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Sanders v. DaimlerChrysler Corporation6/28/2002
UNPUBLISHED
In Docket No. 228305, plaintiffs appeal as of right a judgment of no cause of action in this product liability action arising from the death of seven-year-old Alison Sanders from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. In Docket No. 229907, plaintiffs appeal as of right the order awarding defendant attorney fees and costs in the amount of $19,295.00 with regard to an interlocutory appeal. In Docket No. 229989, plaintiffs appeal as of right the order awarding defendant sanctions in the amount of $12,342.60 for plaintiff Robert C. Sanders' violation of a protective order regarding discovery. In Docket No. 231345, defendant appeals as of right the order granting in part defendant's motion for costs and fees.
On October 15, 1995, Alison Sanders was a right front-seat passenger in her father's 1995 Dodge Caravan. Her father, Robert Sanders, ran a red light and broadsided another van. Alison was wearing a seat belt, but had placed the shoulder harness of the seat belt behind her back. Both the driver and passenger air bags deployed as a result of the crash. Alison suffered fatal air bag related injuries.
Plaintiffs brought this product liability against defendant DaimlerChrysler Corporation, alleging that the passenger airbag system in the 1994-95 Dodge Caravan was defective in design and that defendant failed to adequately warn plaintiffs of the potential risks posed by the airbag. In their complaint, plaintiffs alleged that defendant was negligent in the design, testing, and engineering of the 1994-95 Dodge Caravan and its air bag components and that defendant owed a duty of due care to plaintiffs in the design, testing, manufacture, assembly, marketing and sale of the vehicle and all components and sub-assemblies of the vehicle, including the airbag components. At trial, plaintiffs also argued that alternative designs should have been used in the 1994-95 Dodge Caravan, including no air bag, higher deployment thresholds, dual deployment thresholds, dual stage inflation, different placement of sensors, different deployment paths, and depowering the airbag.
Following a lengthy jury trial during which voluminous exhibits were introduced and admitted and several expert witnesses testified, the jury returned a judgment of no cause of action.
Docket No. 228305
Plaintiffs argue that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to admit proposed exhibits 164 and 347 into evidence. Proposed exhibit 164 was entitled, "Air Bag Technology in Light Passenger Vehicles." Proposed exhibit 347 was entitled, "Preliminary Evaluation on Actions to Reduce the Adverse Effects of Airbags, December 1996." Plaintiffs contend that these tests were central to Plaintiffs' defect claim because they quantified in a meaningful way how the system that killed Alison Sanders posed an unreasonable risk of harm when compared with two alternative designs: the Chrysler system with 30 percent less deployment force and a dual level system. The only way that Plaintiffs could scientifically quantify the benefits of the two alternative designs was to compare the injury measurements on the six-year-old dummy in the alternative safer systems.
Plaintiffs have not cited any case law, statutes, court rules, rules of evidence, or other authority in support of their argument. The appellant may not give issues cursory treatment with little or no citation of supporting authority, Goolsby v Detroit, 419 Mich 651, 655 n 1; 358 NW2d 856 (1984), after remand 211 Mich App 214; 535 NW2d 568 (1995); Silver Creek Twp v Corso, 246 Mich App 94, 99; 631 NW2d 346 (2001). Argument must be supported by citation to appropriate authority or policy. MCR 7.212(C)(7), Thoma
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