Fortune v. Techtronic Industries North America
Fortune v. Techtronic Industries North America
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
This matter is before the Court on De
I. BACKGROUND
On or about November 26, 2012, Plaintiff Benjamin Fortune (“Plaintiff’) was injured while using a Ryobi brand table saw, Model No. BTS21, Serial No. X08430026 (the “Ryobi Saw”). The Ryobi Saw was manufactured in 2008 and came with a 3-in-1 blade guard assembly (“BGA”), consisting of: (1) a “see thru” plastic hood designed to prevent inadvertent contact with the blade; (2) a sheet metal splitter knife designed to prevent kickback; and (3) spring-loaded anti-kickback pawls.
As Plaintiff was making a “rip cut,” or a type of “through cut,” into a 2x4 piece of clear pine wood approximately 30 inches in length, the saw began to chatter and vibrate. Fearing the possibility of a “kickback,” or an event where the wood is thrown back at the operator, Plaintiff held down the left side of the board with his left hand and placed “down pressure and forward pressure”
Plaintiff filed suit against One World Technologies, Ryobi Technologies, and Techtronic Industries North America (“Defendants”) on September 3, 2013. In his Complaint, Plaintiff makes four liability claims against Defendants under: (1) strict product liability; (2) negligence; (3) breach of implied warranty of fitness; and (4) breach of implied warranty of merchantability. Defendants moved for summary judgment on December 15, 2014. In his Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff dismissed claims three and four, leaving only his claims under strict liability and negligence for discussion.
II. DISCUSSION
Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
Under Utah law, the plaintiff in a products liability action for design defect must show: “(1) that the product was unreasonably dangerous due to a defect or defective condition, (2) that the defect existed at the time the product was sold, and (3) that the defective condition was a cause of the plaintiffs injuries.”
dangerous to an extent beyond which would be contemplated by the ordinary and prudent buyer, consumer, or user of that product in that community considering the product’s characteristics, propensities, risks, dangers, and uses together with any actual knowledge, training, or experience possessed by that particular buyer, user, or consumer.11
The Tenth Circuit has read this language as encompassing an objective consumer expectations test supplemented with a subjective test based on “individual knowledge, training, and experience of the particular buyer.”
Furthermore, Utah law establishes a statutory presumption of nondefectiveness when the product conforms to government standards in existence at the time the product was designed or manufactured.
In seeking summary judgment, Defendants bear the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, and that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In their Motion, Defendants argue that the Ryobi Saw was not unreasonably dangerous within the meaning of Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-702. Defendants state that the Ryobi Saw was designed and manufactured in full accordance with all relevant private industry consensus standards and government standards. Further, Defendants argue that, at the time the Ryobi Saw was manufactured and sold, no technologically
Plaintiff claims that the Ryobi Saw was defectively designed because the BGA inadequately prevented blade contact and lacked flesh detection technology as a fail-safe feature. Plaintiff contends that even while using the BGA, Plaintiff’s hand still made contact with the blade. He argues that the ordinary consumer would not expect to make contact with the blade when using the guard, and that the lack of flesh detection technology rendered the product unreasonably dangerous.'
Both parties, however, agree that the Ryobi Saw conformed with all standards applicable to table saws as promulgated by the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) in conjunction with Underwriters Laboratories (“UL”) and contained the written warnings required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission at the time it was manufactured.
Under the objective consumer expectations test of Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-702, a product is unreasonably dangerous if “the product was dangerous to an extent beyond which would be contemplated by the ordinary and prudent buyer ... considering the product’s characteristics, propensities, risks, dangers and uses____”
Here, Plaintiff argues that the Ryobi Saw was unreasonably dangerous because the “ordinary consumer is not going to expect that he will make contact with the blade when he is using the guard.”
According to Plaintiffs expert witness, Darryl Robert Holt (“Mr. Holt”), kickback events can occur for a variety of reasons, including improper work piece maneuvering, the condition of the wood, and misalignment of equipment, among other factors.
B. NEGLIGENCE
To establish a claim of negligence, there must be a duty of reasonable care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff and a breach of that duty. Under Utah law, ascertaining whether a duty of reasonable care exists requires considering the following factors: “(1) the extent that the manufacturer could foresee that its actions would cause harm; (2) the likelihood of injury; (3) the magnitude of the burden of guarding against it; and (4) the consequences of placing the burden on the defendant.”
III. CONCLUSION
It is therefore
ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 20) is GRANTED. The Clerk of the Court is directed to enter judgment in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiff, and close this case forthwith.
. Docket No. 20.
. Docket No. 23 Ex. B(l), at 8.
. Docket No. 20 Ex. D.
. Id.
. Docket No. 23, at 45.
. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a).
. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Clifton v. Craig, 924 F.2d 182, 183 (10th Cir. 1991).
. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Wright v. Sw. Bell Tel. Co., 925 F.2d 1288, 1292 (10th Cir. 1991).
. Brown v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 328 F.3d 1274, 1279 (10th Cir. 2003).
. Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-703.
. Id. § 78B-6-702.
. Brown, 328 F.3d at 1282.
. Id.
. Id.
. Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-703(2).
. Egbert v. Nissan N. Am., Inc., 167 P.3d 1058, 1059 (Utah 2007).
. Allen v. Minnstar, Inc., 8 F.3d 1470, 1479 (10th Cir. 1993), see also Wonkier v. Crown Equip. Corp., 353 F.3d 862, 867 (10th Cir. 2003); Brown, 328 F.3d at 1279.
. Docket No. 20 Ex. H, at 4.
. Id.
. Brown, 328 F.3d at 1279-80.
. Utah Code Ann. § 78B-6-702
. Brown, 328 F.3d at 1280.
. Id. at 1279.
. Id. at 1283.
. Id.
. Docket No. 23, at 30.
. Burns v. Cannondale Bicycle Co., 876 P.2d 415, 418 (Utah Ct.App. 1994) (quoting Brooks v. Colonial Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., 579 So.2d 1328, 1332 (Ala.(1991))).
. Docket No. 23 Ex. B(l), at 7.
. Brown, 328 F.3d at 1279.
. Slisze v. Stanley-Bostitch, 979 P.2d 317, 320 (Utah 1999) (quoting AMS Salt Indus. v. Magnesium Corp. of Am., 942 P.2d 315, 321 (Utah 1997)).
. Brown, 328 F.3d at 1283.
. Id.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Benjamin FORTUNE v. TECHTRONIC INDUSTRIES NORTH AMERICA
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published