 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Jones v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.11/12/2003
Ronnie Jones and his wife Sylvia, plaintiffs below, appeal a post-trial entry of a directed verdict for the defense and/or order for new trial as well as a pre-trial confidentiality order in their personal injury action against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company ("Goodyear"). For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand for a reinstatement of the jury's verdict and vacate the confidentiality order.
Facts
Jones, a tire mechanic for the Dade County Public Schools ("DCPS"), received on-the-job training from his co-worker, Patrick Redding. Jones and Redding repaired the tires on DCPS vehicles, and made road service calls when necessary. Their jobs required them to completely service tires, including rebuilding them if necessary.
On October 18, 1994, Jones and Redding transported a school bus for repair to a northeast facility. Jones noticed that one of the bus' interior tires was low on air. Jones, using a hydraulic jack, lifted the bus from the ground and checked the tire for a "hollow" sound, which would have indicated that the tire was flat. The tire did not sound hollow, nor did it have any nails or objects protruding from it. In addition, the tire contained approximately forty to fifty pounds of air pressure. Given these facts, both men assumed that the tire had a valve stem leak. These leaks are usually checked by filling the tire with air. Jones began filling the tire, which was still mounted on the bus, when suddenly the tire exploded. Jones was thrown back against a gate, and knocked unconscious. He sustained serious injuries, requiring four separate surgeries, including two surgical fusions of the spine. Jones sustained a 16% whole body impairment, severe brain damage and "intractable depression." He was also deemed unemployable.
Jones instituted this action against Goodyear, seeking personal injury damages for negligence in design, testing and/or failure to test, and failure to warn; and strict liability for a design defect in the tire. Goodyear answered with a general denial and various affirmative defenses. Its answer was subsequently amended to add possible Fabre defendants, including Jones' employer, DCPS.
On the first day of trial, Goodyear filed two motions in limine. The one relevant to this appeal sought a Frye hearing to exclude the opinion testimony of Jones' only tire expert, Richard Baumgardner, on grounds that there was no underlying support for Baumgardner's testimony and consequently the testimony would be nothing but pure speculation. The court denied the motion and permitted Baumgardner to testify.
Baumgardner, a tire engineer with 43 years of designing, inspecting, and testing experience, opined that there was a design defect in the Goodyear tire which caused "zipper failure." He stated that the "flaw" in the Goodyear tire design was that there was too much of a difference between the thickness of the center portion of the sidewall of the tire and the areas above and below it. Baumgardner opined that the solution to the "zipper failure" problem was to either increase the thickness of the rubber at the "flex point" or to thin out other areas of the sidewall rubber to create a wider flex area.
Goodyear's expert, Charles Gold, on the other hand, opined that the applicable tire was not defectively designed and that no tire has been created which would not "zipper." He stated that zipper failure occurs when a tire has been under-inflated or flat for a significant period of time. It was Gold's opinion that Jones' injuries were caused by using unsafe procedures to reinflate a damaged tire.
At the close of Jones' case, and at the close of all the evidence, the trial court "reserved"
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Florida Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|