Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc.
| Decision Date | 06 October 1986 |
| Docket Number | LINDEN-ALIMA,No. 85-5148,INC,85-5148 |
| Parties | , 5 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1248, Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,127 George J. KOCHINS, Curator of the Estate of John G. Kochins, Plaintiff- Appellant, v.; Heede International, Inc.; Linden-Alimak, A.B. of Skellestea, Sweden; Roy Howard; Bobby Franklin Bevels; Jerry W. Pitcock; Art Armstrong; and Mine Safety Appliances Company, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Herbert S. Sanger, Jr, Gen. Counsel, James E. Fox, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, Edwin W. Small (argued), Edward M Joffe, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tenn., Thomas I. Carlton, Jr., W. Gregory Miller (argued), Cornelius & Collins, Douglas Fisher (argued), Nashville, Tenn., for defendants-appellees.
John W. deGravelles, Due, Dodson, deGravelles, Robinson and Caskey, Baton Rouge, La., Rachel L. Steel (argued), Farris, Warfield & Kanaday, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff-appellant.
Before ENGEL, KENNEDY and RYAN, Circuit Judges.
In this products liability-negligence action, based on diversity jurisdiction, the appellant challenges, on several grounds, the district court's orders granting summary judgment to defendants, Linden-Alimak, Inc., Linden-Alimak, A.B. of Skellestea, Sweden, and Heede International Inc. (the Linden-Alimak defendants), and to defendants Arthur Armstrong, Roy Howard, Bobby Bevels, and Jerry Pitcock (the individual defendants). Summary judgment was granted to the Linden-Alimak defendants based upon Tennessee's ten-year statute of repose for product liability actions, Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 29-28-103 (1980), and to the individual defendants on the ground that under Tennessee law they enjoy immunity against personal liability for allegedly negligent acts arising out of their employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe place to work.
Appellant contends that the summary judgment in favor of the Linden-Alimak defendants is improper because (1) a genuine issue of material fact exists as to when the product which injured John G. Kochins, a sheave guard on a hoist, was sold by the Linden-Alimak defendants to Mr. Kochins' employer, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); (2) an instruction manual for the hoist sold to TVA by the Linden-Alimak defendants constitutes a separate product, and the statute of repose should begin running when the manual was received by TVA in 1980 and not when the hoist was received in 1970; and (3) the statute of repose is unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection guarantees of the United States and Tennessee constitutions, as well as art. I, Sec. 17, the "open courts" provision, of the Tennessee constitution.
Appellant also contends that summary judgment was improperly granted to the individual defendants because their allegedly negligent acts are not within the Tennessee rule that an employer has a non-delegable duty to provide a safe place to work.
We hold that Sec. 29-28-103 is constitutionally valid and we affirm the summary judgments in favor of the Linden-Alimak defendants and the individual defendants.
On February 9, 1981, John G. Kochins, an ironworker employed by the TVA at its Hartsville nuclear power plant, while participating in the disassembly of a personnel hoist, suffered severe brain damage and other injuries when he was struck on the head by a sheave guard which fell thirty feet from the top of the hoist which was manufactured by Linden-Alimak, A.B. of Skellestea, Sweden. The hoist was a Heede Alihoist Model II-B, one of two such hoists sold to the TVA by Heede International, Inc., Linden-Alimak, Inc.'s predecessor, 1 by contract dated July 2, 1970. The hoist involved in the accident bore serial number 328, and is the only Alihoist elevator that has ever been at the Hartsville nuclear plant.
The TVA accepted delivery of the hoist on August 14, 1970, but it was used at other nuclear plants until 1978 when it was shipped to the Hartsville plant, disassembled. In December, 1980, the hoist was retrieved for assembly from the storage yard where it had been stored for several years.
Defendant Arthur Armstrong is the safety supervisor at the Hartsville plant. Defendant Jerry Pitcock was selected as foreman in charge of the assembly crew, of which John Kochins was a member. Defendants Howard and Bevels, ironworker superintendent and assistant ironworker superintendent, respectively, discussed the assembly procedure with Pitcock, and an instruction manual provided by the manufacturer was used in assembling the hoist. Two months later, when it became necessary to move the hoist, Howard directed Bevels to instruct the same crew to disassemble it. The crew was directed to disassemble the hoist by reversing the assembly procedure. Of the individual defendants, only Pitcock was present during the disassembly.
The district court described the disassembly process leading to the accident:
When the disassembly began, the first step was to lower the counterweight, which was at the top of the hoist, to the ground. It was necessary to utilize a crane and a crane operator to accomplish this task. Crewmember Randall Hickman was standing on top of the hoist and attached the crane hook to the counterweight. Pitcock and apprentice ironworker Arlene Gregory were on the ground and plaintiff was standing atop the cage of the hoist. Hickman then signalled the crane operator to begin lowering the counterweight. Plaintiff was to signal the counterweight down once it left Hickman's line of sight. As the counterweight was being lowered, the wire rope running through the pulley dislodged a metal sheave guard fastened over the pulley. The sheave guard fell from the top of the hoist frame and struck plaintiff, causing the personal injuries for which recovery is sought in this action.
