have the opposite effect. Because imperfect user behavior is a common, indeed an inevitable, contributor to most product-related accidents, every products liability case hereafter will center around the behavior of the parties. See Daly v. General Motors Corp., 575 P.2d 1162, 1183 (Cal. 1978) (Mosk, J., dissenting) (“We can be as certain as tomorrow’s daylight that every defendant charged with marketing a defective product will hereafter assert that the injured plaintiff did something, anything, that conceivably could be deemed contributorily negligent. . . .”). Defendants will emphasize the plaintiff’s fault in the hopes of reducing their liability.4 Consequently, the plaintiff’s conduct will be elevated while the defect is downplayed, forcing the plaintiff to prove, once again, that the defendant was negligent to counterbalance the defendant’s allegations of fault. 1 Best, supra, § 9.30[5][b], at 71; Roszkowski & Prentice, supra, at 51-52.
*143Some courts have reasoned that comparing negligence does not greatly affect the incentive to produce safe products because a manufacturer’s liability is reduced only to the extent that the trier of fact finds that the user’s conduct contributed to the injury, and manufacturers are not able to predict in any given case whether contributory negligence will reduce the plaintiff’s judgment. E.g., Daly, 575 P.2d at 1169. This reasoning does not hold up under scrutiny.
Although manufacturers may not be able to anticipate careless behavior in any given case, they know with virtual certainty that a product will cause a calculable number of accidents, and they will often be able to predict the extent of plaintiffs’ negligence by evaluating accidents on a statistical basis. H. Latin, The Preliminary Draft of a Proposed Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability — Letter, 15 J. Frod. & Tox. Liab. 169, 179 (1993); D. Sobelsohn, Comparing Fault, 60 Ind. L.J. 413, 438 (1985). From their calculations, manufacturers can approximate the total liability exposure that those accidents will create, and will then incur increased production costs for safety features only when it makes economic sense to do so. In this way, “the effect of reductions in liability costs as a result of comparative apportionment can make a major difference on the manufacturer’s marginal investments in safety.” Latin, supra, at 179.
To the extent that product liability would be reduced by comparing plaintiffs’ negligence, the incentive to produce safe products would also be reduced. Sobelsohn, supra, at 438; see Daly, 575 P.2d at 1186 (Mosk, J., dissenting) (motivation to avoid producing defective products increases in direct relation to size of potential damage award); M. Davis, Individual and Institutional Responsibility: A Vision for Comparative Fault in Products Liability, 39 Vill. L. Rev. 281, 344 (1994) (if manufacturers need only compensate those injured during careful use, losses resulting from defective product will never be fully considered in evaluating needed investment in safety). For example, if a particular feature of a product results in accidents costing $1 million, and redesign of the product to eliminate the dangerous feature would cost $900,000, the manufacturer would not have any incentive to redesign the product if the manufacturer could predict that a certain percentage of consumers would negligently contribute to their injuries while using the product, thereby making it cheaper for the manufacturer to pay tort claims rather than redesign the defective product. Sobelsohn, supra, at 438.
We can be certain that, based on statistical accident data and marketing analyses, manufacturers make conscious, calculated *144choices regarding the safety of their products, choices that are affected by legal principles. If the law provides an economic incentive for a manufacturer to add safety features to a particular product, thousands of people may be spared injury. If, on the other hand, reduced tort damages from comparing plaintiffs’ negligence convinces a manufacturer that it would not make economic sense to add safety features to its product, many consumers, including careful ones, may later be injured by the defective product. Assuming that they are able to fend off a defendant’s claims of comparative negligence, those careful consumers may obtain full monetary damages, but at the expense of their health or even their lives. This is not a fair result.
Further, applying comparative fault principles in products liability actions cannot be expected to have a deterrent effect on plaintiffs’ negligence, any more than allowing plaintiffs full recovery for damages caused by defective products would encourage people to be more negligent. Latin, supra, at 179 (“[TJhere is no reason to think the prospect of apportionment of damages will have any appreciable effect on the degree of care users exercise.”); see Sobelsohn, supra, at 440 (considering that risk of injury rests on many contingencies, and that victim is probably covered by insurance and knows next to nothing about tort law, there is room for skepticism that adoption of comparative fault will induce consumers to handle products with greater care). People already have powerful, inherent, nonlegal incentives to avoid injuries, such as fear of pain and death. If the threat of injury or death does not deter carelessness, a change in the doctrine of strict liability certainly will not.
