Murray v. Fairbanks Morse
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
610 F.2d 149 (1979)
Norwilton Murray (plaintiff), installing an electrical control panel built by Beloit Power Systems (a Fairbanks Morse subsidiary, defendants) at a Virgin Islands oil refinery, fell about ten feet onto concrete when an iron cross-member, attached to the panel's underside only to stabilize it during shipping, gave way under his weight while he was rocking the misaligned unit into place with a crowbar. Murray sued Beloit under strict liability and negligence theories; the district court applied the Virgin Islands' comparative-negligence statute, instructing the jury to reduce Murray's award by whatever percentage of fault it attributed to him if it found Beloit liable. The jury awarded Murray $2 million but found him 5 percent at fault, and the trial judge reduced the award accordingly; Beloit's motion for a new trial was denied and it appealed, while Murray cross-appealed the reduction.
Whether the Virgin Islands' comparative-fault scheme, as applied to strict liability actions, requires determining whether the defendant's product defect caused the plaintiff's injuries and, if so, reducing the damages award by whatever fault is attributed to the plaintiff.