By: Derek Hawkins//January 16, 2017//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: John Baugh v. Cuprum S.A. de C.V.
Case No.: 16-1106
Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
John Baugh fell off a ladder while replacing gutter screws and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He sued the ladder’s manufacturer, Cuprum, alleging that the ladder had unexpectedly collapsed and caused him to fall because it had been defectively designed. At the conclusion of trial, a jury, finding in Baugh’s favor, awarded him over $11 million in damages. Following the verdict, Cuprum filed a motion for a new trial and for judgment as a matter of law, but the district judge denied it. On appeal, Cuprum contends that this denial was improper. Cuprum maintains that it was entitled to a new trial primarily because the district judge erroneously permitted two of Baugh’s experts to testify about critical issues. But both experts’ methodologies were adequate, and Cuprum’s various complaints affected the weight of the experts’ testimony rather than its admissibility. In addition, Cuprum contends that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law because Baugh had failed to prove that the ladder contained an unreasonably dangerous condition and that this condition was the most probable cause of the accident. When viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Baugh, however, we conclude that a reasonable jury could have found in Baugh’s favor. Baugh supplied sufficient evidence demonstrating that a feasible alternative existed, and that the accident was more likely attributable to the ladder’s original defective design than to an improper use of the ladder. So we affirm the district court’s judgment in Baugh’s favor.
Affirmed