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Clark v. Airco Carbide11/22/1995
OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE WINTERSHEIMER
REVERSING IN PART AND AFFIRMING IN PART
This appeal is from a jury verdict in favor of the defendant, Hauck Manufacturing Company, in a products liability and wrongful death action.
On appeal, the original plaintiff, Joann Clark, claims that her deceased husband was injured and died as a result of an allegedly defective product designed and manufactured by Hauck Manufacturing Company. The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury verdict in favor of Hauck. On cross-appeal, Hauck appeals from the judgment of the trial court which granted Clark's employer, Airco Carbide, a summary judgment on the Hauck claim for indemnity. Pursuant to its affirmance of the verdict in favor of Hauck, the Court of Appeals dismissed as moot the appeal by Hauck of its indemnity claim against Airco.
James W. Clark was employed by Airco Carbide, Inc. His job duties included handling an oil-fired, hand-held torch used to break up frozen coal. Clark was using the torch on the day of the accident. His widow and administratrix claims that the flame blew out of the torch causing a mist of oil to spew from the torch and cover Mr. Clark. The oil then reignited and Mr. Clark suffered third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body. He died 49 days after the accident having never left the hospital. His medical treatment was so extensive that the bills amounted to approximately $205,000. Joann Clark claims that the torch was manufactured by Hauck and that Hauck defectively designed the torch or that Hauck had failed to adequately warn of a foreseeable misuse.
Ten issues are raised both on direct appeal and cross-appeal by the parties. The principal issue is that the trial Judge committed reversible error in instructing the jury that the torch had to be defective and have inadequate warnings in order for the plaintiff to recover, rather than instructing that a finding of either a defective product or inadequate warning was sufficient to sustain a verdict for the plaintiffs.
The Court of Appeals addressed the principal issue in regard to the giving of a jury instruction and affirmed in a two to one decision. The Court of Appeals addressed all the issues raised. This Court has considered all the issues presented and will discuss only those necessary to reach this decision.
Strict Liability Instruction
The major issue in this case is the instruction question. The question is whether a plaintiff must prove that a product is both defective and has inadequate warnings. The trial Judge used "and" in the instructions. Clark argues that this was reversible error because plaintiffs are allowed to recover in product liability cases under very different theories such as defective design, defective manufacture or failure to warn. Each theory is different and therefore independent of the other. In this case, the jury should have been allowed to find either that the torch was defectively designed or that the design was adequate but that the torch was unreasonably dangerous because the manufacturer failed to warn of a foreseeable misuse.
A party plaintiff is entitled to have their theory of the case submitted to the jury if there is any evidence to sustain it. Risen v. Pierce, Ky., 807 S.W.2d 945 (1991). Liability may be imposed on the manufacturer of a defective product under a variety of theories. Liability may result from defective design; Jones v. Hutchinson Mfg., Inc., Ky., 502 S.W.2d 66 (1973); Nichols v. Union Underwear Co., Inc., Ky., 602 S.W.2d 429 (1980); for manufacturing defects, Ulrich v. Kasco Abrasives Co., Ky., 532 S.W.2d 197 (1976); and for failure to warn, Post v. American Cleaning Equipmen
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