Johnson vs. Coldrock Tire and Rubber Company

In March 2016, John "Johnny" Johnson, a mechanic employed by Infiniti of Parkland,

attempted to mount a 16-inch tire on a 17-inch rim of an Infiniti G35 wheel. While

installing the tire, he leaned and reached over the assembly and the tire exploded,

causing him serious, permanent injuries. Mr. Johnson lost three fingers of his right hand

in the accident, as well as the vision in his right eye. In addition to his job at the

dealership, Mr. Johnson was an aspiring reggae musician who the day of the accident

had received a multi-million dollar record contract offer from Tinseltown Records. Mr.

Johnson filed suit in Florida's 17th Judicial Circuit Court against his employer, American

Hawk Company- the manufacturer of the wheel, Nissan Motor Company - the

manufacturer of the automobile and designer of the wheel and Coldrock Tire and

Rubber Company - the manufacturer of the tire. Mr. Johnson had 10 years of

experience as a mechanic and had received three days of on-site training from

representatives of Coldrock. The dealership, wheel manufacturer and automobile

manufacturer all settled, leaving Coldrock as the remaining defendant.

This is a civil tort case and

not

a criminal one. Causes of actions will consist of claims

for

1. Negligence, and

2. (Strict) product liability

An issue in the case is the labeling on the tire. The tire had a label, advising users never

to mount a 16-inch tire on a 17-inch rim, warning of the danger of severe injury or death,

and included a drawing of a mechanic leaning over the tire to install it with a circle and

red line drawn through it. Whether the label was sufficiently conspicuous or adequately

depicted the resulting danger or risk of injury, remains an open issue. In depositions,

Johnson admitted that he ignored these warnings at the urging of his employer, especially

because it was common practice to install smaller tires on larger rims of the Infiniti G35.

During discovery, Johnson's attorneys explored why Coldrock did not use a safer "bead"

design. The bead is a rubber encased steel wire, which circles the tire and holds it on to

the rim. Each side has offered up experts, with Johnson's pointing out that other

manufacturers use different and safer bead designs and Coldrock's arguing that the

Coldrock design was the safest in the industry, and a different design would not have

changed the outcome.

The defendant in the case is Roger "Cole" Coldrock, CEO of the company, who is being

represented by the Wall Street firm of Ben, Jarvis, Green & Ellis, LLP. The plaintiff is

being represented by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatum & Howe, LLP, a specialist in

product liability suits. The assigned judge in the case is the Hon. Solomon Cardozo

Holmes, a recent appointee by the Republican governor. Before his appointment, Judge

Holmes was in private practice with a large Fort Lauderdale firm; his major client was

General Motors.

Question is:

What are the cause of action?

Element of each cause of action