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Ladner v. Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc.7/28/1993
[266 NJSuper Page 484] Plaintiffs Gertrude and David Ladner appeal from an adverse jury verdict in their product liability and breach of express warranty action against Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc.
and Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft (hereinafter Mercedes). Mrs. Ladner was injured when she attempted to stop her 1983 Mercedes 300D as it began to roll slowly down a street in Wallington, New Jersey.
Plaintiffs' theory at trial was that the gear shift mechanism on the vehicle was defectively designed, and that the warnings and instructions accompanying the vehicle were inadequate. Further, plaintiffs contended that Mercedes had breached certain express warranties made in connection with the purchase of the vehicle. Mercedes denied the allegations, and contended that plaintiff's conduct, rather than any defect in the vehicle, was the sole proximate cause of the accident.
By way of answers to special interrogatories, a jury determined that the gear shift mechanism was not defective by reason of its design; the warnings and instructions accompanying the vehicle were not defective; Mercedes breached no express warranty; and plaintiff voluntarily and unreasonably encountered a known risk when she returned to her vehicle and attempted to stop it. Plaintiffs now appeal from that verdict and raise multiple issues for determination.
We affirm substantially all of the judgment under review except for that part of the verdict which addressed the design defect in the gear shift mechanism. As to that issue, we conclude that the jury instructions were in error, and had the capacity to produce an erroneous result. Thus, for the reasons stated herein, we remand the matter for a new trial limited solely to the issue of design defect of the gear shift mechanism.
The 1983 Mercedes 300D involved in this incident was owned by the G & S Specialty Corporation, a plumbing supply operation in Wallington, New Jersey, of which plaintiff was both president and
owner. Plaintiff claimed that she bought the car on behalf of her company, in reliance on brochures and advertisements she had seen while shopping for a car, and because of the Mercedes slogan that the car was "engineered like no other car in the world." Plaintiff interpreted this slogan to mean that the vehicle was safe. She testified that she read the Owner's Manual "from cover to cover" when she first bought the car, including the section which read:
When parking the vehicle, or if working on the vehicle with the engine running, depress parking brake pedal and move selector lever to position "P."
On the evening of the accident, July 12, 1988, plaintiff worked until almost nine o'clock p.m. Upon leaving her business, she decided to stop at a diner in Wallington to have a cup of coffee before going home. She parked the vehicle along a section of Patterson Avenue which she perceived as "basically flat," but which defendant's expert described as "quite obviously a downgrade."
The gear shift lever on the 300D is in a floor mounted console. It moves from one gear to another through a series of flats and grooves, or detents, in what is called a "jigsaw pattern." Plaintiff testified that because of this system, placing the car into "park" requires two movements; one to push the lever up to the park position (through reverse), and another to slip it into the park groove. The second movement is assisted by a spring, which has the effect of pulling the lever toward the notch and keeping it there.
Plaintiff testified that she thoug
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