Croskey V. Bmw of North America, Inc.
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Croskey v. BMW of North America, Inc.
Facts In July of 2000, William Croskey was seriously injured while adding fluid to his girlfriends 1992 BMW automobile, after it overheated. The injuries were sustained when the plastic neck on the radiator failed, causing scalding hot fluid to spray onto Croskey. Due to the failure of the radiator neck, there is potential design negligence on the part of the manufacturer. Also, since there is a possibility that the defect was known to the company, there is a potential that the manufacturer is negligent for failing to warn the public.
History Croskey (P) filed suit against BMW AG and BMW NA (D) on the grounds that the injury sustained was caused by negligent design, and failure to warn of the negligent design. D won judgment in jury trial. P appealed.
Issue Should the plaintiff be allowed to use evidence of substantially similar incidents of plastic neck failure in regard to its negligent design claim?
Holding The district court erred in not allowing the evidence of substantially similar incidents of plastic neck failure to be used in regard to the negligent design claim.
Reasoning Since the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, finding substantially similar incidents would be important in supporting the plaintiffs claim that the design of the radiator neck caused other failure. By not allowing the plaintiff to use this information, the trial court damaged the plaintiffs case before the trial began. The defendants would be able to refute the claims with evidence showing the percentage of failures compared to cars sold.
Result District courts decision reversed; case remanded for new trial on negligent design claim.
What do I think? I agree with the U.S. Court of Appeals judgment. By not allowing Croskey to use key evidence, the trial court judge prevented him from receiving just satisfaction before the trial even began. Although very light, thus decreasing overall weight, a plastic radiator neck is never a good idea when it is used to hold hot liquid that can reach several hundred degrees. This was a design flaw that BMW would have learned about, and had the duty to warn consumers about it.