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Jett v. Ford Motor Company8/14/2002
ave created doubt in the minds of the jury as to which standard of care was applicable" to the case. Mitchell Bros., 266 Or at 524.
The second case was an action for false arrest and assault and battery that arose out of an incident in which the defendant retail store's security officer stopped the plaintiff for shoplifting. The plaintiff sought to introduce a manual that set forth guidelines that the defendant required its security personnel to follow when dealing with shoplifters. The trial court admitted the evidence. On appeal, the defendant argued that the manual was inadmissible, and this court agreed, reasoning that evidence that the defendant violated the guidelines set forth in its manual "would tend to confuse the jury as to the applicable standard, even though the statutory standard was instructed on." Montgomery Ward, 49 Or App at 236.
In neither of those cases is there a statement that non-governmental safety rules are never relevant, only that, on the facts of those particular cases, admission of safety manuals would be confusing to the jury. The case law, in fact, is to the contrary.
In Hansen v. Abrasive Engineering and Manufacturing, 317 Or 378, 856 P2d 625 (1993), the plaintiff brought a product liability action against the defendant for injuries sustained while cleaning a sanding machine that the defendant designed and manufactured. The plaintiff sought to introduce evidence of, among other things, advisory standards promulgated by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) concerning certain safety features that he contended should have been incorporated into the machine. Over the defendant's objection, the trial court permitted the jury to consider the ANSI advisory standards on the issue of whether the defendant met the applicable standard of care. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court erred in permitting the jury to consider the ANSI advisory standards. The Supreme Court did not agree. Although not promulgated by a government entity and not binding on the defendant, the court held, " he ANSI advisory standards provide some evidence of the custom in defendant's industry and, therefore, are relevant to the jury's consideration of whether defendant met the standard of care." Id. at 384-85.
Similarly, in Cole v. Multnomah County, 39 Or App 211, 592 P2d 221, rev den 286 Or 449 (1979), an inmate of a county jail brought an action against the county for negligence in failing to take steps to prevent him from attempting to commit suicide. The essence of his case was that the county knew or should have known that he was mentally unstable and likely to attempt to take his own life. He offered into evidence a county manual concerning the operation of local correctional facilities; the manual had not been adopted as an ordinance and did not have the force of local legislation. The trial court excluded the manual as evidence of the standard of care that the county owed the plaintiff. On appeal, this court reversed, concluding that "such evidence is generally admissible," id. at 217, because it "constitutes some indication of the care required under the circumstances." Id. at 218. The court noted Mitchell Bros. Truck Lines, but concluded that the exclusion of the safety manual in that case was driven by the facts and not by any general rule of relevance or admissibility. Cole, 39 Or App at 217; see also Volt Services Group v. Adecco Employment Services, 178 Or App 121, 131-32, 35 P3d 329 (2001), rev den 333 Or 567 (2002) (advisory code of ethics relevant to whether the defendant's conduct was improper under the circumstances); Hval v. Southern Pacific, 39 Or App 479, 483, 592 P2d 1046, rev den 286 Or 521 (1979) ("It was proper for the jury to
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