NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-0889-06T30889-06T3
MICHAEL BOYLE,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellant,
and
INTEK AUTO LEASING, NEW JERSEY
BOOM & ERECTORS,
Defendants/Third-Party
Plaintiffs,
and
GARDEN STATE ENGINE & EQUIPMENT
COMPANY,
Third-Party Defendant.
_________________________________________
Argued December 4, 2007 - Decided
Before Judges Coburn, Fuentes and Grall.
On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey,
Law Division, Passaic County, L-1043-03.
Douglas S. Eakeley argued the cause for appellant
(Lowenstein Sandler, attorneys; Mr. Eakeley, of
counsel and on the brief; Alan S. Modlinger and
Natalie J. Kraner, on the brief).
John D. North argued the cause for respondent
(Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith and Davis, attorneys;
Mr. North, of counsel and on the brief; Emily A.
Kaller, on the brief).
The opinion of the court was delivered by
FUENTES, J.A.D.
This product liability case arises from an automobile accident in which plaintiff Michael Boyle was seriously injured when his car collided with a truck leased to and operated by defendant New Jersey Boom & Erectors ("NJBE"). Plaintiff alleged that the front-end of his car burrowed under the truck's undercarriage, pushing the hood of his car into the passenger compartment, and shearing the vehicle's roof. According to plaintiff, this occurred because the truck was not properly equipped with a rear bumper guard.
Defendant Ford Motor Company manufactures and sells the truck's chassis cab. The chassis cab, denoted by Ford as F-800, is designed and intended to be a generic vehicle, to be retrofitted and otherwise altered to meet the vehicle owner's use-specific needs. Here, NJBE, as the owner of the F-800, contracted with defendant Garden State Engine & Equipment Company ("GSEE") to attach a flatbed and tow crane on the F-800 chassis cab.
As part of this contract, GSEE also designed and installed a rear bumper guard, a device specifically intended to prevent the type of "burrowing" accident that occurred here. Despite these efforts, the force of the collision dislodged the truck's rear bumper guard, allowing plaintiff's car's front-end to insert itself under the truck's rear-frame.
On these facts, a jury found Ford liable, concluding that the F-800 chassis cab was defectively designed when it left Ford's control without a rear bumper guard. The jury also found Ford liable for failing to include, as part of the F-800 chassis cab, a rear bumper guard capable of being installed by the vehicle's end-user. In addition to these two liability-scenarios, the jury found Ford liable for failing to provide adequate technical assistance, to companies like defendant GSEE, about the various ways to provide rear bumper protection.
With respect to defendant GSEE, the jury found that the truck was defective when it left GSEE's control without adequate under-ride protection. In allocating liability, the jury found Ford seventy percent liable and GSEE thirty percent liable. The trial court denied Ford's application for the jury to consider plaintiff's negligence in allocating responsibility for the accident.
The jury awarded plaintiff damages in the amount of $26,881,754, representing $279,354 for past lost wages, $1.6 million for future lost wages, $2,400 for medical costs, and $25 million for pain and suffering. In reaching these figures, the jury found that plaintiff would have sustained only 2.5% of his injuries if the truck's rear bumper guard safety device had responded as intended.
In response to Ford's motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial, or remittitur, the trial court denied the first two applications for relief, and granted the motion for remittitur, reducing the award for pain and suffering to $15.5 million. Plaintiff accepted the remittitur. The court thus entered a final judgment against Ford in the amount of $13,374,137.40, representing its seventy percent liability for plaintiff's enhanced injuries and including prejudgment interest to the date of judgment.
Ford now appeals arguing that the trial court erred when it made it legally responsible for the installation of the rear bumper guard on the F-800 chassis cab. Ford argues that the F-800 chassis cab was merely a component part of the finished truck involved in the accident. Given the multiple and unforeseeable modifications required to transform the F-800 into a finished product, Ford argues that it is not feasible nor practical to impose upon Ford the legal duty of installing this under-ride protection. As an alternative position, Ford argues that the trial court erroneously denied its application to have the jury consider plaintiff's negligence.
After reviewing the record, and in light of prevailing legal standards, we reverse. We agree with Ford that its role as the manufacturer of the chassis cab F-800 is consistent with that of a component product manufacturer. In this role, it is neither feasible nor practical to impose upon Ford the legal responsibility for installing or providing the safety device at issue here.
At the time of the accident, the F-800 chassis cab had undergone substantial modifications to meet the specific requirements of the truck's end-user. Consistent with industry practices and federal regulatory safety standards, the legal responsibility for installing the rear bumper guard must lie with the truck's final-stage manufacturer, because this entity is in the best position to determine the type of safety device needed.
We recognize that the chassis cab F-800 was mechanically capable of being driven on the public roadways when it left Ford's control without the rear bumper guard. Indeed, the record here shows that this particular chassis cab was actually driven, without the rear bumper guard, from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to Secaucus, New Jersey, as part of a dealer's trade. If driven without the rear bumper guard, the F-800 would be deemed a defective component product as a matter of law. Thus, had the accident at issue here occurred during the "dealer's trade" voyage, Ford would have been liable for injuries proximately caused by such a defective component product.
By contrast, when the accident occurred here, the F-800 chassis cab had been substantially modified by the final stage manufacturer, including the installation of a rear bumper guard as required by federal regulations. It is thus practical and feasible to impose liability for the proper installation of this safety device upon the final stage manufacturer, because the features and installation requirements of the rear bumper guard needed to meet federal regulatory standards could only be known and ascertained when the final end-use of the truck was determined. Stated differently, the final stage manufacturer here was in the best position, in the chain of production, to determine what type of rear bumper guard best complied with the applicable safety standards.
In reaching this conclusion, we adhere to the "feasibility and practicality" standard articulated by our Supreme Court in Zaza v. Marquess & Nell, Inc., 144 N.J. 34 (1996). Our analysis is also informed by the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability