Columbus Miles, Appellant, v. General Motors Corporation, Appellee.
No. 00-2602
United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
Submitted: April 9, 2001 Filed: August 17, 2001
Before HANSEN and BYE, Circuit Judges, and MELLOY,1 District Judge.
HANSEN, Circuit Judge.
Columbus Miles, a resident of Arkansas, collided with the rear bumper of a 1983 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck while riding his motorcycle on a northern Louisiana highway. Miles‘s left leg was amputated below the knee as a result of the collision. Miles filed this diversity suit against General Motors Corporation (GM), the truck‘s manufacturer, and Harley Davidson, the manufacturer of his motorcycle, alleging a
I.
On October 28, 1995, at around 7:30 in the evening, Miles was traveling north on Highway 142 in Louisiana while riding his Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle. The driver of a Silverado pickup truck attempted to turn south onto Highway 142 from an intersecting side road, but the truck stalled after crossing the center line and came to a stop partially blocking the northbound lane. Miles was traveling at approximately 55 miles per hour when he approached the stalled pickup truck, but he did not apply his brakes. Instead, Miles attempted to avoid hitting the truck by swerving around the rear, but at the last second straightened his bike because he thought he was about to hit a tree. By straightening the bike, however, the lower portion of Miles‘s left leg hit the truck‘s back bumper and his leg was irreparably damaged.
Immediately after the collision, the driver of the pickup truck and a nearby neighbor, who was a registered nurse, rendered first aid to Miles while awaiting an ambulance. Both the driver and the neighbor stated that Miles smelled of alcohol. A law enforcement officer, Fred Murphy, arrived at the accident scene to investigate. Officer Murphy stated that he could smell alcohol on Miles, but Officer Murphy did not conduct Breathalyzer or blood tests or note his observation in his accident report. Miles admitted at trial that he had consumed a portion of two beers shortly before the
In Miles‘s suit against GM, he alleged that he was injured because the rear bumper on the pickup truck was negligently designed and was an unreasonably dangerous product. Miles contended that when the bumper was attached to the pickup truck, it curved around and extended beyond the side of the vehicle, resulting in a dangerous gap between the bumper and the sheet metal fender of the truck. Consequently, his theory was that the curved sharp end of the protruding bumper acted like a large hook upon impact with his leg. GM responded that its bumper was not defective and that Miles contributed to the accident by failing to take proper evasive action or by misperceiving the accident scene or both. Before trial, Miles filed a motion in limine to exclude any evidence of his alcohol consumption and the odor of alcohol at the accident scene, as well as to exclude the testimony of two GM expert witnesses who planned to testify that the GM bumper was not dangerous or defective and that Miles sustained the injury to his left leg when he struck the flat end of the bumper--not the curved, gapped end as he claimed. The district court denied the motion, holding the odor of alcohol evidence admissible because GM had raised comparative fault as an affirmative defense and further holding that the two expert witnesses were qualified to offer testimony about the bumper design, accident reconstruction, and injury causation. The case proceeded to trial, and a jury rendered its verdict in favor of GM. After the jury verdict, Miles filed a motion for new trial, but filed his notice of appeal prior to the district court‘s disposition of that motion. Subsequently, the district court denied the motion for a new trial.
At the outset, Miles attempts to argue issues that were denied by the district court in Miles‘s motion for a new trial and which were not included in his notice of appeal filed prior to the postjudgment motion; specifically, uncovering newly discovered evidence of other bumper-related accidents and alleged discovery abuse by GM. At the time the notice of appeal in this case was filed on June 27, 2000, Miles‘s motion seeking a new trial had been filed but not decided. The district court did not deny the motion until July 18, 2000, after the notice of appeal had been filed. At that time, the appeal from the judgment ripened, and we gained jurisdiction. Under
Turning to the issues that Miles appeals which originate in the denial of his motion in limine, Miles first argues that the district court erred when it admitted evidence that he smelled of alcohol at the accident scene. We review a district court‘s admission of evidence for an abuse of discretion. Bunting v. Sea Ray, Inc., 99 F.3d 887, 891 (8th Cir. 1996).
