Buonanno v. Colmar Belting Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 12 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-21-Appeal.,98-21-Appeal.
• Citation: 733 A.2d 712
• Parties: Americo C. BUONANNO, III v. COLMAR BELTING CO., INC. et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

733 A.2d 712

Americo C. BUONANNO, III v. COLMAR BELTING CO., INC. et al.

No. 98-21-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 12, 1999.

Present WEISBERGER, C.J., LEDERBERG, FLANDERS, BOURCIER, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

Howard B. Klein, Donna M. DiDonato, Providence, for Plaintiff.

John Bruno, Thomas R. McKeon, Portland, ME, Lee M. Walker, Newton, IA, Timothy J. Robenhymer, James A. Ruggieri, Providence, for Defendant, Colmar Belting Co.

Harrison Richardson, Portland, ME, for Defendant, Emerson Power Transmission.

J. William Harsch, for Defendant, Louis L. Vinagro.

Joseph A. Kelly, C. Russell Bengtson, Providence, for defendants, Kenneth Butler et al.

OPINION

GOLDBERG, Justice.

The plaintiff, Americo C. Buonanno, III (Buonanno), brought this products liability case on theories of strict liability and negligence, for injuries received when his arm was crushed in the nip point¹ of a conveyor-belt system. In his complaint, Buonanno alleged that the conveyor-belt system and the wing pulley were defectively designed by the defendants, Emerson Power Transmission Corporation (EPT) and Colmar Belting Company, Inc. (Colmar), and that both EPT and Colmar failed to warn of the dangerous condition of the wing pulley. The trial justice granted summary judgment for EPT and Colmar on the theory of product liability and on the issue of negligence. Buonanno now appeals this judgment.

Facts and Procedural History

On September 30, 1993, Buonanno was employed by New England Ecological Development, Inc. (NEED), a recycling transfer station located in Johnston, Rhode Island. The plant consisted of several conveyor belts used to transport demolition materials, and several catwalks on which employees would stand, sort through demolition material, and drop the debris onto the floor located below the conveyor belts. Although Buonanno had only been working at the plant for approximately two and one-half months, he held the position of "supervisor." At the time of his injury, Buonanno was working at NEED in his supervisory position when he observed that one of the conveyor belts was running off track. In an effort to identify the source of the problem, Buonanno turned off the machine and climbed onto a catwalk to determine if the belt was obstructed. While he remained on the catwalk, someone restarted the machine, and Buonanno began clearing a path free from debris for the individual who would eventually repair the belt. He soon lost his balance and began to fall when his arm was tragically pulled into the "nip point" of the conveyor system. As a result of this accident, his dominant right arm was severely crushed and subsequently amputated at the elbow. Buonanno also suffers emotionally and has been unable to return to the work force since the date of this accident.

Colmar is a distributor of conveyor-belt system parts which apparently sold most, if not all, of the component parts of the conveyor system to NEED. Colmar, however, maintains that it was not in the business of designing or in any way building conveyor systems. The record reveals that the conveyor belt that caused Buonanno's injury was purchased and constructed to transport rubbish inside the NEED plant. Once this purpose was determined, a representative of NEED contacted John Brunaccini (Brunaccini), the president of Colmar, and informed him of the speed at which NEED intended to run the conveyor, the width of the pulley, and the type of motor required.² The wing pulley, which is a component part of the nip point of the conveyor belt system, was manufactured by EPT and sold to NEED by Colmar. It is significant that Colmar neither sold nor recommended the use of a protective shield (hereinafter shield or guard) to guard the nip point. Moreover, Colmar did not sell any type of guard for these pulleys because it maintains that such a guard is usually custom-made by a welder who then installs it on the finished product. Kenneth Butler (Butler)³ was the welder who was hired to actually construct the conveyor-belt apparatus after the owner of NEED contacted him with the conceptual plan of the system. NEED's final, integrated conveyor-belt system contained no shield over the nip point area, notwithstanding the fact that an unguarded nip point was generally known to be a hazardous aspect of the system. Apparently, on September 3, 1993, approximately three weeks prior to this incident, an inspector from the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) examined the NEED facility and indicated that the unguarded nip point presented a danger to employees and that OSHA had issued a warning that guards should be installed at all nip points.⁴ While Buonanno argues that it was the absence of the guard and the failure to warn of the danger that rendered the product defective, both EPT and Colmar maintain that due to the unique nature of the conveyor system, it was not feasible to provide a shield with the wing pulley, since shields were typically custom-made by the welder who constructed the conveyor system.

