Scarangella v. Thomas Built Buses, Inc.

In 1988, Concetta Scarangella (plaintiff), a school-bus driver for Huntington Coach Corp. (Huntington), was injured when she was struck by a school bus that was being operated in reverse. Huntington had purchased 10 new buses from Thomas Built Buses, Inc. (Thomas) (defendant) that year. Thomas had offered a back-up alarm that would automatically sound when the vehicle shifted into reverse as an optional safety feature, but Huntington did not purchase the alarms on its vehicles. Scarangella brought an action against Thomas for negligence, breach of warranty, and products liability. Thomas moved to preclude submission to the jury of Scarangella’s claim that the failure to have a back-up alarm was a design defect. Thomas submitted the deposition of Huntington’s president and chief operating officer, Kevin Clifford, who testified that he knew the alarms were available but decided not to purchase them because the buses would be parked in a residential area and the alarms were loud and disruptive. Clifford instead instructed drivers to honk their horns when backing up. Scarangella did not provide evidence in response but based her claim solely on the idea that, because a school-bus driver had a significant blind spot, all buses must be equipped with a back-up alarm. The trial court found no triable issue of fact on the design-defect claim based on the lack of a back-up alarm and granted Thomas’s motion to preclude. Scarangella was then granted a jury trial based on the theory that the bus was defectively designed because it did not have proper mirrors. The trial court directed a verdict for Thomas and dismissed the case. The appellate division affirmed, and Scarangella appealed.