Miles concedes that if the evidence supports an inference of intoxication then the odor of alcohol evidence is admissible under Arkansas law. (Appellant‘s Br. at 12.) At trial, the witnesses who were first at the accident scene and the investigating law enforcement officer testified that they could smell alcohol on Miles‘s breath. Miles testified that he had consumed at least a portion of two beers before the accident. He also testified that he saw two trucks pull into the intersection and that he did not swerve behind the GM truck to avoid the impact because he was afraid of colliding with a tree that he thought he saw near the intersection. The existence of the second truck and the tree was never substantiated, however. Moreover, prior to impact, Miles slowed his accelerating motorcycle by merely releasing the throttle and did not engage his brakes. Miles contends that the negative blood test performed at the hospital after receiving intravenous fluids and a partial blood transfusion illustrates that he was not intoxicated at the time of the accident, and thus the evidence was inadmissible. We are unpersuaded. Given the circumstances surrounding the accident, the jury was entitled to consider whether Miles‘s alcohol consumption contributed to the accident. Furthermore, Miles himself first raised the issue of alcohol consumption in voir dire, in his opening statement, and on direct examination of several witnesses in his case in chief.
Under
It is readily apparent that Zych was qualified as an expert engineer and was rightfully allowed to testify. Zych has designed and tested bumpers for production vehicles and has been involved with automobile design and testing for over 30 years. He also has testified as an expert witness for GM more than 200 times. GM offered Zych as an expert to explain why the gap between the bumper and sheet metal was necessary and to present his opinion that GM‘s bumper was safe. We see his proposed testimony as a highly useful tool for the jury to consider when determining fault. Moreover, Zych‘s testimony at trial comported with what was anticipated: Zych
Miles also contends that the district court should have excluded Dr. Moffatt‘s testimony because he used faulty methodology in forming his opinions about how Miles received his injuries and in reconstructing the accident scene. Miles asserts that Dr. Moffatt‘s opinions were unreliable because at the time of Dr. Moffatt‘s deposition he had not examined Miles, the x-rays taken of Miles‘s leg, the motorcycle, the truck, or the scene of the accident. Before rendering his opinions to the jury, however, Dr. Moffatt reconstructed the accident by reviewing the police report; photographs of the scene; Miles‘s medical records; Miles‘s radiology reports, which interpreted Miles‘s x-rays; witness statements and depositions; and medical literature. Simply because Dr. Moffatt did not conduct the reconstruction in the manner in which Miles found most suitable, does not render Dr. Moffatt‘s methodology fallible. It appears to us that Dr. Moffatt was able to glean the same--if not more useful--information through the methods he used.
We conclude that Miles‘s challenge to Zych‘s and Dr. Moffatt‘s knowledge and methodology goes to the weight that the jury accords the testimony rather than to its admissibility. See Sphere Drake Ins. PLC v. Trisko, 226 F.3d 951, 955 (8th Cir. 2000); Hose v. Chicago N.W. Transp. Co., 70 F.3d 968, 974 (8th Cir. 1995). We conclude that Miles‘s criticism of the experts’ testimony is the proper subject for a thorough cross-examination and not the basis for the absolute exclusion of their testimony. See Hose, 70 F.3d at 974.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
A true copy.
Attest:
CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
Notes
If a party files a notice of appeal after the court announces or enters a judgment--but before it disposes of any motion listed in Rule 4(a)(4)(A) [including a motion for new trial under Rule 59]--the notice becomes effective to appeal a judgment or order, in whole or in part, when the order disposing of the last such remaining motion is entered. A party intending to challenge an order disposing of any motion listed in Rule 4(a)(4)(A), or a judgment altered or amended upon such a motion, must file . . . an amended notice of appeal . . . . (Emphasis added).