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Czarnecki v. Volkswagen of America12/31/1991
quiring that the objecting party inform the trial court of the precise nature of his objection, the court is not led into involuntary error; instead, it is given the opportunity to rule correctly, thereby contributing to "the efficient administration of justice" by reducing the need for retrials. Michie v. Calhoun, 85 Ariz. 270, 276, 336 P.2d 370, 374 (1959). A general objection is not sufficient under the rule. Maxwell v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 143 Ariz. 205, 212, 693 P.2d 348, 355 (App.1984). An objection on the ground that an instruction states or does not state the law is a general objection, as is an objection that the evidence supports or does not support the giving of the instruction. Spillios v. Green, 137 Ariz. 443, 446-47, 671 P.2d 421, 424-25 (App.1983).
Czarnecki's most specific argument below was that the instructions should be given because they were RAJI instructions. However, the drafters of RAJI 2B clearly did not intend for the consumer expectation and hindsight instructions to be given in every design defect case as a matter of course, but rather only "as supported by the evidence." Czarnecki's failure to argue the evidence that would support the giving of the instructions simply did not give the trial court an opportunity to rule correctly on this issue.
Absent fundamental error, failure to object waives the issue of error in the instruction. Bradshaw v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 157 Ariz. 411, 419-20, 758 P.2d 1313, 1321-22 (1988). The doctrine of fundamental error is sparingly applied in civil cases, and only when the error "deprives a party of the right to a fair trial." Maxwell, 143 Ariz. at 212, 693 P.2d at 355.
Czarnecki does not argue that he was deprived of a fair trial by the court's failure to give the consumer expectation and hindsight instructions. Consequently, we find that Czarnecki merely made a general objection below, waiving any error on this issue on appeal.
D. Motions Regarding Lack of a Shoulder Belt
Czarnecki first argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to amend his complaint to substitute "lack of a shoulder belt" for "lack of a lap belt" in the list of alleged defects in the Rabbit involved in the accident. We will not overturn a ruling on a motion for leave to amend absent a clear abuse of discretion. Hall v. Romero, 141 Ariz. 120, 124, 685 P.2d 757, 761 (App.1984).
Although Czarnecki now contends that he should have been allowed to amend his complaint to allege the lack of a shoulder belt as a design defect because VW's experts had testified in deposition that a lap-shoulder belt restraint was preferable to a lap belt only, he did not make this argument below. Rather, Czarnecki argued to the trial court that leave to amend should be freely given and that VW could not be prejudiced by the amendment because "lack of a lap belt" instead of "lack of a shoulder belt" was obviously an error from the beginning.
Initially, we disagree with Czarnecki that such an error would have been so "obvious" to VW such that it would not have been prejudiced by the amendment. At no time during the lengthy discovery period in this case did Czarnecki ever even insinuate that the lack of a shoulder belt might have caused or contributed to his paraplegia. Czarnecki's amendment asserting that the lack of a shoulder belt was a design defect would have added a new theory of liability only seven w
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