Yun v. Ford Motor Co.
Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, 1994
Representative of the Estate (P) v. Auto Manufacturer (D) ²

STATEMENT OF CASE
Yun, decedent, sued Linderman (driver and owner of the vehicle that killed her father), Ford Motors (manufacturer of the van plaintiffs were driving), Miller (spare tire assembly manufacturer), Universal (installed the spare tire), Castle (van dealer), & Kim’s Mobile Service Center (notified plaintiffs of bent spare tire assembly prior to the death). ¹

PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Summary judgment was granted to all defendants except Linderman who settled. Plaintiff appeals asserting that proximate cause is a question for the jury.¹
The suit against Ford was dropped; the appeal was affirmed against Kim. ¹

FACTS
Chang (father) and Yun (daughter and owner of the van) were driving back from Atlantic City in her 1987 Ford Van. A vibrating noise was heard from the rear of the van. The plastic cover, spare tire, and support bracket fell from the vehicle. The parts ended up against the wooden guard rail in the center of the highway. The van pulled over to the right-hand side of the highway, and Chang went to retrieve the parts. He got them successfully, but when crossing relieve across the two lanes he was struck by the defendant Linderman. Yun had taken the vehicle for an oil change prior to this incident, when she was notified of the bent assembly but chose not to have it fixed at the time because she was waiting for insurance to pay for it from a prior accident. Plaintiff dropped the suit against Ford Motors in the appeal. ¹

ISSUES
1. Was Changs’s conduct reasonably foreseeable, or highly extraordinary – thus breaking the chain of proximate cause? ¹
2. Can an intervening superseding event or other proximate cause defeat a claim of strict liability? ²

HOLDING
1. Chang’s actions were extraordinarily risky and supersede the cause of his own injuries, regardless if the spare tire was place on the car negligently.¹
2. “Yes…if the defendant can explain that the intervening superseding event or proximate cause resulted in the actual injury to the plaintiff.” ²

SOURCES USED:
1. Yun v. Ford, 647 A.2d 841(N.J. Super. Crt. App. Div. 1994)
2. Schwartz, Kelly and Partlett, Casenote Legal Briefs – Torts, 108 (11th ed., Aspen Publishers 2006)