Loughan v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
749 F.2d 1519 (11th Cir. 1985)
Loughan (plaintiff), a mechanic injured by a defective rim-wheel assembly, sued manufacturer Firestone (defendant) for products liability; Firestone sought to introduce evidence, outside the jury's presence, that Loughan regularly kept beer on the job and drank while working over several years, corroborated by two former supervisors, one of whom had fired Loughan years earlier for on-the-job drinking after customer complaints. The district court admitted this evidence as habit evidence, and the jury found for Firestone; Loughan appealed.
Whether evidence of a person's behavior can be admissible to prove that the person acted in conformity with a habit if the behavior is the person's regular response to a specific situation repeated over an extended period of time.