David v. Longenecker v. General Motors Corporation, a Corporation, Sharon Longenecker v. General Motors Corporation

These consolidated appeals present common questions for review. A jury found General Motors liable, on the theory of a dangerous defect in the design and manufacture of a 1966 Chevrolet Impala passenger car, for injuries sustained by the plaintiff driver of a Volkswagen with which the Impala collided, and for plaintiff’s wife’s loss of consortium.

For reasons disputed by the parties, Lustre, the driver of the Impala, lost control of the car. The Impala traveled 145 feet across the grass median of the highway and struck a concrete abutment. The collision with the abutment sent the car into an aerial corkscrew, and it landed on top of plaintiff’s Volkswagen, approaching from the other direction. The Impala came to rest on its roof, 285 feet from the point where it left its own side of the road.

Plaintiffs contended that the loss of control was caused by a failure of the engine mount of Lustre’s Chevrolet. The flaw supposedly produced a sudden slippage of the engine, causing the throttle to be held open and the engine to “race” at a high rate of speed.

There was little direct evidence to support any theory of the accident. The car itself was not available for inspection or…