Whiteford Ex Rel. Whiteford v. Yamaha Motor Corp.
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Whiteford Ex Rel. Whiteford v. Yamaha Motor Corp.
Opinion of the Court
In January 1992, Trent Whiteford (“T. Whiteford”), then age 5, was seriously injured while tobogganing down a hill when he collided head first with a stationary"Yamaha Snoscoot snowmobile. As a result of the impact with the Snoscoot, he suffered severe facial injuries and is now permanently disfigured. T. Whiteford and his mother, Rhonda Whiteford, (the “Whitefords”) commenced this action against Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., et al.,
Yamaha moved for summary judgment, seeking to have all of the Whitefords’ claims' dismissed. The district court granted Yamaha’s motion in its entirety. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed in part and remanded the Whitefords’ negligence and strict liability claims for trial. The court of appeals concluded that summary judgment was precluded because an affidavit submitted by the Whitefords’ human factors expert created genuine issues of material fact for trial with respect to foreseeability. Because we agree with the district court that T. Whiteford’s injuries were not foreseeable and, therefore, Yamaha owed him no duty, we reverse the court of appeals and reinstate the judgment of dismissal.
On January 11, 1992, 8-year-old Travis Whiteford, T. Whiteford’s older brother, was operating a Snoscoot snowmobile on the Whiteford family’s 10-acre lot in Andover, Minnesota. At the same time, T. Whiteford and a friend were tobogganing on a hill in the area where Travis Whiteford was operating the Snoscoot. At some point, Travis Whiteford stopped the Snoscoot at the bottom of the hill and T. Whiteford, sliding head first down the hill, managed to slide between the Snoscoot’s skis, causing his face to hit the leading edge of a metal bracket on the underside of the Snoscoot. As a result, T. Whiteford suffered serious lacerations to his face, had to undergo extensive surgery, including the reattachment of his nose, and has been left permanently disfigured.
After completion of discovery, Yamaha moved for summary judgment. In order to defeat the summary judgment motion, among other things, the Whitefords asserted in an affidavit by Dr. Kvalseth, a human factors expert, that the bracket on the underside of the Snoscoot made the snowmobile unreasonably dangerous and that it was foreseeable that T. Whiteford’s injuries could occur. Notwithstanding Dr. Kvalseth’s affidavit, the district court found that there was no unreasonable risk of harm from which Yamaha had a duty to protect T. Whiteford and dismissed the complaint. The court of appeals, concluding that Dr. Kvalseth’s affidavit raised genuine issues of material fact with respect to foreseeability, reversed and remanded the negligence and strict liability claims for trial. On appeal to this court, Yamaha argues that the trial court was correct in finding that Yamaha did not owe a duty to protect T. Whiteford because T. Whiteford’s accident was not foreseeable. Yamaha further argues that Dr. Kvalseth’s affidavit does not create any genuine issue of material fact regarding foreseeability.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the record demonstrates that there are no genuine issues of material fact for trial, and it is clear that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
In Minnesota, it is well settled that a manufacturer has a duty to protect users of its products from foreseeable dangers.
The question of foreseeability presented in this case has not been previously addressed by this court. However, our disposition of the Whitefords’ claims is guided by our reliance upon analogous decisions from other jurisdictions deciding claims by individuals injured by contact with stationary automobiles. Hatch v. Ford Motor Company
There is not involved in this case any question of a defect which created a risk of injury to its driver or passengers therein or to persons upon the highway through its use in the normal manner for which it was manufactured to be used * * *.
