Court Opinion

ID: 9507997
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:27:04.969768+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:26.574417
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY,
dissenting:
I dissent on the issue of the refusal of the District Court to give the jury instruction that was offered by the plaintiff in this case. The instruction is set out in the majority opinion, and is verbatim from section 402A (1965) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
*379The offered instruction fitted precisely the problem involved in this case. It may not be disputed that the cause of this accident was the failure of the substituted bolts used in connection with the A-frame. Here the manufacturer failed to provide properly sized bolts for that use. The packing list supplied by the manufacturer indicated that proper construction bolts, sized %” diameter by 3” long were included in the shipping package. In fact the shipper had included 3A ” diameter by 4” long bolts. Such bolts could not be used without the use of washers to tighten the bolts, but there was no way for the manufacturer to give warning of this fact because the manufacturer obviously assumed that the shipping package would include the proper bolts. That proper bolts were indispensable to the operation of the A-frame in the manner that was used here is obvious, because improper bolts caused the accident.
Here the manufacturer was engaged in the business of selling a product such as the A-frame, and the manufacturer expected its product to reach the consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it was sold. By forwarding improper bolts, bolts which were indispensable to the operation of the A-frame, the manufacturer provided a defective product. The plaintiff here was entitled to a defective product instruction that related to the cause of his injuries, the failure of the company to provide proper bolts for the operation of the A-frame.
The instruction which was given by the court was insufficient to tell the jury what its duty was with respect to the failure to provide the proper bolts. The accepted instruction related only to the failure to supply a spreader bar, which may or may not have been the duty of the manufacturer to supply.
Because the instructions were defective in this case, I would reverse and remand the matter for trial with proper instructions.