Adams v. Toyota Motor Corp.

867 F.3d 903 (8th Cir. 2017)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Lee was driving his 1996 Toyota Camry and exited the interstate. Lee pressed on the accelerator as he went up the ramp and pushed on the brake at the top of the incline, approximately 600 feet from the intersection. Lee pumped the brakes and yelled that they were not working. The Camry was going approximately 75 miles per hour when it rear-ended an Oldsmobile Ciera that was waiting at a red light, pushing the Oldsmobile into oncoming traffic. The Oldsmobile's driver, Javis Trice-Adams, and Trice-Adams' six-year-old son, Javis Jr., died at the scene of the collision. Quincy Adams suffered a traumatic brain injury. Devyn Bolton was rendered quadriplegic, and though she was able to fully regain her mental faculties, she died from respiratory complications arising from her quadriplegia approximately a year after the accident. Jassmine Adams' leg was crushed by the impact, but she survived. Occupants of Lee's car were also injured, but all survived. Lee was charged with vehicular homicide. Though he alleged at trial that the Camry's brakes were not working, he was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. D recalled several models of their Camry-not including the 1996 Camry Lee was driving at the time of the accident-for issues related to unintended acceleration. Lee filed a petition for post-conviction relief and his conviction was ultimately vacated. Lee was released after being incarcerated for over two years. Ps filed this product liability lawsuit against D. Prior to trial, the district court ruled on a number of motions, including D's motion to exclude evidence of other similar instances of unintended acceleration (OSIs). The court required Ps to reduce their proposed witnesses to 'a list of a much smaller number . . . whose testimony is most similar,' ultimately limiting the plaintiffs to three OSI witnesses. Each witness testified that he was driving a 1996 Toyota Camry with over 100,000 miles on it when he experienced at least one incident of unintended acceleration. Frazier testified that he was in stop-and-go traffic and when he removed his foot from the brake pedal, the Camry lurched forward. He tapped the gas pedal and the car returned to normal. The car lurched again 30 seconds later. Frazier again tapped the accelerator, keeping his left foot on the brake pedal, but the racing 'got worse' each time, meaning the engine revved 'even more.' Frazier put the car in neutral and turned off the engine but the engine continued racing when he restarted it. Frazier had both feet on the brake pedal and used the full weight of his body to control the car with the brakes. The Camry had caught fire. A mechanic told Frazier the cause of the revving was a 'sticky valve.' The Camry had approximately 135,000 miles on it at the time of this incident. Neumeister testified that he applied pressure to the gas pedal to accelerate up a highway on-ramp until he reached a speed of approximately 60 miles per hour. He released his foot from the accelerator, the Camry continued accelerating. He checked to see if something had jammed the gas pedal but found nothing unusual. Neumeister put the car in neutral and steered it to the side of the highway. The Camry had over 100,000 miles on it at the time of this incident. Neumeister also testified that on several other occasions, the engine would accelerate immediately upon his starting the Camry and that he experienced one other incident of unintended acceleration after applying pressure to the gas pedal while driving. Powers testified that he purchased a used 1996 Camry in 2000 or 2001 with approximately 160,000 miles on it. Powers accelerated onto the freeway and then took his foot off the gas pedal, but the Camry continued accelerating. Thinking it stuck, Powers tapped the gas pedal with his foot, which caused the car to continue to 'accelerate wide open,' 'as if the gas was floored.' The brakes did not respond to normal pressure and only responded slightly when Powers put both feet on the brake and applied the full weight of his body, which caused the car to smoke. The car accelerated to a speed of at least 95 miles per hour. Powers attempted to put the car in neutral several times before he was successful. When Powers put the Camry in neutral the final time, he was able to regain control of the vehicle, coast to the side of the road, and turn the car off. Powers experienced several instances where the accelerator stuck at a particular speed but did not accelerate independently. He testified that the brakes 'had no measurable effect whatsoever' in the first two miles of the highway incident. D elicited testimony from both Powers and Neumeister that the acceleration problem did not reappear after a mechanic cleaned the throttle body on each of their Camrys. The testimony of Frazier, Powers, and Neumeister established that these men and their mechanics were largely unable to identify the cause of the unintended acceleration. D appealed from a verdict for Ps.