The vehicle in question here, in the condition in which it was by the complaint alleged to be, was safe to park and could cause no harm except to one whose own acts or the acts of some third person caused him to collide with it. Such a risk is not one which the defendant was required to anticipate or to protect against.13
Similarly, in Kahn v. Chrysler Corporation,
[The manufacturer] should not be required to anticipate all the possible ways in which a person may injure himself by falling against an automobile, nor should they have a duty to protect against such possible injuries. The duty of the automobile manufacturer extends to the ordinary use of the vehicle, and may even be such as to cover certain situations when the automobile is being negligently used. But the manufacturer has no obligation to so design his automobile that it will be safe for a child to ride his bicycle into it while the car is parked.16
Finally, in Schneider v. Chrysler Motors Corporation,
[I]t is overstraining a manufacturer’s duty to foresee that individuals would inadvertently allow their eye to come into contact with the glass edge of a wing vent window on a parked automobile. A manufacturer is not an insurer and cannot be held to a standard of duty of guarding against all possible types of accidents and injuries. Standards of design and manufacturing skill must be consonant with the stage of the art and the risks to be avoided must be foreseeable.20
The reasoning applied by the courts in Hatch, Kahn, and Schneider applies in this case. Yamaha’s duty was to protect the Snoseoot’s users, along with those who might be injured by its use or misuse, from foreseeable danger. Here, T. Whiteford was not using the Snoscoot. Further, while the Snos-coot was in “use” in the limited sense that Travis Whiteford had been riding it on the afternoon in question and had placed it in the spot where T. Whiteford slid into it, the Snoscoot was stationary
Reversed and judgment of dismissal reinstated.
.The Whitefords also commenced an action against Rapid Sport Center, the retailer of the Snoscoot. That action was dismissed by the district court and the dismissal was affirmed by the court of appeals. The parties have- not sought review of that decision.
. Minn. R. Civ. P. 56.03.
. W.J.L. v. Bugge, 573 N.W.2d 677, 680 (Minn. 1998).
. Thiele v. Stick, 425 N.W.2d 580, 583 (Minn. 1988).
. Bugge, 573 N.W.2d at 680 (citation omitted).
. Lovejoy v. Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Co., 248 Minn. 319, 325, 79 N.W.2d 688, 693 (1956). See also Hauenstein v. Loctite Corp., 347 N.W.2d 272, 275 (Minn. 1984) (“[A] manufacturer’s duty to warn in strict liability cases extends to all reasonably foreseeable users.").
. Lundgren v. Fultz, 354 N.W.2d 25, 28 (Minn. 1984).
. See, e.g., Kettler v. Hampton, 365 S.W.2d 518, 522 (Mo. 1963).
. Id. at 523.
. Larson v. Larson, 373 N.W.2d 287, 289 (Minn. 1985).
. Id.; Lundgren, 354 N.W.2d at 28.
. 163 Cal.App.2d 393, 329 P.2d 605 (1958).
. Id. 329 P.2d at 607 (emphasis added).
. 221 F.Supp. 677 (S.D.Tex. 1963).
. Id. at 677-78.
. Id. at 679.
. 401 F.2d 549 (8th Cir. 1968).
. Id. at 552.
. Id.
. Id. at 557.
. In their response to Yamaha’s summary judgment motion and in arguments to this court, the Whitefords contend that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Snoscoot was stationary at the time of the accident. To support this contention, they point to the "conflicting" accounts of four witnesses to the accident. T. Whiteford and Travis Whiteford asserted, under oath, that the Snoscoot was stationary, while Aaron Puchalla and his sister Nicole recalled, in a statement given to an insurance investigator, that the Snoscoot was moving. As we previously stated, “unverified allegations” are not sufficient to defeat a summary judgment motion. Therefore, the unsworn statements of Aaron and Nicole Puchalla do not raise a “genuine issue of material fact” for trial.
. We note that Dr. Kvalseth's affidavit, which asserts that there was a design defect in the Snoscoot that made T. Whiteford's injuries foreseeable and which the court of appeals relied on in reversing the district court, does not raise any genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether T. Whiteford’s accident was one which Yamaha should have reasonably expected. In this case, the alleged design defect does not change the fact that the Snoscoot was stationary and was not being operated at the time of the accident.
