in the court of appeals of the state - Mississippi Supreme Court

The Court instructs the Jury that if you find from a preponderance of
the evidence in this case that the defendant, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company, manufactured a defective tire and that such action, if any,
proximately contributed to the happening of the accident in this case and to the
injuries, if any, which the plaintiffs sustained, then you must, in arriving at
your verdict, reduce plaintiffs’ damages, if any, by that percentage which
plaintiffs’ own negligence, if any, proximately contributed to the happening
of the accident and the injuries, if any, sustained by them.
51. The jury also received three additional instructions on apportionment of damages, one
for each plaintiff. Instruction No. 41 was for the heirs of Kirby and provides:
On the claim of the heirs of Travis C. Kirby against the defendants,
Big 10 Tire Company and Goodyear, if you find from a preponderance of the
evidence in this case that:
1. The defendants Big 10 Tire Company and Goodyear
were negligent; and
2. Travis C. Kirby was negligent; and
3. The negligence of both the defendants and Travis C.
Kirby were proximate contributing causes of the accident in
question; and
4. The heirs of Travis C. Kirby, plaintiff, sustained
damages caused by the combined negligence of the defendants
and Travis C. Kirby;
then you will, in arriving at your verdict, first determine the sum of money
which will fairly and adequately compensate the heirs of Travis C. Kirby for
said damages, and then reduce this sum in proportion to the causal negligence
of Travis C. Kirby, using the following method:
1. Determine the proportion that Travis C. Kirby’s
causal negligence bears to the causal negligence as a whole, as
a part or percentage of 100 percent = total causal negligence of
both the defendants and Travis C. Kirby;
2. Multiply the sum of money you determined as
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