Interstate Cold Storage, Inc. v. General Motors Corp.

• Decision Date: 03 December 1999
• Docket Number: No. 17A03-9902-CV-52.,17A03-9902-CV-52.
• Citation: 720 N.E.2d 727
• Parties: INTERSTATE COLD STORAGE, INCORPORATED, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Appellee-Defendant.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

720 N.E.2d 727

INTERSTATE COLD STORAGE, INCORPORATED, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Appellee-Defendant.

No. 17A03-9902-CV-52.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

December 3, 1999.

Thomas J. Jarzyniecki, Eric D. Johnson, Kightlinger & Gray Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellant.

Julia Blackwell Gelinas, Jeffrey J. Mortier, Locke Reynolds LLP, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

ROBB, Judge

Interstate Cold Storage, Inc. ("Interstate") appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of General Motors Corporation ("GMC") on Interstate's complaint. We affirm.

Issue

Interstate raises two issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as one: whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment for GMC on its complaint for negligence and strict liability upon finding that the only damage suffered was to the product itself.

Facts and Procedural History

On June 19, 1995, an Interstate employee was driving a 1992 GMC vehicle owned by a subsidiary of Interstate. The employee heard a strange sound and saw smoke coming from the vehicle. He pulled over to the side of the road and saw flames near the engine. The vehicle was declared a total loss. Neither the employee nor any other property was damaged as a result of the fire.

Interstate filed the instant lawsuit against GMC alleging strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty claims. GMC moved for summary judgment on the strict liability and negligence claims.¹ The trial court, finding that there was no allegation of bodily injury or damage other than to the vehicle itself, granted summary judgment for GMC. Interstate now appeals.

Discussion and Decision

I. Standard of Review

Our standard of review of a summary judgment order is well-settled: summary judgment is appropriate if the "designated evidentiary matter shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Ind. Trial Rule 56(C). Relying on specifically designated evidence, the moving party bears the burden of showing prima facie that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Estate of Pflanz v. Davis, 678 N.E.2d 1148, 1150 (Ind.Ct.App.1997). If the moving party meets these two requirements, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to set forth specifically designated facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id. A genuine issue of material fact exists where facts concerning an issue which would dispose of the litigation are in dispute or where the undisputed material facts are capable of supporting conflicting inferences on such an issue. Downs v. Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co., 694 N.E.2d 1198, 1200 (Ind.Ct.App.1998),trans. denied. Even if the facts are undisputed, summary judgment is inappropriate where the record reveals an incorrect application of the law to the facts. General Accident Ins. Co. of America v. Hughes, 706 N.E.2d 208, 210 (Ind.Ct.App.1999),trans. denied.

On appeal, we are bound by the same standard as the trial court, and we consider only those matters which were designated at the summary judgment stage. Pflanz, 678 N.E.2d at 1151. We liberally construe all designated evidentiary material in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party to determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Dunifon v. Iovino, 665 N.E.2d 51, 55 (Ind.Ct.App.1996), trans. denied. The party that lost in the trial court has the burden to persuade the appellate court that the trial court erred. Id. Specific findings and conclusions by the trial court are not required, and although they offer valuable insight into the rationale for the judgment and facilitate our review, we are not limited to reviewing the trial court's reasons for granting or denying summary judgment. Jones v. Western Reserve Group, 699 N.E.2d 711, 714 (Ind.Ct.App. 1998), trans. denied. A grant of summary judgment may be affirmed upon any theory supported by the designated materials. Sims v. Barnes, 689 N.E.2d 734, 735 (Ind. Ct.App.1997), trans. denied.

II. Damage to Product Alone

In granting summary judgment for GMC, the trial court found that there was "no allegation of bodily injury or damage to Interstate's property, other than to the product itself." R. 155. The trial court also found that "[a]s interpreted in the Martin Rispens case, physical harm `means bodily injury, death, loss of services and rights arising from any such injuries, as well as sudden major damage to property other than to the product itself [.]'" R. 155 (emphasis in original). Accordingly, the trial court granted summary judgment for GMC on Interstate's claims of negligence and strict liability. The fact that the only damage was to the vehicle is undisputed by the parties. They disagree, however, as to whether the trial court correctly applied the law, including the Products Liability Act and the cases interpreting it, to those undisputed facts.

The Products Liability Act (the "Act") governs all actions brought by a user or consumer of a product against the manufacturer or seller of the product for physical harm caused by the product, "regardless of the substantive legal theory or theories upon which the action is brought." Ind.Code § 34-20-1-1. See also Ind.Code § 34-6-2-115. Thus, the Act governs both the strict liability and negligence claims brought by Interstate. In pertinent part, the Act imposes liability as follows:

[A] person who sells, leases, or otherwise puts into the stream of commerce any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to any user or consumer or to the user's or consumer's property is subject to liability for physical harm caused by that product to the user or consumer or to the user's or consumer's property ....

Ind.Code § 34-20-2-1 (emphasis added). "Physical harm" is defined as "bodily injury, death, loss of services, and rights arising from any such injuries as well as sudden, major damage to property. The term does not include gradually evolving damage to property or economic loss from such damage." Ind.Code § 34-6-2-105 (emphasis added). "Sudden, major damage" is damage that happens quickly and unexpectedly, and is significant in scope. Reed v. Central Soya Co., Inc., 621 N.E.2d 1069, 1076 (Ind.1993). It is undisputed that the damage suffered herein was "sudden" and "major." In the case of Martin Rispens & Son v. Hall Farms, 621 N.E.2d 1078 (Ind.1993), our supreme court noted that the plaintiff's strict liability claim was "based on damage to the product itself. Strict liability in tort is inapplicable to claims of such damage because the proper remedy is warranty." Id. at 1089. With regard to the plaintiff's negligence claim, the court held that "[e]conomic losses are not recoverable in a negligence action premised on the failure of a product to perform as expected unless such failure causes personal injury or physical harm to property other than the product itself." Id. at 1091. Interstate argues that because the supreme court also determined in Martin Rispens that the plaintiff's loss was gradually...