Rodriguez v. Glock, Inc., 96 C 3981.

• Citation: 28 F.Supp.2d 1064
• Decision Date: 08 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 96 C 3981.,96 C 3981.
• Parties: Betty RODRIGUEZ, individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Jose Rodriguez, deceased, and as Mother and Next Friend of Julian Ramon Rodriguez, a minor, Plaintiff, v. GLOCK, INC., and Glock Ges. m.b.H., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

28 F.Supp.2d 1064

Betty RODRIGUEZ, individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Jose Rodriguez, deceased, and as Mother and Next Friend of Julian Ramon Rodriguez, a minor, Plaintiff, v. GLOCK, INC., and Glock Ges. m.b.H., Defendants.

No. 96 C 3981.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

December 8, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Marvin A. Brustin, Attorney at Law, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs.

Thomas M. Crisham, Daniel L. Stanner, Quinlan & Crisham, P.C., Chicago, IL, for Defendants.

ORDER and OPINION

NORGLE, District Judge.

Before the court is a joint Motion for Summary Judgment by Defendants Glock, Inc. and Glock Ges. m.b.H. (collectively "Glock"). For the following reasons, the court enters summary judgment in favor of Glock.

I. BACKGROUND¹

Plaintiff Betty Rodriguez ("Plaintiff") filed the present action against Glock after her husband, Jose Rodriguez ("Rodriguez"), received a fatal gunshot wound during a struggle on May 27, 1994, outside the Dynasty Club in Chicago. Rodriguez was working as a bouncer for the club when he was involved in an argument with Gabriel Bedoya, an off-duty Milwaukee Police Officer. The struggle occurred around 2:00 a.m. when Bedoya was leaving the establishment. According to the testimony Plaintiff submits, including Bedoya's testimony from his criminal trial, Rodriguez grabbed Bedoya from behind, held his arm and attempted to remove Bedoya's service revolver, a .40 caliber Glock Model 22 semi-automatic pistol, from its holster. Rodriguez succeeded, and he and Bedoya struggled for control of the weapon. While a third person tried to pull Rodriguez away during the struggle, the weapon discharged one round, fatally wounding Rodriguez.

Bedoya was then charged with first-degree murder. At trial, Bedoya testified that he did not pull the trigger and was attempting to regain control of his firearm, which he claimed Rodriguez was trying to aim at him. Bedoya was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Due to the erroneous exclusion of evidence, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial. See People v. Bedoya, 288 Ill. App.3d 226, 224 Ill.Dec. 37, 681 N.E.2d 19 (Ill.App.Ct.1997).

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

While the criminal action was pending, Plaintiff filed suit against Glock in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Glock successfully removed the action to this court based on diversity of citizenship. The Glock defendants are foreign corporations; Glock Ges. m.b.H. is an Austrian corporation with its principal place of business in Austria, and Glock Inc. is a Georgia corporation with its principal place of business in Georgia. Plaintiff is a citizen of Illinois and seeks damages in excess of $50,000. Because Plaintiff filed her amended complaint before the jurisdictional limitation was changed to $75,000, this court has diversity jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1)-(2); Gardynski-Leschuck v. Ford Motor Co., 142 F.3d 955, 956 (7th Cir.1998).

In her amended complaint, Plaintiff seeks recovery under theories of strict liability and negligence, alleging that the weapon was unsafe and defective when it left Glock's control. She claims that the weapon was improperly and carelessly designed because it did not have an external safety and because it had an extremely short trigger pull of a half-an-inch. (Amend.Compl., ¶ s 9 at pp. 2,5, 7-8, 10.)

Glock now moves for summary judgment, arguing that because Bedoya has asserted his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination and will not testify, Plaintiff cannot establish that the injury was proximately caused by the alleged defect in the weapon. Plaintiff asserts that a stay of proceedings is appropriate until the criminal trial concludes. Glock, in turn, contends that a stay is not warranted under these circumstances. Glock's argument carries some weight because Bedoya is not a party to this action and a stay does not appear essential to advance the interests of justice. See SEC v. Dresser Indus., Inc., 628 F.2d 1368, 1375 (D.C.Cir.1980) (the court may decide in its discretion to stay civil proceedings in the interests of justice such as when a party under indictment is also a party to a related civil or administrative action). In any event, the court concludes that the issue of foreseeability as it relates to proximate cause (i.e., is this incident something the manufacturer should have reasonably anticipated) is dispositive. Accordingly, the court will address the foreseeability issue below.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In diversity actions, federal courts apply federal procedural rules and state substantive law. See Bourke v. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., 159 F.3d 1032, 1033 (7th Cir. 1998) (citing Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938)). In this case, the parties do not dispute that Illinois law controls.

