Court Opinion

ID: 9488719
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:54:08.231143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:04.187777
License: Public Domain

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority that if the failure to have a bicycle flag on the motorcycle was defective design then there is an issue of fact whether that failure was a cause of the accident. Although defendant has suggested that to design a motorcycle with a flag would be an unsafe addition since it would be entangled in trees or bushes when the motorcycle is ridden on forest trails or paths where it is designed to be used, only the causation issue is before us.
I dissent, however, from the majority’s holding that an inadequate warning could have been a probable cause of this accident. The boy had been warned by his mother not to ride the motorcycle without a helmet. Under Kentucky law, a manufacturer has a duty to give a warning that is adequate and sufficient to alert consumers to the danger and its consequences. Post v. American Cleaning Equip. Corp., 437 S.W.2d 516, 520 (Ky.1968). No such duty exists, however, if the user is aware of the product’s danger. Hutt v. Gibson Fiber Glass Products, 914 F.2d 790, 793 (6th Cir.1990). The manufacturer bears the burden of showing “that the danger was or should have been obvious.” Leonard v. Uniroyal, Inc., 765 F.2d 560, 565 (6th Cir.1985).
In response to Honda’s motion for summary judgment, Morales argued that Honda failed to adequately warn of the consequences of riding the motorcycle on the public streets. Both the owner’s manual and the sticker on the bike instructed consumers not to ride the motorcycle on the streets. The rider was instructed to walk the minimotor-cycle across the street. Admittedly, neither of these warned of the potential consequences associated with crossing a street. I do not understand the majority to suggest that they had to be warned that the boy should not ride out in front of a car from behind an obstruction, or warned that there are cars on roads and highways. Father, we must look at the warnings and instructions in light of the facts of this ease. In the case at bar, Thompson was tragically injured when he rode his motorcycle onto a main street without looking and was hit by a truck. The obvious danger associated with being on a public street in any manner — be it a car, a bicycle, a motorcycle, or on foot — is that you might be hit by a vehicle. Morales testified in her deposition that she told her son not to ride the motorcycle on the street. This evidence fulfills Honda’s initial burden, and the burden of production thus shifted to Morales to show that a factual dispute exists as to whether her son knew he might be hit by a car if he rode on the street. She has not carried this burden. The District Court correctly granted summary judgment on the warnings issue.
Finally, as the District Court pointed out, no reasonable jury could have found that Thompson would have followed any stronger warning.