00-2409 Fulghum v. General Motors Corporation

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Robert H. Scheer and Susanne M. Fulghum appeal from a judgment entered on a jury verdict dismissing their products liability claim against the General Motors Corporation. They filed this claim after Scheer’s 1994 GMC Jimmy sports utility vehicle rolled over during an automobile accident. Scheer and Fulghum allege that the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion when it prematurely terminated their counsel’s rebuttal argument. We agree and reverse for a new trial. Scheer and Fulghum also claim that the trial court erred when it: (1) refused to submit a failure to warn theory of liability to the jury; (2) excluded from evidence a dynamic test that determines a vehicle’s propensity to rollover; (3) excluded learned treatises from evidence; (4) imposed what Scheer and Fulghum claim is an ambiguous deadline for the submission of exhibits; and (5) allowed an investigating police officer to give opinion testimony about the cause of the rollover accident.

Scheer and Fulghum also claim that they are entitled to a new trial in the interests of justice.

In light of our resolution of the first claim of trial-court error, we will not discuss the remaining issues.

This opinion will not be published.

Dist I, Milwaukee County, McMahon, J., Per Curiam

Attorneys:

For Appellant: George P. Kersten, Leslie M. Van Buskirk, Matthew T. Fricker, Milwaukee

For Respondent: Mary E. Bolkcom, Kent B. Hanson, Minneapolis, MN