DONNA M. SOUZA, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. FRED CARRIES CONTRACTS, INC., an Arizona corporation, Defendant/Appellee., 191 Ariz. 247

Summary

Appellant driver bought a car and two weeks later, after she experienced three tire blow-outs and after appellee corporation had replaced the car's rear axle assembly with a used unit, appellant was injured when she had another blow-out, lost control of the car and collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle. The storage yard owner obtained title to appellant's car under Arizona's abandoned vehicle statutes. The storage company then transferred title to an auto recycler, which had the car destroyed. The trial court held that the permanent loss of the car precluded appellant from establishing a prima face case and prejudiced appellee. The trial court granted summary judgment to appellee. The court held that the dismissal of the case was too harsh and circumstantial evidence of a defect and causation was acceptable in this case. The court reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded for further proceedings.