Court Opinion

ID: 9719930
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:09:24.192226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:11.274256
License: Public Domain

KAUFMAN, J.
I concur in the judgment of reversal because I am persuaded that a reasonable inference can be drawn that plaintiff jumped off the towmotor as a result of his previously formed anxiety about the exposed position of the gas tank. Not so, however, as to the so-called “defect” of erroneous warning. Although plaintiff testified he was aware of the warning, there is no testimony that, prior to the accident, he formed the intention of getting off the towmotor if he saw a heavy roll of paper falling. It is unreasonable in my view to infer that plaintiff saw the roll falling, remembered the warning, and decided to get off. If the accident happened as plaintiff hypothesizes, there was no time for deliberate rationalization by plaintiff and it is sheer speculation to suppose otherwise.
*186Additionally, there is no evidence to prove that the so-called defective warning was defective. There is no proof that the protective cage withstood the direct impact of a heavy falling object. For all anyone knows the dent in the cage could have been caused by a glancing blow from the roll of paper or one part of the roll could have reached the floor or other resistant surface by the time another part came into contact with the cage.
In my view, the trial court was correct in not allowing the so-called defective warning to go to the jury. There was, however, sufficient evidence to permit the other defect, the exposed gas tank, to go to the jury, and the nonsuit should not, therefore, have been granted.