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Calif. Ct. App. Affirms $1.8 Million Verdict in Forklift Injury Case

A state appeals court in California has affirmed a $1.8 million jury award to a forklift operator who lost a leg in an accident, rejecting defense arguments that the plaintiff should have been required to prove the existence of a feasible safer design.

The appeals court said the burden was on the defendant, Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Inc., to show that the benefits of the allegedly defective design outweighed the risks.

Court records say Eugenio Feliciano was severely injured in January 2003 when a tire on a Toyota Series 7 forklift split and caused the machine to topple over, crushing his leg.

Feliciano sued Toyota in the San Mateo County Superior Court, claiming that the defective design of the Series 7 put excessive stress on the tires.

In 2005 the jury returned a 9-3 verdict and awarded Feliciano $1.8 million for lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering.

Affirming, the California 1st District Court of Appeal held, "Toyota's assertion that a plaintiff in a strict-liability design-defect case must prove the feasibility of a safer alternative design is an assertion that is founded on cases from other jurisdictions and has no support under California law."

The panel said that contrary to the defendant's argument, there is no split on this issue, with the California Supreme Court having "spoken unequivocally" in Barker v. Lull Engineering Co., 20 Cal. 3d 413, 429 (1978); Campbell v. General Motors Corp. 32 Cal. 3d 112, 118-119 (1982); and Soule v. General Motors Corp., 8 Cal. 4th 548, 560 (1994).

The appeals court also said sufficient evidence supported the verdict.

It was undisputed, the court noted, that Toyota's "system of active stability" suspension mechanism puts greater lateral force on forklift tires than a conventional design.

Feliciano presented evidence that Series 7 forklifts used the same tires as conventional models that did not have the SAS mechanism, the panel added.

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