Birch v. Midwest Garage Door Systems

• Decision Date: 23 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 41A04-0205-CV-232.,41A04-0205-CV-232.
• Citation: 790 N.E.2d 504
• Parties: Adrienne BIRCH, b/n/f William and Kenna Birch, and William and Kenna Birch, Individually, Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. MIDWEST GARAGE DOOR SYSTEMS and J. Robinson Homes, Appellees-Defendants.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

790 N.E.2d 504

Adrienne BIRCH, b/n/f William and Kenna Birch, and William and Kenna Birch, Individually, Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. MIDWEST GARAGE DOOR SYSTEMS and J. Robinson Homes, Appellees-Defendants.

No. 41A04-0205-CV-232.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

June 23, 2003.

James R. Fisher, Debra H. Miller, Fred R. Biesecker, Ice Miller, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellants.

Alan A. Bouwkamp, Stephen C. Wheeler, Thomas R. Haley III, Jennings Taylor Wheeler & Bouwkamp, Carmel, IN, Attorneys for Appellees.

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

William and Kenna Birch, individually and as next friend to Adrienne Birch, and Adrienne Birch (collectively, the "Birches"), appeal the trial court's grant of summary judgment to J. Robinson Homes ("Robinson") and Midwest Garage Door Systems ("Midwest"). The Birches raise two issues, which we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court erred by granting Robinson's motion for summary judgment under Section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts; and

II. Whether the trial court erred by granting Midwest's motion for summary judgment because the garage door opener it installed was defective under the Indiana Product Liability Act.

We affirm.

The relevant designated facts follow. The Birches purchased a house from Robinson, a general contractor that builds and sells homes. On April 3, 1993, Midwest, a supplier of garage doors and garage door openers, on request of Robinson, installed an automatic garage door opener system in the home that Robinson was building for the Birches. Robinson had not specified which of the two types of safety features that it wanted installed in the Birches' garage door opener system. One of the two safety features was an impact/rebound type designed to prevent injury from a closing garage door by causing the door to stop closing and to open when the lower edge of the door made contact with an object such as a person. The other safety feature was an optical sensor type designed not to close or to stop closing and to open when an electric beam, located across the bottom of the door opening, was interrupted by any object. The optical sensor system is in addition to the impact/rebound system. The feature chosen by Midwest to install on the Birch home was the impact/rebound type only.

Prior to the installation of the automatic door opener system in the Birch home and effective January 1, 1993, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a Federal Residential Garage Door Opener Safety Requirement ("Federal Safety Requirement") that required manufacturers of garage door openers to incorporate in the garage door opener system an optical sensor and/or a Door Edge Sensor as a standard feature. Under the Federal Safety Requirement, manufacturers were permitted to continue to sell from inventories of door opening systems built before January 1, 1993, door closing systems without optical sensors, provided that those systems complied with the "Safety Entrapment standard of UL-325 dating May 4, 1988." Appellant's Appendix at 137. At some point prior to the installation of the garage door opener system in the Birch home, Midwest sent to Robinson what it designated as an "IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE" advising Robinson of the new Federal Safety Requirement and informing Robinson that Midwest could provide to Robinson either the "new Opener with the Optical Sensor" or the "UL-325 Opener" until the existing stock of UL-325 openers was gone. Id. Midwest estimated that the stock of UL-325 openers would be gone by March 1, 1993.

Neither Midwest nor Robinson informed the Birches of the Federal Safety Requirement that would prevent the manufacture of garage door opener systems without optical sensors after January 1, 1993, or that, until Midwest's stock of UL-325 impact/rebound safety systems was exhausted, the Birches could choose to purchase either a UL-325 system or an Optical Sensor system.¹ From the record, it appears that the Birches had no part in selecting the safety system installed with their garage door opener system.

Mr. Birch was provided with a manual as part of the installation process that contained information about the garage door system and the need to test and maintain the impact/rebound safety system. The manual also indicated the availability of an optical sensor safety system and strongly recommended use of such a system by a family with children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Birch were familiar with garage door systems incorporating the impact/rebound safety system. They warned their daughter Adrienne of the hazards of such doors and specifically warned her not to pass under the door when it was closing. Mr. Birch, at some point, installed a control switch outside the garage, so the door could be manually activated from inside or outside of the garage. Mr. Birch also became aware of the availability of optical sensors as an alternative to impact/rebound safety systems, but did not have such a system installed on their garage door opener system.