On June 24, 1981, plaintiff-appellant George Kochins, brother and curator of John Kochins, brought this action on his brother's behalf against the Linden-Alimak defendants, alleging theories of negligence, breach of warranties, strict liability, and other statutory and contractual violations. The complaint was later amended to add the individual defendants, whom appellant alleged were negligent in various respects. 2
On October 7, 1982, and November 18, 1982, after extensive discovery, the Linden-Alimak defendants moved for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), on the ground that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact, and defendants were entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law because the action is barred by the Tennessee ten-year statute of repose. Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 29-28-103. On December 8, 1982, the district court granted summary judgment for the Linden-Alimak defendants, rejecting appellant's challenges to Sec. 29-28-103 under the United States and Tennessee Constitutions, and holding that the action was barred by the statute.
Thereafter, the individual defendants moved for summary judgment, and the district court granted their motion on the ground that, under Tennessee law, plaintiff's allegations of negligence related to the employer's non-delegable duty to provide a safe place to work and that the individual defendants therefore enjoyed immunity against personal liability. The judgments in favor of the Linden-Alimak defendants and the individual defendants were certified by the district court as final and appealable orders pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b), and this appeal followed.
Appellant argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the Linden-Alimak defendants based on the Tennessee products liability statute of repose. The statute provides:
(a) Any action against a manufacturer or seller of a product for injury to person or property caused by its defective or unreasonably dangerous condition must be brought within the period fixed by Secs. 28-3-104, 28-3-105, 28-3-202 and 47-2-725, but notwithstanding any exceptions to these provisions it must be brought within six (6) years of the date of injury, in any event, the action must be brought within ten (10) years from the date on which the product was first purchased for use or consumption, or within one (1) year after the expiration of the anticipated life of the product, whichever is the shorter, except in the case of injury to minors whose action must be brought within a period of one (1) year after attaining the age of majority, whichever occurs sooner.
(b) The foregoing limitation of actions shall not apply to any action resulting from exposure to asbestos.
Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 29-28-103.
Appellant concedes that the hoist was purchased and received by the TVA more than ten years prior to the date Kochins was injured, but contends that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to when the allegedly defective component part, the sheave guard, was delivered to the TVA. 3 All parties agree that the technical plans and the drawings for the Alihoist Model II-B that is involved in this case do not show the sheave guard as part of the equipment, and that the drawings for a different model, Alihoist Model III, do show such a sheave guard. Further, appellant asserts that the sheave guard does not appear on the spare parts list for either the Model II-B or the Model III, and that the instruction manual for the Model II-B hoist makes no reference to the sheave guard either in the text or in the illustrations. Appellant suggests that it may be concluded therefrom that the sheave guard was not on the hoist when it was originally delivered to the TVA in 1970.
The district court agreed with appellant that "it is not clear that the defendants provided sheave guards on the model II-B when purchased by TVA." However, the court concluded that, in light of the ten-year statute of repose, whether a sheave guard was or was not provided in August, 1970, was not a material issue of fact. Rather, the court found that the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Univ. Of Tn Wm. F. Bowld Hosp. v. Wal-Mart Stores
...as well as all inferences therefrom must be read in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1133 (6th Cir.1986). The burden on the party moving for summary judgment may be discharged by pointing out that there is an absence of......
-
Rowe v. Marietta Corp.
...as well as all inferences therefrom must be read in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1133 (6th Cir.1986). The burden on the party moving for summary judgment may be discharged by pointing out that there is an absence of......
-
Carrier Corp. v. Piper
...as all inferences drawn therefrom must be read in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1133 (6th Cir.1986); see also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 When ......
-
Libertarian Party of Tenn. v. Goins
...genuine issues of material fact. Sims v. Memphis Processors, Inc., 926 F.2d 524, 526 (6th Cir.1991) (quoting Kochins v. Linden–Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1133 (6th Cir.1986)). “So long as the movant has met its initial burden of ‘demonstrat[ing] the absence of a genuine issue of material ......
-
How the Fifty States View Electronic Data as a “Product”
...Motor Co., 939 S.W.2d 83, 98 & n.10 (Tenn. App. 1996). To evade a statute of repose, the plaintiff in Kochins v. Linden-Alimak, Inc., 799 F.2d 1128, 1135 (6th Cir. 1986), argued that an instruction manual, alone, was a “product” under the Tennessee statute. We do not think that the Tennesse......