Mr. X is suing the PogiBear Snowmobile Company and an engineer for PippenCat Components for $750,000 over his son’s death. He was killed while racing his snowmobile through the woods in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Mr. X’s lawyer, Mr. Y, claims that his son was killed because a tie-rod broke, causing him to lose control and crash into a tree, breaking his neck. While it was impossible to determine whether the tie-rod broke before the crash or as a result of the crash, the following evidence has been putforth.The tie-rod was originally designed and made entirely out of low-carbon steel (heat treated by casehardening) in three pieces. These tie-rods were subcontracted by PogiBear toPippenCat Components. PippenCat changed the material of the sleeves from steel to a heat-treated aluminum having the same ultimate tensile strength value as the steel. They did this because aluminum sleeves were easier to thread than steel sleeves. It was further found that threads on one of the tie-rod bolts were not completely formed as they should have been. The sleeve of the tie-rod in question was splitopen (fractured) and one the tie-rod bolts was bent. Mr. X’s lawyer further claimed that the tie-rod was not assembled properly. He claimed that one rod was screwed into the sleeve too far and the other not far enough, thereby giving it insufficient thread engagement. The engineer for PippenCat testifiedthat these tie-rods are hand assembled and checked only for overall length and that such a misassembly was possible. In his summary, Mr. Y, stated that the failure was due to a combination of material change,manufacturing error, and bad assembly–all combining to result in a failure of the tie-rod.A design engineer for PogiBear testified that the tie-rods were way overdesigned and would not failevenwith slightly small threads and misassembly. PogiBear’s lawyer then claimed that the accident was caused by driver failure and that the tie-rod broke upon impact of the snowmobile with the tree. One the men racing with Mr. X’s son claimed that the snowmobile had veered sharply just before the crash, butunder cross examination he admitted that they had all been drinking that night because it was cold (he guessed -20 degrees to -30 degrees F). Because this accident had taken place more than 5 years ago, he could notremember how much they had had to drink.

You have now been sequestered to decide if PogiBear and PippenCat are guilty of negligence resulting in death. The rest of the jury has asked for your opinion.

What do you think? Who is really to blame for this accident? What actually caused the accident?