 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
TAYLOR v. GENERAL MOTORS CORP.10/31/1997
The plaintiff Richard Taylor appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of the defendants General Motors Corporation ("GM") and Bay Chevrolet, Inc. Although Taylor's wife and children were also plaintiffs and also appeal, we shall refer only to Taylor as the plaintiff/appellant, for simplicity's sake. Similarly, we shall refer only to GM as the defendant/appellee, although the defendant Bay Chevrolet, Inc., is also an appellee. Taylor sought to recover damages for injuries he sustained when the automobile he was driving ran off the road. Alleging that a defective condition in his 1988 Chevrolet Sprint caused the wreck, Taylor proceeded against GM under the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine and a theory of breach of implied warranty of merchantability.
Taylor raises the following issues: (1) Whether the circuit court adequately instructed the jury on the meaning of the term "defective," as that term is used in our formulation of the AEMLD; (2) whether the circuit court erred by refusing Taylor's requested jury instruction stating that Alabama law does not require proof of a specific defect in order to sustain an AEMLD claim; (3) whether the circuit court erred by excluding from evidence GM reports related to 14 other incidents involving Chevrolet Sprint automobiles; and (4) whether the circuit court erred by excluding GM records pertaining to the warranty replacement on other Sprints of parts identical to those Taylor alleges were defective in his vehicle.
On May 20, 1990, Taylor was driving the Sprint along Government Boulevard in Mobile, and his three children were passengers in the vehicle. They were travelling west, just past Interstate Highway 65, when the car suddenly veered right and went off the roadway. Witnesses testified that they heard a sharp bang before the car left the
road; after leaving the road, the car struck a concrete marker, became airborne, and then landed near the top of an embankment leading to Montlimar Creek. The Sprint rolled over as it went down the hill, and it came to rest upright in the water of Montlimar Creek. Taylor's spinal cord was crushed in the accident and he was paralyzed from the chest down. The children were also hurt, but their injuries were relatively minor.
On May 14, 1992, Taylor filed a complaint against GM and Bay Chevrolet, Inc. — the dealership from which Taylor had purchased the Sprint — alleging that a defective torque rod bracket and a defective transmission mount had caused the accident. Taylor later added Bridgestone-Firestone, Inc., as a defendant, under a theory of negligent maintenance or negligent repair of the vehicle after purchase. Bridgestone-Firestone settled with Taylor, and the circuit court dismissed it from the action; it is not a party to this appeal.
At trial, Taylor sought to prove that the sharp bang heard by witnesses was the sound of the Sprint's aluminum torque rod bracket fracturing. His expert witnesses testified that the torque rod bracket, as well as the left-side transmission mount, failed because of fatigue. According to Taylor's experts, the failure of these components caused a phenomenon called "torque steer," which they said would cause the vehicle to veer to the right. GM rebutted this evidence with expert testimony indicating that the torque rod bracket and transmission mount actually broke during the impact of the accident, not as a result of fatigue. GM's experts further testified that, even if those parts had failed, excessive or uncontrollable torque steer would not have occurred as a result.
The jury returned a verdict for GM, and the circuit court entered a judgment on that verdict. Taylor moved for a new trial, but the
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|