But there is another important reason why I am persuaded that it is unfair to use comparative principles in strict liability cases. The victim’s negligence may be the result of a moment’s inattention to some detail, carelessness in a time of crisis, or miscalculation as to the danger involved in using a product a certain way. These types of ordinary negligence, to which all of us fall prey at times, cannot be regarded as equivalent to the manufacturer’s responsibility to design safe products and warn the public of dangers that accompany use of their products. See Davis, supra, at 348-50 (careless conduct not grounded on voluntary assumption of known risk should not be compared to manufacturer’s failed responsibility to design safe product or adequately inform user of product’s defects).
This is where the superficial appeal to fairness falls apart. As a general proposition, we can all agree that each person should bear *145responsibility for his or her own conduct. It is for this reason that comparative negligence has been accepted as fair in other contexts. But the doctrine of comparative negligence arose in cases where the fault of the parties was of a similar order — carelessness versus carelessness. In strict products liability cases, however, we have fault of very different kinds. The garden-variety carelessness that may contribute to an injury in the use of a product is simply not of the same magnitude as the design, manufacture and release into commerce of a dangerously defective product or a product whose dangers are hidden by inadequate warnings. It is not fair, therefore, to treat the two as equivalent.
In an effort to strengthen the argument that comparing plaintiffs’ negligence is somehow fairer, Justice Dooley’s opinion repeatedly labels current products liability law under the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A as the “all or nothing” approach. Under this approach, plaintiffs’ contributory negligence generally cannot be compared with the product defect to apportion liability, but “assumption of risk” provides a complete defense. Because Justice Dooley believes that triers of fact will find it difficult to distinguish assumption-of-risk conduct from ordinary contributory negligence, he concludes that some plaintiffs who should be barred from recovery will actually obtain a windfall, while others who are only contributorily negligent may be unfairly deprived of any recovery. According to Justice Dooley, comparing negligence is fairer because there is no need to draw “shadowy lines” between assumption of risk and contributory negligence if all defenses constitute a basis for apportioning liability
I find these arguments unpersuasive for two reasons. First, the assumption-of-risk defense has not proved to be an unfair obstacle to consumer recovery. See generally 1 Best, supra, at § 9.40[3][a], at 81-82. (stating elements of assumption-of-risk defense and citing cases in which defense has been rejected). Assumption of risk applies in very limited circumstances in which the consumer’s knowledge or conduct has placed him in a position of equality with the manufacturer. The plaintiff must voluntarily encounter the risk despite being subjectively aware of the existence of the risk and appreciating the extent of the danger. Id.
Plaintiffs who voluntarily assume a known risk should, in my judgment, be barred from recovery. Limiting the assumption-of-risk defense tends to penalize legitimate commercial interests unfairly rather than promote fairness to consumers. Justice Dooley’s opinion *146proclaims that comparing conduct amounting to a voluntary assumption of a known risk benefits consumers, but it undermines the doctrine of strict liability, which provides a powerful incentive for manufacturers and vendors to create and purvey only those products that are safe for everyone. In short, the majority imagines a problem negatively affecting consumers and then creates a cure far worse than the “problem” it seeks to rectify.
Second, while it may not always be easy to distinguish assumption of risk from ordinary contributory negligence, the subjective component of assumption of risk makes the defense qualitatively distinct from other forms of contributory negligence. See id. (plaintiff must voluntarily encounter risk despite being subjectively aware of existence of risk and appreciating extent of danger; many courts distinguish assumption of risk from contributory negligence on point that only assumption of risk involves application of subjective standard to plaintiff’s conduct); see also Zahrte v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., 661 P.2d 17, 18 (Mont. 1983) (subjective element of assumption of risk makes it distinct from contributory negligence); Roszkowski & Prentice, supra, at 82 n.306 (requirements of subjective knowledge and appreciation, plus voluntary action, render assumption of risk qualitatively different from mere plaintiff carelessness). Thus, courts and fact finders are able to distinguish between assumption of risk and contributory negligence under the § 402A approach.
On the other hand, Justice Dooley’s approach would require much more difficult line-drawing. Apparently, his approach would require that the trial court instruct the jury that plaintiffs’ damages could be reduced based on Webb’s contributory negligence in riding on the draw bar, but not based on Webb’s negligence in failing to use or maintain the tractor’s taillights and flashing lights, because Webb may have maintained those lights had he been adequately warned of the danger of using the field light on the highway at night. This suggested direction to the trial court demonstrates the difficulty in drawing lines to determine when the plaintiff’s contributory negligence may be compared to reduce damages in strict products liability actions. Here, had defendant adequately apprised Webb of the danger of depending on the field light while traveling on the highway at night, Webb not only may have maintained and used the tractor’s reflectors and flashing lights, but he then may also have been careful, in the absence of the field light, not to ride on the tractor in a manner that would obstruct the reflectors and flashing lights. In short, all of Webb’s alleged negligent conduct could be characterized as a failure *147to discover or guard against the defect, or as resulting from defendant’s failure to adequately warn him of the tractor’s dangers. See 1 Best, supra, § 9.40[5][a], at 100 (phrase “failure to discover a defect or to guard against its existence” could arguably cover virtually any plaintiff conduct that led to product-related injuries); Roszkowski & Prentice, supra, at 67 (distinguishing “failure to discover or guard against” negligence from other forms of contributory negligence is difficult task).