.Because the undisputed facts in the record establish that the Snoscoot was stationary and not being operated at the time of T. Whiteford’s accident, the safe toy statute does not create a cause of action in this case. See Minn.Stat. §§ 325F.08~.09 (1996). We further note that violation of the safe toy statute was not alleged in the Whitefords' amended complaint; was neither raised as an issue in nor decided by either of the lower courts; and was not an issue for which either party sought review by this court.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. The majority reasons that the manufacturer should not be held liable because Trent Whiteford was not using the Snoscoot, which was stationary and not being operated at the time of the accident, and because the danger was too remote to impose a duty and was not one which Yamaha was required to anticipate. This reasoning ignores the statutory definition of a mechanical hazard contained in Minn.Stat. § 325F.08
First of all, this accident is not similar to accidents involving parked cars. Rather, it involved the use of a snowmobile by the 8-year-old brother of the injured 5-year-old Trent Whiteford. The Snoscoot was being used on a hill in the back of the family’s 10-acre yard, while other children were tobog
The Whiteford family was enjoying the Snoseoot until Trent Whiteford’s toboggan ran into the front of it as he was sliding down the hill. Trent Whiteford’s face struck the sharp horizontal section of the Snoseoot under the carriage between the skis. This metal bracket was unguarded and was sharp enough to slice off Trent Whiteford’s nose and deeply lacerate his face.
Trent Whiteford offered expert testimony from Dr. Tarold Kvalseth of the University of Minnesota Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Kvalseth testified that the protruding metal edge is extraneous to the design of the bracket and that the mechanical function served by the design of the bracket could have been achieved with a safer design. He further concluded that the design was negligent and created a substantial danger of injury to anyone coming in contact with it.
At oral argument, Yamaha stated that the use of a stationary snowmobile on a hill, in the family’s backyard where other children were sledding, was “not normal.” Yamaha further admitted that if the snowmobile had been moving at the time of the accident, this would be a “tougher case” and the issue of foreseeability would create a more difficult question. Yamaha further conceded that foreseeability is virtually always a question of fact rather than a question of law.
The injury also appears to have been clearly exacerbated by the design of the Snoseoot. A second or more serious injury occurred to Trent Whiteford as a result of the Snoscoot’s design.
Accordingly, at a minimum, a fact question has been created. As the majority points out in its opinion, close cases involving the questions of foreseeability are for the jury to decide rather than the court.
Rather than let a jury decide these issues, the majority summarily decided the above factual disputes and concluded that this accident was not reasonably foreseeable. However, Yamaha’s advertising brochure suggests use of the Snoseoot in backyards, and the machine was designed for children’s use. Indeed, the accident occurred in a backyard amidst other normal winter recreational activities of children and family members. Additionally, Yamaha advertised in its brochure that the Snoseoot was made to start and handle easily. Starting and stopping a snowmobile is a normal occurrence as individuals stop to rest, observe, stretch, or talk to those around them while riding a snowmobile.
We have long held that a “breach of a statute gives rise to negligence per se if the persons harmed by that violation are within the intended protection of the statute and the harm suffered is of the type the legislation was intended to prevent.”
The majority also dismisses the applicability of Minn.Stat. § 325F.08 based on Trent WTiiteford’s failure to raise the statute as an issue at the trial court or court of appeals. However, Trent Whiteford’s theories of the case included strict liability based on design
There is evidence supporting Trent White-ford’s theories of the case, including a breach of the hazardous toy statute. There is also evidence that the person harmed, a 5-year-old boy sliding near his brother on the same hill in the family’s backyard, was within the class of persons the statute was intended to protect. In conclusion, this case should not be decided on whether or not the snowmobile was moving at the time of the accident. It should rather-be decided under the factual record presented.
. See also Minn. R. 2630.0100, subp. 12 (1997) ("Administering Safe Toys Act”).
. See Lundgren, 354 N.W.2d at 28.
. See Pacific Indem. Co. v. Thompson-Yaeger, Inc., 260 N.W.2d 548, 558 (Minn. 1977).
. Siats v. Western Union Tel. Co., 251 Minn. 412, 415-16, 88 N.W.2d 199, 202 (1958); Wilson v. Ramacher, 352 N.W.2d 389, 394-95 (Minn. 1984).
. Siats, 251 Minn, at 415, 88 N.W.2d at 202.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Trent WHITEFORD, a Minor, by Rhonda WHITEFORD, His Mother and Natural Guardian; And Rhonda Whiteford, Individually, Respondents, v. YAMAHA MOTOR CORPORATION, U.S.A., Et Al., Pet., Appellants, Rapid Sport Center, Inc., Respondent, and YAMAHA MOTOR CORPORATION, U.S.A., Et Al., Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. Michael WHITEFORD, Individually, Third-Party Defendant
- Cited By
- 37 cases
- Status
- Published