Buonanno filed an amended complaint against EPT and Colmar, which alleged strict liability and negligence with respect to the design of the wing pulley and failure to warn of its dangerous nature. EPT filed a motion for summary judgment setting forth the following ground: as a manufacturer of a component part, EPT had no duty to insure the proper design of the final integrated product. Subsequently, Colmar joined in EPT's motion for summary judgment and in addition, stated that Colmar did not manufacture any component part, nor did it design any aspect of the conveyor belt. During the summary judgment hearing held on November 14, 1997, EPT again argued that as a manufacturer of a component part, EPT had no duty to warn against any injuries caused by the final integrated product since it had no involvement with the design of the entire system. Also during this hearing, Colmar indicated that it "would have the same defenses as [EPT]," and argued that Colmar had no involvement in the design or manufacture of the pulley and in fact, had never even handled the product, since the wing pulley was shipped directly from EPT to NEED. In other words, EPT and Colmar maintained that they had "no duty" as a component part seller, but failed to challenge the existence of a defect. Further, Buonanno responded to the motion for summary judgment by arguing in favor of the existence of a duty on the part of EPT and Colmar. Although not raised by either defendant as grounds for summary judgment, Buonanno also presented record evidence that there was a safer alternative design of the wing pulley that could have reduced the foreseeable risk of harm posed by this product, thus rendering it less likely that a user would become caught in the pulley's spindles and drawn into the nip point.

The trial justice failed to address the question of the manufacturer's duty and the issue of an alternative safer design. He granted summary judgment on behalf of EPT and Colmar and noted that the case law presented by Colmar and EPT supported the argument that a manufacturer or distributor of a component part is not liable for injury caused by the final integrated product. Moor v. Iowa Manufacturing Co., 320 N.W.2d 927 (S.D.1982). In making his determination, the trial justice indicated that considering the holding in Moor, Buonanno was required to produce competent evidence that a defect existed in the wing pulley at the time it left the control of the manufacturer, which rendered the product unreasonably unsafe. See id. at 928. The trial justice ultimately found that Buonanno had failed to demonstrate the existence of a defect at the time the wing pulley left EPT's manufacturing plant and overlooked the question of a defect based upon the availability of a safer alternative design. Moreover, regarding the negligence claim, he found that Buonanno failed to prove that EPT and Colmar owed a duty to design the wing pulley "such that it would not cause the injury that occurred to the plaintiff." He then granted both Colmar's and EPT's motion for summary judgment and Buonanno appealed.

"When considering an appeal of a grant of summary judgment, this [C]ourt employs the same standard and rules that the trial justice applied in evaluating the motion." Textron, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 638 A.2d 537, 539 (R.I.1994); see also Holliston Mills, Inc. v. Citizens Trust Co., 604 A.2d 331, 334 (R.I.1992). "We examine the pleadings and affidavits in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party to decide whether an issue of material fact exist[s] and whether the moving party [is] entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law." Textron, Inc., 638 A.2d at 539. Moreover, "`[s]ummary judgment is proper when there is no ambiguity as a matter of law.'" Id. It is the burden of the party opposing a motion for summary judgment to assert facts that "`raise a genuine issue to be resolved.'" Id.

Analysis

When ruling on defendants' motions for summary judgment, the trial justice focused predominantly on the question of the existence of a defect and found that "there has been no evidence which has been offered by the plaintiff to establish that, at the time that the wing pulley left Emerson's manufacturing plant, that it was, indeed, defective." On the issue of negligence, the trial justice refused to conclude that "the plaintiff has proven that these defendants owed a duty to design the matter such that it would not cause the injury that occurred to the plaintiff." Therefore, he granted "the motions for summary judgment by the [d]efendants Emerson and Colmar on the issue of negligence." At the time of the hearing, however, the trial justice did not consider the recently enacted Restatement (Third) Torts which addresses the very issue of component part liability. See Restatement (Third) Torts § 5 (1998). Since the advent of the recently published Restatement, we have not had the occasion to address...