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General Motors Corp. v. Jernigan12/12/2003
ical, alterative design."
By definition, it would seem, the 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix could not be a safer, practical, alternative design for the 1993 Oldsmobile Delta 88 automobile because the plaintiff must show that the design used in the 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix was available in 1993 when GM produced the Oldsmobile Delta 88. Thus, without evidence supporting a finding that the Pontiac design was available to GM for manufacture when GM manufactured the Oldsmobile seven years earlier, the Pontiac cannot qualify as a "safer, practical, alternative design."
Jernigan fails to offer substantial evidence that the changes from the first-generation H-car to the second-generation H-car made the design of the second-generation H-car defective. There is no meaningful discussion of the utility of the first-generation H-car in comparison to the Oldsmobile. To determine the overall utility of the designs, factors such as the "styling, cost, and desirability [of the product], its safety aspects, the foreseeability of the particular accident, the likelihood of injury , and the probable seriousness of the injury if that accident occurred, the obviousness of the defect, and the manufacturer's ability to eliminate the defect." Hannah, 840 So. 2d at 858. Jernigan presents evidence indicating only that certain design changes, among others, were made in the second-generation H-car that, considered in isolation from the other aspects of the overall design of the vehicle, contributed to Jeffrey's injury. Jernigan fails to show that these changes made the design of the second-generation H-car defective. Even if particular design aspects could, when considered in isolation, have been improved, it was incumbent upon Jernigan to demonstrate that there was available to GM a safer, practical, alternative design for the entire automobile. Nor is it sufficient simply to suggest that because certain elements of the design could have been better, GM should have experimented to find a safer, practical, alternative design for the entire automobile. Beech v. Outboard Marine Corp., 584 So. 2d 447, 450 (1991) ("We decline to hold, as a matter of law, that simply because 'a feasible propeller guard could have been designed ...' that an 'alternative design' existed.").
An invitation to experiment does not meet the requirement of the AEMLD that "'the plaintiff must prove that a safer, practical, alternative design was available to the manufacturer at the time it manufactured the automobile.'" Beech, 584 So. 2d at 450 (quoting General Motors Corp. v. Edwards, 482 So. 2d 1176, 1191 (Ala. 1985)(emphasis omitted)). Jernigan's expert, Mundo, testified that there were alternative designs available when the Oldsmobile was manufactured that would have kept the A-pillar in place in a frontal crash. However, Mundo failed to prove that those designs were in fact safer and practical when more than just the performance of the A-pillar was considered, namely, when the overall design, styling, and cost of the vehicle were considered.
Because Jernigan has failed to meet his burden of proving the availability of a "safer, practical, alternative design," the trial court erred in denying GM's motion for a judgment as a matter of law. Therefore, because I would reverse the trial court's denial of GM's motion for a judgment as a matter of law, I respectfully dissent.
Brown and Stuart, JJ., concur.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys
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