Court Opinion

ID: 9505367
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:04:08.800053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:24.725490
License: Public Domain

DICKSON, Justice,
dissenting.
In addition to concurring with Justice Rucker's dissent, I write to emphasize the point upon which I most strenuously disagree with the majority.
It is unquestionably error for a trial court to give an instruction on a proposition of law about which there was no evi*1154dence. Mullins v. Bunch, 425 N.E.2d 164, 165-66 (Ind.1981); Dahlberg v. Ogle, 268 Ind. 30, 40, 373 N.E.2d 159, 165 (Ind.1978); Wylie v. Myers, 238 Ind. 385, 391, 150 N.E.2d 887, 890-91 (1958); Birdsong v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 160 Ind.App. 411, 415, 312 N.E.2d 104, 107 (1974); Summers v. Weyer, 141 Ind.App. 176, 179-80, 226 N.E.2d 904, 907 (1967). Here the jury was instructed, over the plaintiff's objection, that "misuse of the product by the claimant or any other person not reasonably expected by the seller at the time the seller sold or otherwise conveyed the product to another party" is a defense to the plaintiff's claim. R. at 1101 (emphasis added). For this instruction to have been proper, it was thus necessary that there be evidence not only that the plaintiff misused the product, but also that such misuse was not reasonably expected by Ford Motor Company at the time it sold the 1984 Ford Escort.
There was absolutely no evidence at trial to establish that Ford Motor Company reasonably expected every rear seat passenger to always wear a seat belt. Such contention defies common sense. Not only in 1984, but even today, it is common knowledge that significant numbers of automobile passengers fail to wear their seat belts. The Indiana statute requiring the use of seat belts was not enacted until 1985 and it applied then, and today still applies, only to front seat occupants. Indiana Code § 9-19-10-2. It is preposterous to claim that Ford Motor Company did not reasonably expect some rear seat passengers in Ford automobiles occasionally to ride without buckling their seat belts. Because of the total lack of evidence establishing that the failure to wear rear seat belts was unforeseeable to Ford, the trial court clearly erred in giving the misuse instruction.
The erroneous giving of an instruction that is not based on the evidence is reversible error unless it clearly appears that no harm resulted. Summers, 141 Ind.App. at 180, 226 N.E.2d at 907. As noted in Justice Rucker's dissent, throughout the trial, Ford focused on the plaintiffs failure to wear a seatbelt. Given the jury's verdict favoring Ford, it cannot reasonably be claimed that no harm resulted from the erroneous misuse instruction. I would reverse the judgment of the trial court.