On May 12, 1998, some five years after installation of the door system and nearly five months after Midwest had made some repairs to the door system, Adrienne sustained serious injuries when the door of the garage closed down on her while she was lying in its path. Precisely how she came to be there while the door was closing is not known. The last she recalls before the accident is that she had put on her in-line skates inside the garage with the intent to go outside skating. Adrienne apparently fell in the process and the door came down on her. It did not rebound when it contacted her, but pressed down on her and caused serious injuries.

The Birches filed a complaint against Robinson, Midwest, Chamberlain Group, and Windsor Door.² The Birches' claim against Robinson is that, under the principles of Section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, Robinson had a duty to warn or inform the Birches that the Federal Safety Requirement had made the manufacture of garage door opener systems without optical sensors safety systems after January 1, 1993, illegal, and that such systems were dangerous.³ The Birches' claim against Midwest is that Midwest is liable under the Indiana Product Liability Act⁴ because the garage door opener system without optical sensors is defective as unreasonably dangerous and that Midwest, because of its knowledge of the defect in the garage door opener system, is liable as a manufacturer under the law.⁵ Robinson counters that the Birches were aware of the dangers of the system and of the availability of optical sensors, and that Robinson had reason to believe the Birches realized any dangerous condition and, therefore, had no duty to warn them. Midwest counters that the garage door opener system with an impact/rebound safety was not defective and that Midwest was not the manufacturer of the system and, thus, has no liability to the Birches. The trial court granted Robinson's motion for summary judgment, with respect to the Birches' negligence claim, finding that Robinson owed no duty to the Birches because "[t]he designated evidence demonstrates that the [Birches] were aware of the very condition they allege made the garage door opening system dangerous." Id. at 39. The trial court also granted Midwest's motion for summary judgment with respect to the Birches' claims made pursuant to the Indiana Product Liability Act.

The Birches argue that the trial court erroneously granted summary judgments to Robinson and Midwest. On review of a trial court's decision to grant or deny summary judgment, we apply the same standard as the trial court: we must decide whether there is a genuine issue of material fact that precludes summary judgment and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Carie v. PSI Energy, Inc., 715 N.E.2d 853, 855 (Ind.1999). Once the moving party has sustained its initial burden of proving the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and the appropriateness of judgment as a matter of law, the party opposing summary judgment must respond by designating specific facts establishing a genuine issue for trial. Stephenson v. Ledbetter, 596 N.E.2d 1369, 1371 (Ind.1992). We may consider only those portions of the pleadings, depositions, and any other matters specifically designated to the trial court by the parties for purposes of the motion for summary judgment. Ind. Trial Rule 56(C), (H). Any doubt as to the existence of an issue of material fact, or an inference to be drawn from the facts, must be resolved in favor of the nonmoving party. Cowe v. Forum Group, Inc., 575 N.E.2d 630, 633 (Ind.1991). Although the nonmovant has the burden of demonstrating that the grant of summary judgment was erroneous, we carefully assess the trial court's decision to ensure that the nonmovant was not improperly denied his or her day in court. Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Guzorek, 690 N.E.2d 664, 667 (Ind.1997).

Where a trial court enters findings of fact and conclusions thereon in granting the motion for summary judgment, as the trial court did in this case as to Robinson, the entry of specific findings and conclusions does not alter the nature of our review. Rice v. Strunk, 670 N.E.2d 1280, 1283 (Ind.1996). In the summary judgment context, we are not bound by the trial court's specific findings of fact and conclusions thereon. Id. They merely aid our review by providing us with a statement of reasons for the trial court's actions. Id.

I.

The first issue is whether the trial court erred by granting Robinson's motion for summary judgment under Section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. The Birches argue that Robinson had a duty to warn them under the Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 388, which imposes liability on a supplier of goods known to be dangerous for an intended use when it does not use reasonable care to inform the consumer of the facts that make the chattel dangerous. Our supreme court has adopted the Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 388...