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Grunow v. Valor Corp. of Florida6/1/2005
Appellant, Pamela Grunow, as personal representative of the estate of Barry Grunow, appeals the trial court's entry of a final judgment notwithstanding the verdict, on the basis of an inconsistent verdict. We find no inconsistency in the verdict itself, however, we affirm for the reasons that follow under the "tipsy coachmen" doctrine. See State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. Levine, 837 So. 2d 363, 365 (Fla. 2002).
The material facts of this case are undisputed. See Brazill v. State, 845 So. 2d 282, 285-86 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). Nathaniel Brazill had been suspended from school on the last day of the school year for a water balloon fight. Brazill went home to retrieve a gun that he had taken from his grandfather's bedroom the previous week with the intent of returning to school and shooting his school counselor. The grandfather inherited the gun from a deceased friend who had purchased the gun legally. When Brazill arrived at school, he proceeded to teacher Barry Grunow's classroom to speak with two friends. When Barry Grunow refused to allow the two students to exit the classroom to speak with Brazill, Brazill pulled out the gun, aimed it at his head, fired, and killed him. Brazill was arrested and eventually found guilty of second degree murder. At Brazill's trial, a firearms expert with the FBI testified that the gun used in the shooting functioned normally and would not discharge unless the trigger was pulled.
Following the criminal trial, Pamela Grunow, the wife of Barry Grunow, filed this wrongful death suit against Valor Corporation of Florida. For purposes of this appeal, Grunow's claim was that Valor, as the gun distributor responsible for the Raven MP-25 "Saturday Night Special" that Brazill used, should be liable for failing to implement feasible safety mechanisms such as external locks and/or lock boxes, which could have significantly reduced the potential for unauthorized use by a child and/or in criminal activity.
Valor is a wholesale distributor of outdoor sporting goods, which does not manufacture guns nor does it add anything to or subtract anything from the finished retail product. Valor only sells guns to federally licensed firearms dealers. Likewise, the Raven MP-25 that Brazill used was legally sold to the Hypoluxo Pawn Shop, which in turn legally sold it to Herbert Jones, whose widow gave it to Brazill's grandfather. Nevertheless, Grunow asserts that Valor knew or should have known that at the time it sold the Raven that children obtain access to guns and that it was foreseeable that children would commit violent crimes with the guns that Valor sold.
At the conclusion of Grunow's case and again at the end of the ten week trial, Valor unsuccessfully moved for a directed verdict arguing that it had no duty to act as a reasonably prudent distributor when selling a non-defective product. The jury ultimately returned a verdict in which it found the Raven MP-25 was not defective or unreasonably dangerous, but that Valor was negligent for failing to supply the gun with feasible safety measures. The jury apportioned Valor's fault to be five percent in awarding the estate $35,000, the widow $10,000,000 and each child $7,000,000.
Post-trial, the trial court entered an order granting Valor's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, finding the verdict to be inconsistent. Again, we find no inconsistency in the verdict itself; however, we affirm because the trial court's order reached the correct result for the wrong reason. See Levine, 837 So. 2d at 365. That is to say, Florida does not recognize a cause of action for negligent distribution of a non-defective firearm, i.e., there can be no liability on behalf of Valor in this instance.
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