I believe that the trial court should not be required to draw lines among types of contributory negligence or to allow the jury to apportion damages by comparing the plaintiff’s conduct with the product defect. This does not mean that defendants cannot present evidence of plaintiffs’ alleged negligent conduct, as was done in the two previous trials in the instant case, to demonstrate that the defect, if it existed at all, was not a proximate cause of the accident. See Kinard, 553 P.2d at 837-38, Correia v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 446 N.E.2d 1033, 1040 (Mass. 1983); Lippard, 715 S.W.2d at 493; Kirkland v. General Motors Corp., 521 P.2d 1353, 1366 (Okla. 1974).
In sum, (1) manufacturers have the opportunity to make calculated, informed choices concerning product safety; (2) economic factors and legal principles drive their decisions; (3) those decisions can affect the health and safety of thousands or even millions of people; and (4) enterprises can more easily absorb and equitably pass on to the public the costs of defective products as part of doing business. On the other hand, (1) consumers lack the expertise and information about products possessed by manufacturers; (2) liability law provides no incentive for them to be more careful; (3) their contributory negligence is foreseeable, such that its costs can be equitably spread among all product users; and (4) most importantly, their negligence is simply not equivalent in kind to the act of designing and manufacturing a defective product. For these reasons, there is nothing unfair about imposing full liability on a manufacturer who places in the stream of commerce a defective product that is a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, even if the plaintiff’s negligence contributed to those injuries. Eroducts should be designed to protect not only ideal consumers, but also careless, illiterate, ignorant, and inattentive ones as well. See Daly, 575 E2d at 1183 (Mosk, J., dissenting) (defective products are comparable to time bombs that maim their victims indiscriminately, whether righteous or evil, careful or careless; thus, litigation involving defective products should not be diverted to consideration of plaintiff’s negligence).
*148iv.
Finally, this case illustrates why purported moves toward tort “reform” must be examined critically. For the first half and more of this century, one of the major trends in the development of tort law was toward equitable sharing of the costs that are inevitable byproducts of modern society. Injecting principles of comparative negligence into strict products liability actions is a regrettable departure from that trend. What in my view is an overly simplistic attempt to achieve fairness has in fact illegitimately advanced the interests of a small segment of society over the interests of the whole. See Davis, supra, at 342-44; J. Vargo, The Emperor’s New Clothes: The American Law Institute Adorns a “New Cloth” for Section 4.02A Products Liability Design Defects — A Survey of the States Reveals a Different Weave, 26 U. Mem. L. Rev. 493, 509-10, 515 (1996); see generally A Symposium on the ALI’s Proposed Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability, 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 1043 (1994).
I would affirm the judgment below. I am authorized to say that Justice Gibson joins in my opinion.

Of course, the dissenters are under no compulsion to concur, either on the general doctrine or on any of its many variations. This is a ease of first impression in this Court. We are not, therefore, bound by principles of stare decisis here.

 For the reasons stated by Justice Dooley, I oppose Justice Morse’s position, which would unabashedly return strict products liability actions to the realm of negligence law, at least with respect to warning/design cases.

 Justice Dooley points out that the tentative draft of the Restatement (Third) of Torts provides for apportioning liability between the plaintiff and the manufacturer or seller. See Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 7 (Tentative Draft No. 1,1994). These changes have been roundly criticized, however. See generally A Symposium on the ALI’s Proposed Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability, 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 1043 (1994) (collection of twelve articles written in response to proposed changes in § 402A); M. Davis, Individual and Institutional Responsibility: A Vision for Comparative Fault in Products Liability, 39 Vill. L. Rev. 281, 342-44 (1994); H. Latin, The Preliminary Draft of a Proposed Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability — Letter, 15 J. Prod. & Tox. Liab. 169, 179-82 (1993).

 Because of the increased emphasis on the element of fault, the jury may give unwarranted weight to the plaintiff’s “fault” when comparing it to the defendant’s “no-fault” conduct. Roszkowski & Prentice, supra, at 51-52; see Daly v. General Motors Corp., 575 P.2d 1162, 1183 (Cal. 1978) (Mosk, J., dissenting) (however delicately described, comparing plaintiff’s negligence in products liability cases elevates conduct of injured consumer to issue of equal significance with product defect).