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McLaughlin v. Nissan Motor Corp.6/11/1993
In this product liability action, the plaintiff alleges that her 1986 Nissan Pulsar automobile had two design defects which proximately caused an eight inch scar on her forehead and scalp. The first alleged defect was that the A-pillar was too close to the driver's head and the second was that the A-pillar was not properly padded. The defendant moved for an involuntary dismissal at the end of the plaintiff's case and an order for judgment at the close of all the evidence on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to prove "enhanced injury" as required by the holding in Huddell v. Levin, 537 F. 2d 726 (3d Cir.1976). This court held that because neither defect caused an "enhanced injury" the defendant's motions were denied. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and the defendant moved for a new trial. The motion for a new trial is granted because this court erred in not granting defendant's motion as to the second alleged defect.
On March 9, 1989, the plaintiff was driving her Nissan Pulsar automobile South on Route 202 in the area of Bernardsville, New Jersey. She swerved to avoid two deer that ran across the highway and the car went off the road and travelled 280 feet into a wooded area. Before stopping, the car sideswiped one or more trees. Although it is undisputed that the plaintiff was wearing an integrated lap and shoulder belt, she sustained an eight inch cut on the left part of her forehead which extended into her scalp. Three hundred stitches were required to close this wound, which left plaintiff with a substantial scar on her forehead and scalp.
An engineer accident reconstruction expert testified for plaintiff that the cut was caused by plaintiff's head striking the A-pillar of the car. The A-pillar is the steel roof support located between the driver's door and the windshield. The engineer accident reconstruction expert also testified that the Nissan Pulsar was defective because that pillar was too close to the driver's head, allowing the driver's head to strike the pillar even if the driver was wearing the integrated lap and shoulder belt. In addition, he testified that the
A-pillar was defective because it was only covered with a plastic cover and not padded.
A plastic surgeon testified for the plaintiff that the cut sustained by the plaintiff was caused by contact with a blunt object, such as the A-pillar and, over objection, testified that the plaintiff would have sustained a less serious wound if the pillar had been padded as opposed to having only a plastic cover. Significantly, the plastic surgeon admitted on cross-examination that he could not quantify the injury that the plaintiff would have sustained if the A-pillar had been padded except to say that plaintiff's wound would have been less serious. An engineer accident reconstruction expert called by the defendant, the distributor of the car, testified that the car was not defective and that the wound sustained by the plaintiff was caused when the car sideswiped a tree which struck the plaintiff's head.
As already noted, at the close of the plaintiff's case, the defendant moved for an involuntary dismissal pursuant to R. 4:37-2 and also moved for judgment at the close of all the evidence pursuant to R. 4:40-1. Both motions were based on the holding in Huddell supra, 537 F. 2d at 738. Specifically, defendant argued that the holding in Huddell required a dismissal because plaintiff had not proven "enhanced injuries attributable to the defective product." Ibid.
The Huddell case is the leading case in a line of cases called "second collision" or "enhanced injury"
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