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Lawson v. Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America12/29/2004
WRIT GRANTED; AFFIRMED; AND RENDERED.
In this products liability case, Mitsubishi Motors North America, (Mitsubishi) appeals the trial court's grant of the plaintiffs' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) on the issue of liability. The plaintiffs, Kevin and Kelli Lawson, appeal the trial court's failure to determine causation and damages when it considered and granted their motion for JNOV on the issue of liability. For the following reasons, we affirm the JNOV and award damages.
Facts and Procedural Background
In September 1997, Kevin and Kelli Lawson purchased a 1996 Mitsubishi Galant with 21,930 miles on the odometer from J.P. Thibodeaux Mitsubishi in Lake Charles. Kelli was the primary driver of the Galant, driving it to and from work and for errands. On Saturday, January 9, 1999, as she was driving away from her home to run errands, she honked the horn. When she did, the Galant's driver-side air bag deployed, injuring both of Kelli's thumbs and her right wrist. Kevin and Kelli's two and one-half year old son, Dillon, was in the car with Kelli; he was not physically injured.
Kevin and Kelli filed suit against Mitsubishi and its insurer, Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance, alleging that the deployment of the air bag resulted from a manufacturing defect and that warnings regarding the air bags were inadequate pursuant to the Louisiana Products Liability Act, La.R.S. 9:2800.51-.60. The matter was tried to a jury from September 29 through October 8, 2003. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Mitsubishi, finding that the Galant was not unreasonably dangerous in construction and that it was not unreasonably dangerous in failing to prove an adequate warning regarding the air bag.
Kevin and Kelli filed a motion for JNOV, and Mitsubishi filed a motion to tax costs. After a hearing on the motions, the trial court took the matter under advisement. On January 26, 2004, the trial court issued its Judgment and Reasons in which it granted the motion for JNOV on the issue of liability only and denied Mitsubishi's motion to tax costs. The trial court granted a new trial "on the sole issues of causation and damages" and, alternatively, granted a new trial in the event the JNOV was reversed on appeal.
Kevin and Kelli appeal, assigning as error the trial court's denial of the JNOV on the issue of causation and damages. Mitsubishi appeals and assigns as error the trial court's grant of the JNOV. Mitsubishi also filed a writ application in which it asserts that the trial court's grant of a new trial was error. See Lawson v. Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, Inc., 04-976 (La.App. 3 Cir. __/__/04), ___So.2d ___. Consideration of the writ application has been consolidated with this appeal.
Discussion
Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict
Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1811 governs motions for JNOV. A JNOV should be granted "only when the evidence points so strongly in favor of the moving party that reasonable men could not reach different conclusions, not merely when there is a preponderance of evidence for the mover." Anderson v. New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc., 583 So.2d 829, 832 (La.1991). If the motion is opposed with evidence "which is of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions, the motion should be denied." Id. The credibility of the witnesses is not to be considered by the reviewing court, and "all reasonable inferences or factual questions should be resolved in favor of the non-moving party." Id. On appeal, the same criteria are applicable to determine whether the motion was properly granted
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