Court Opinion

ID: 9664799
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:30:07.582638+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:10.189073
License: Public Domain

BLACKMAR, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I am not fully satisfied that the error in initially admitting the reconstruction testimony was cured by an instruction to disregard. The trial court essentially allowed the plaintiff to make a mid-trial summation on a vital issue. But I defer to the trial court’s conclusion that mistrial was not necessary.
The principal opinion convinces me that a submissible products liability case was made. Causation is demonstrated within the requirements by Jackson v. Kruse Const. Co., 708 S.W.2d 664 (Mo. banc 1986).
I am not persuaded that the method of submission for design defect cases suggested by Judge Donnelly is superior to the submission prescribed by MAI 25.04. In this connection I note the comments by Professor Nicolas P. Terry, “Stricter Products Liability,” 52 Mo.L.Rev. 1, 55 (Winter, 1987), who makes some observations similar to Judge Donnelly’s. We place great responsibility on the jury in products liability cases. All of the factors suggested by Judge Donnelly may be presented to the jury, in support of the position that there is no “defective condition unreasonably dangerous.” In some jurisdictions the jury is charged in greater detail. See 3 Devitt, Blackmar & Wolff, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, 4th Ed., Sections 82.03, 82.06, 82.08. The additional instructions lack legal precision and may assume an argumentative tone. I see no reason to make a change.
Just as the court of appeals does, however, I believe that the trial court was required to reduce the judgment by reason of the settlement with the other defendants, in accordance with Section 537.060, RSMo 1986. The error is not waived by failure to include it in a motion for new trial because it does not require a new trial and could not be corrected by the granting of a new trial. It is also the plainest of plain error.
I would modify the judgment to allow the credit, and affirm as modified.