 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Mercer v. Pittway Corp.9/7/2000
s own conduct and admissions, the consumer complaints at issue were substantially similar to the fire at the Mercer residence." The court specifically noted that BRK had categorized the consumer complaints under the single heading No Response to Smoke and that BRK sent out the exact same form letter regarding the identical model 83R ionization smoke detector to those consumers who complained.
On appeal, BRK argues that the district court committed reversible error in admitting into evidence all 363 complaints. Specifically, BRK argues that not all of the incidents in the 363 consumer complaints were substantially similar to the Mercer fire because BRK's records of the consumer complaints showed that the smoke detectors failed to alarm for a variety of reasons, including: (1) improper placement of the detector on wall or ceiling; (2) improper location of detector within the home; (3) cold smoke or insufficient amount of smoke to reach detector; and (4) no battery or improper battery connection in the model 83R. In other cases, the smoke detector itself had been started on fire in an attempt to test it. BRK also points out, that in some cases, the detector had not been returned so BRK could not properly test the detector for a potential defect or the consumer had not completed the questionnaire regarding the incident. BRK also points out that the Mercer smoke detector was not available for testing and BRK could therefore not examine it to determine whether it had failed to function properly.
The Mercers argue that the consumer complaints were properly admissible because they were substantially similar to the Mercer fire in that the complaints involved the exact same product and the same alleged product defect—that BRK ionization detectors have a delayed response time in responding to certain types of fires. Additionally, the Mercers argued that the consumer complaints were especially relevant to the issue of punitive damages as they showed BRK's knowledge that the 83R ionization smoke detector was not timely responding to slow smoldering fires, and BRK's knowledge that its method of testing the model 83R was not an adequate predictor of the performance of the 83R ionization detector in real world fire scenarios.
E. Application of law to facts.
1. We first conclude that only those consumer complaints received by BRK prior to the date of the Mercer fire, January 18, 1993, (which the record shows to be 116) are relevant to plaintiffs' theories of recovery in this case. Therefore, only those complaints received by BRK prior to January 18, 1993, were properly subject to consideration for admission into evidence. Our recent cases also suggest that the rule allowing evidence of similar incidents is generally limited to incidents occurring prior to the one in question. See Lovick, 588 N.W.2d at 697 (making reference to prior incidents); Fell v. Kewanee Farm Equip. Co., 457 N.W.2d 911, 920 (Iowa 1990) (same); Cook, 431 N.W.2d at 803 (same); Oberreuter v. Orion Indus., Inc., 398 N.W.2d 206, 211-12 (Iowa App. 1986) (same); cf. Shields, 864 F.2d at 381 (holding that district court properly excluded reports from consumers made after the date of plaintiff's accident on relevancy grounds). But see Rattenborg by Rattenborg v. Montgomery Elevator Co., 438 N.W.2d 602, 606 (Iowa App. 1989) (holding evidence of two subsequent accidents was admissible); Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Beck, 624 P.2d 790, 794 (Alaska 1981) (holding that evidence of post-injury accidents is admissible in strict liability cases); Bass v. Cincinnati, Inc., 536 N.E.2d 831, 833-34 (Ill. Dist. Ct. App. 1989) (stating that rationale of why evidence of prior accidents is admissible—to show a product is dangerous or defective
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Iowa Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|