Fuller v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

[692]

Opinion

BROWN (Gerald), P. J.

Plaintiff, Ora Lee Fuller, appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Her pleadings allege she was a guest passenger in a Volkswagen automobile when the car struck a hole in the pavement and the right rear tire came off the wheel causing the car to overturn and strike a power pole. In her brief plaintiff describes herself as a quadriplegic as a result of the injuries she suffered in the accident.

Plaintiff’s complaint states Goodyear “negligently and carelessly manufactured, assembled, supplied, serviced, tested, inspected and sold” the Volkswagen’s tire and the tire was “defective and improperly assembled, designed, tested and inspected”; the defendant “carelessly and negligently failed to discover said defects of design, materials and workmanship.”

Goodyear answered the complaint with a general denial and raised defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk. It filed a motion for summary judgment supported by declarations and opposed by a counterdeclaration of plaintiff’s attorney.

The validity of the summary judgment is governed by the sufficiency of Goodyear’s declarations filed in support of its motion. Those declarations must furnish support covering every element required to establish Goodyear’s defense. This is true though plaintiff presents no counter-showing or an inadequate one.

(Johnson

v.

Drew,

218 Cal.App.2d 614, 620 [32 Cal.Rptr. 540].)

The defense Goodyear sought to establish was that the tire involved in the accident was not defective.

B. A. Robinson declared he was an engineer employed by Goodyear as an engineer in its development department, analyzing tire products and helping develop new and experimental tire products. He conducted a “detailed examination” of the tire and noted two areas of heavy abrasion to the bead of the tire and a generally heavily chafed rim flange area which he attributed to impact or impacts with the pavement during an automobile accident. He concluded the loss of contained air in the tire was caused by an “unusual external force” or by a bending of the wheel rim. Declarant Robinson concludes his statement with, “There are no defects in the tire workmanship or materials.”