In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court must turn to the record on file to determine whether there are any triable questions of fact. Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment "shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show 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." Fed.R.Civ .P. 56(c). "An issue of fact is genuine only if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party." Smith v. Severn, 129 F.3d 419, 426 (7th Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The court must "view the record and all reasonable inferences drawn from the record in a light most favorable to the non-moving party." Sample v. Aldi, Inc., 61 F.3d 544, 546 (7th Cir.1995).

It is often said that complicated tort actions do not invite summary judgment because they "generally encompass a multitude of factual issues and abstract concepts that become elusive when applied to varying concrete factual situations...." Gracyalny v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 723 F.2d 1311, 1316 (7th Cir.1983) (quoting Hughes v. American Jawa, Ltd., 529 F.2d 21, 23 (8th Cir .1976)). "[Q]uestions concerning the reasonableness of the parties' conduct, foreseeability and proximate cause particularly lend themselves to decision by a jury." Id. (citing TSC Indus, Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 426 U.S. 438, 450 n. 12, 96 S.Ct. 2126, 48 L.Ed.2d 757 (1976); Cook v. Baker Equip. Eng'g Co., 582 F.2d 862, 865 (4th Cir.1978)). Nevertheless, if the plaintiff fails to present sufficient evidence to warrant a trial, summary judgment is appropriate. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

IV. DISCUSSION

At issue in this case is whether a handgun manufacturer is liable to a third party injured by the discharge of an allegedly defective handgun during a fight with the owner involving the immediate control and possession of the handgun. For the reasons discussed below, the court finds that liability cannot be reasonably placed upon the manufacturer of the weapon based on the circumstances in this case.

A. Strict Product Liability Claim

To overcome summary judgment in a strict product liability action, Plaintiff must present sufficient evidence demonstrating that: (1) the condition of the product was unreasonably dangerous; (2) the condition existed at the time the product left the manufacturer's control; and (3) the injury resulted from the condition. See Derrico v. Bungee Int'l Mfg. Co., 989 F.2d 247, 250 (7th Cir.1993); Suvada v. White Motor Co., 32 Ill.2d 612, 623, 210 N.E.2d 182, 188 (Ill.1965). Illinois follows the strict liability formula of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965). See Haddix v. Playtex Family Products Corp., 138 F.3d 681, 683 (7th Cir.1998) (citing Lamkin v. Towner, 138 Ill.2d 510, 528, 150 Ill.Dec. 562, 563 N.E.2d 449, 457 (Ill.1990)). Consequently, "strict liability is imposed on anyone who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to consumers, users or their property." Id. (citing Martin v. Harrington & Richardson, Inc., 743 F.2d 1200, 1202 (7th Cir.1984); Restatement § 402A). However, the Illinois Supreme Court notes,

[a] manufacturer is not under a duty in strict liability to design a product which is totally incapable of injuring those who foreseeably come in contact with the product. Products liability does not make the manufacturer an insurer of all foreseeable accidents which involve its product. Virtually any product is capable of producing injury when put to certain uses or misuses .... Injuries are not compensable in products liability if they derive merely from those inherent properties of a product which are obvious to all who come in contact with the product. The injuries must derive from a distinct defect which subjects those exposed to the product to an [u]nreasonable risk of harm.

Hunt v. Blasius, 74 Ill.2d 203, 211-12, 23 Ill.Dec. 574, 384 N.E.2d 368, 371 (Ill.1978) (internal citation omitted).

A product is unreasonably dangerous if it "fail[s] to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of [its] nature and intended function." See Dunham v. Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. Co., 42 Ill.2d 339, 342, 247 N.E.2d 401, 403 (Ill.1969). An injury does not raise an inference that a defect exists. See West v. Deere & Co., 145 Ill.2d 177, 180, 164 Ill.Dec. 122, 582 N.E.2d 685, 686 (Ill.1991); Schultz v. Hennessy Indus., Inc., 222 Ill.App.3d 532, 540, 165 Ill. Dec. 56, 584 N.E.2d 235, 241 (Ill.App.Ct. 1991). It is incumbent upon a plaintiff to demonstrate a particular defect that subjected him to an unreasonable risk of harm, see Todd v. Societe BIC, S.A., 9 F.3d 1216, 1220 (7th Cir.1993), and that the defect caused the injury. See Derrico, 989 F.2d at 250; H & H Sand, 260 Ill.App.3d at 248, 198 Ill.Dec. 367, 632 N.E.2d at 706. As with negligence cases, the defect must be the...