Roberta Kline, as Administratrix of the Estate of Karen Kline, Deceased v. Ford Motor Co., Inc., Jacqueline Selby v. Ford Motor Co., Inc.

Karen Kline (“Karen”) and Jacqueline Selby (“Jacqueline”) brought these consolidated personal injury actions against Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) claiming that design deficiencies in the accelerator linkage system and the steering wheel lock mechanism in the Ford Pinto that Karen was driving and in which Jacqueline was riding caused Karen to lose control of the car resulting in the single-car crash that injured both of them. While the case was pending on appeal, Karen died from her injuries and her mother as administratrix of her estate has been substituted in her place as appellant. This diversity case was tried to a jury on the sole theory of strict liability in tort. At the close of plaintiffs’ case in chief, the district court granted Ford’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 50(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on the ground that plaintiffs had failed to prove any causal connection between the crash and the claimed design defects. The issues on appeal are: (1) Was the evidence connecting the design defects to the accident sufficient to require submission of the liability issue to the jury? (2) Did the district court err in refusing to permit Jacqueline to…