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Jett v. Ford Motor Company8/14/2002
in training UPS drivers, plaintiffs objected on the basis of the trial court's earlier ruling about internal UPS safety rules. An offer of proof followed, during which Isfeld testified about UPS rules concerning shifting the vehicle into park, setting the parking brake, and turning off the vehicle before getting out. The trial court ruled that Isfeld could not refer to any internal UPS safety rules because they were not relevant.
Following the close of the evidence, the trial court instructed the jury that:
"A special rule of comparative negligence applies only to a products liability case.
"When considering the negligence, if any, of the plaintiff, carelessness or negligent failure to discover or guard against the product defect is not an appropriate defense and may not be considered by the jury.
"Other forms of negligent conduct by plaintiff, if any, such as unreasonableness, misuse of the product, or unreasonable use despite knowledge of the dangerous defect in the product and awareness of the risk posed by that defect may be considered by the jury."
The exception is known as a Sandford instruction in that it is based on Sandford v. Chev. Div. Gen. Motors, 292 Or 590, 598, 642 P2d 624 (1982). Ford took exception to the instruction in the following terms:
"I do except to the exception given, the Sandford instruction that was crafted during the lunch hour that the court read dealing with the inadvertent and what plaintiffs--what's the jury can and cannot consider concerning plaintiff's own comparative fault.
"We would take exception to that instruction, your Honor. That will be it."
During deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court asking for "the legal definition of careless and negligence and the differences between [them]." Without objection, the court referred the jury to its previous instructions.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff Trudy Jett and against Ford in the amount of $3,038,317 and in favor of plaintiff Ron Jett and against Ford in the amount of $42,500.
We begin with Ford's contention that the trial court erred in excluding evidence of the UPS safety rules. According to Ford, the distinction on which the trial court relied between internal company safety rules and safety-related laws and regulations is not recognized by the Oregon appellate courts. Plaintiffs respond that the trial court correctly excluded the evidence of the UPS safety rules because they are merely internal company rules, which are not admissible.
Whether evidence is relevant is a question of law. State v. Titus, 328 Or 475, 481, 982 P2d 1133 (1999); Blume v. Fred Meyer, Inc., 155 Or App 102, 108, 963 P2d 700 (1998). Evidence is "relevant" if it has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." OEC 401; see also State v. Hampton, 317 Or 251, 255, 855 P2d 621 (1993).
In holding that the internal company safety rules are not relevant, the trial court expressly relied on Mitchell Bros. and Montgomery Ward. In the first, an automobile accident case, the plaintiff offered into evidence a "driver's manual" published by the employer of one of the defendant truck drivers, the foreword to which cautioned drivers to be aware that other motorists sometimes make mistakes or act recklessly or absentmindedly. The trial court excluded any references to the contents of the foreword of the driver's manual, and the Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court "properly excluded statements from the safety manual itself which might h
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