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Mercer v. Pittway Corp.9/7/2000
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, David E. Schoenthaler, Judge.
Appeal by manufacturer of smoke detectors from judgment on jury verdict awarding plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages for allegedly defective operation of smoke detector.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
Roger T. Stetson, Margaret C. Callahan and Mark McCormick of Belin Lamson McCormick Zumbach Flynn, P.C., Des Moines, and Stephen A. Cozen and Robert W. Hayes of Cozen & O'Connor, P.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for appellants.
Considered en banc.
Numerous issues are presented in this product liability case involving the alleged failure of a smoke detector to alarm to a fire in a home. One child died and another was severely burned as a result of the fire. In an action brought by the parents of the children against the manufacturer of the smoke detector, a jury awarded substantial compensatory and punitive damages. Defendants, the manufacturers of the smoke detector, appeal, contending the district court committed several reversible errors which include: (1) failing to grant defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on liability; (2) submitting the issue of punitive damages to the jury, absent substantial evidence of willful and wanton conduct by the defendants; and (3) admitting into evidence consumer complaints regarding alleged failure of defendants' smoke detectors to alarm to smoke.
Upon our review, we conclude that the district court's admission into evidence of several consumer complaints concerning the failure of defendants' smoke detectors to alarm to smoke constitutes reversible error. Also, punitive damages should not have been allowed. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
I. Background facts and proceedings.
A. The Mercers' fire.
Nathan and Jennifer Mercer as parents, individually, and as administrators of the estate of their son Bradley, sued defendants Pittway Corporation and BRK Brands, Inc. alleging that a smoke detector manufactured by those defendants was defective and failed to alarm to a fire in the Mercers' home. The Mercers' three-year-old son Bradley died from injuries he received during the fire and eighteen-month-old Travis was severely burned. In their petition, the Mercers alleged various theories of liability including negligence (negligent design and testing, and failure to warn), strict liability, breach of express and implied warranties, and fraudulent nondisclosure. Plaintiffs asked for both compensatory and punitive damages.
At a jury trial concerning the Mercers' claims against defendant BRK, the following evidence was presented.
In January 1993, plaintiffs Jennifer and Nathan Mercer and their sons, Bradley and Travis, were living in a duplex house in Davenport, Iowa. When his family moved into the duplex in 1991, Nathan purchased two BRK brand model 83R ionization smoke detectors. Nathan placed one smoke detector on the main floor of the duplex between the kitchen and dining room, and placed the other smoke detector on the ceiling at the top of the staircase leading to the second-floor bedrooms. Only the master bedroom opened directly onto the stairwell; the children's bedroom, in which the fire started, could be reached only by passing through the master bedroom.
In deciding where to place the smoke detectors, Nathan relied on information he learned while employed at Safety Plus, a business that sells residential fire safety equipment. As part of his employment, Nathan was informed that the ionization smoke detector "was a good universal smoke detector to have around." N
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