Court Opinion

ID: 9666937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:30:27.576013+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:33.664405
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. The existence of substantial evidence is a question of law. Fuller v. Johnson, 301 Ark. 14, 781 S.W.2d 463 (1989); St. Louis S.W. Ry. Co. v. Braswell, 198 Ark. 143, 127 S.W.2d 637 (1939). Hence, it is incumbent on the members of this court to satisfy ourselves that this verdict of seven million dollars is based on more than speculation and conjecture. We have said substantial evidence is “competent” evidence: Substantial evidence has been defined as “evidence that is of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable and material certainty and precision, compel a conclusion one way or the other. It must force or induce the mind to pass beyond a suspicion or conjecture.” Ford on Evidence, Vol. 4, § 549, page 2760. Substantial evidence has also been defined as “evidence furnishing a substantial basis of fact from which the fact in issue can reasonably be inferred; and the test is not satisfied by evidence which merely creates a suspicion or which amounts to no more than a scintilla or which gives equal support to inconsistent inferences.” Wigmore on Evidence, Vol. IX, 3rd ed § 2494, footnote at page 300. See also Tigue v. Caddo Minerals Co., 253 Ark. 1140, 491 S.W.2d 574; Goza v. Central Ark. Dev. Council, 254 Ark. 694, 496 S.W.2d 388. Kroger Co. v. Standard, 283 Ark. 44, 48, 670 S.W.2d 803, 805 (1984). Since this is a products liability case, it was necessary for the plaintiff-appellee to produce substantial evidence that this 1986 Ford Bronco had a defect which rendered it unreasonably dangerous and that the vehicle was manufactured or supplied in that condition. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-116-102 (1987). In my estimation the plaintiff-appellee has failed to produce evidence on either score which measures up to substantiality. Appellee’s case rested on the testimony of Mr. Larry Pipes, who could not say what the defect was, only that he found what he “considered to be a stiff point” in the cable connecting the acceleration pedal to the throttle. He made no attempt to explain or define the condition other than to refer to it as “a rough spot,” “a stiff point” or “an internal fault” where the cable was “resistant to motion.” He described it as something he could not “see,” only “feel.” These characterizations led him to conclude that the cable had “a problem.” “Beyond that, I cannot tell you what specifically the problem is inside.” These observations were arrived at after he had disconnected the cable at both ends and tested it by manually pushing one end of the cable. Before he removed the cable he did not experience “a hang-up.” I did not make a note of it, but I estimate that I pushed and released the gas pedal to check for a cable hang-up no less than a dozen and maybe two to three dozen times. Never once did it hang.” It is clear from the testimony that in normal operation the cable is never pushed. An expert for Ford testified that pushing the cable was comparable to pushing a rope and Mr. Pipes conceded that when the cable is attached it is either pulled by depressing the accelerator pedal, or pulled by the return springs when the pedal is released. The testimony that the product was supplied in a defective condition is equally lacking. After the appellee had rested and appellant had moved for a directed verdict, appellee’s expert was recalled to testify to his opinion that the vehicle was in a defective condition when manufactured and sold by Ford. The only basis he gave for that opinion was that the anticipated life of the cable equalled the life of the vehicle. That, too, fails to conform to the requirements of substantial evidence when weighed in the light of certain facts which are not in dispute, i.e. this product had been in use for over four years and 51,000 miles. The testimony of appellee and two previous owners was that the accelerator had never once malfunctioned in that entire period of time. Thus we are asked to conclude that a “defect” which is unexplained, unidentified and effectually nonexistent between June of 1986 and August of 1990, while the product was constantly in use, was nevertheless present when the vehicle was first introduced to the market. For my part, I am unable to treat the expert testimony as substantial evidence. We have said the testimony of witnesses, “whether lay or expert, cannot be regarded as substantial if they are unable to give any reasonable basis for their opinion.” Ark. State Hwy. Comm’n v. Carruthers, Et Ux, 246 Ark. 1035, 1039, 441 S.W.2d 84, 86 (1969). The testimony of experts is not substantial if they are unable to give “a sound and reasonable factual basis for their conclusions.” Ark. State Hwy. Comm’n v. Roberts, 246 Ark. 1216, 1220, 441 S.W.2d 808, 811 (1969). “Because a witness testifies to a conclusion on his part does not necessarily mean that the evidence given by him is substantial, when he has not given a satisfactory explanation of how he arrived at the conclusion.” Ark. State Hwy. Comm’n, et al. v. Byers, 221 Ark. 845, 851, 256 S.W.2d 738, 742 (1953). To meet the test of substantial evidence, the opinion of an expert must have a reasonable and logical basis. Wallace v. Williams, 263 Ark. 702, 567 S.W.2d 111 (1978). And see generally Little v. George Feed & Supply Co., 233 Ark. 78, 342 S.W.2d 668 (1961); Miller v. State, 240 Ark. 340, 399 S.W.2d 298 (1966), and Bartels v. Waire, 289 Ark. 362, 712 S.W.2d 285 (1986). The expert testimony in this case is aptly characterized in the Carruthers case, cited above, authored by Justice George Rose Smith. Although no fewer than ten witnesses gave opinions as to value equal to or above the amount of the verdict, this court reversed for lack of substantial evidence: Whether there is substantial evidence to support a verdict is not a question of fact, but one of law. Because a witness testifies as to a conclusion on his part does not necessarily mean that the evidence given by him is substantial, when he has not given a satisfactory explanation of how he arrived at the conclusion. * * * * “The difficulty is in differentiating between any evidence and substantial evidence . . . Must appellate judges close their eyes and their minds to the obvious fact that in a particular case the evidence, from its very nature, could not have been convincing, though it produced a given result? Shall we affirm that such evidence was necessarily substantial because it was favorably acted upon by the jury?” Carruthers at 1041-1042. In contrast to the requirements expressed in those and a good many other cases, the testimony in this case amounts to merely a conclusion, an unvarnished opinion that a defect exists, with no attempt to provide a sound, reasonable or logical basis for that conclusion. That, I respectfully submit, fails to rise to the level of substantial evidence and a judgment notwithstanding the verdict should have been ordered.