Vandelune v. 4B Elevator Components Unlimited

• Decision Date: 30 June 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-2510,97-2510
• Citation: 148 F.3d 943
• Parties: Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,269 Mark VANDELUNE and Julie Vandelune, individually and as parents of Chelsea Vandelune and Tasia Vandelune, Plaintiffs--Appellants, v. 4B ELEVATOR COMPONENTS UNLIMITED; Synatel Instrumental Ltd., Defendants--Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 943

148 F.3d 943

Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,269

Mark VANDELUNE and Julie Vandelune, individually and as parents of Chelsea Vandelune and Tasia Vandelune Plaintiffs--Appellants, v. 4B ELEVATOR COMPONENTS UNLIMITED; Synatel Instrumental Ltd. Defendants--Appellees.

No. 97-2510.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 16, 1998.

Decided June 30, 1998.

James R. Van Dyke, Carroll, IA, argued, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Eugene A. Wollan, Sioux City, IA, argued (Robert L. Fanter and J. Campbell Helton, Des Moines, IA, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.

Before LOKEN and MURPHY, Circuit Judges, and WEBBER, ^* District Judge.

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Mark Vandelune was seriously injured in a grain dust explosion while working at the Consolidated Cooperative Grain Elevator ("Consolidated") in Gowrie, Iowa. Contending that a faulty M700 Speedswitch Monitor proximately caused the explosion and injury, Vandelune commenced this product liability suit against Synatel Instrumentation Ltd. ("Synatel"), the British manufacturer of the M700, and 4B Elevator Components Ltd. ("4B"), its independent distributor. Vandelune's wife and two children also sued, claiming loss of consortium. The district court granted 4B's motion for summary judgment, denied the Vandelunes' motion to amend their complaint against 4B, and dismissed Synatel for lack of personal jurisdiction. The Vandelunes appeal. We affirm as to 4B but reverse and remand as to Synatel.

I. Defendant 4B

When an elevator leg becomes plugged with grain, the conveyor belt may slip causing friction and heat, which can ignite grain dust. Federal safety regulations require that most grain elevators be equipped with a motion sensor that will stop the conveyer belt when its speed is reduced by twenty percent of its normal operating speed. See 29 C.F.R. § 1910.272(q)(5). The M700 is one such device manufactured by Synatel of Staffordshire, England. Consolidated's elevator at Gowrie was equipped with the M700 at the time of the October 1994 explosion.

Synatel sold the M700 in question to Braime Elevator Components, Ltd., of Leeds, England. Braime sold the M700 to 4B, a Braime affiliate located in Peoria, Illinois. In early 1994, 4B sold the M700 to Keith's Complete Service ("Keith's") of Boone, Iowa. Keith's sold the M700 to Consolidated to replace an M700 installed in 1992 by a local electrician. Keith's owner, Keith Pfrimmer, who is not an electrician, installed the replacement M700 in the Gowrie elevator's west leg, wiring the new M700 in the same manner as the one it replaced.

The M700 was designed with two safety features that a customer may--but need not--connect at installation. The first is a warning light or siren intended to be triggered when conveyor belt speed is reduced by ten percent of normal operating speed. The second automatically stops the conveyer belt when its speed falls to twenty percent below normal operating speed. Pfrimmer did not connect the twenty percent shutdown feature because Consolidated's electrician had left that feature unconnected on the M700 Pfrimmer was replacing. The Vandelunes' expert tested the M700 after the explosion and determined that its ten percent warning device malfunctioned, in that it was not triggered until the conveyor belt speed was reduced by more than twenty percent. The Vandelunes assert claims against 4B (and Synatel) for negligent failure to warn that the twenty percent safety feature should be connected and for negligent manufacture and testing of the malfunctioning M700.

The district court granted summary judgment dismissing these claims against 4B. On appeal, we review the grant of summary judgment de novo, examining the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, in this case the Vandelunes. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Bituminous Cas. Corp. v. Tonka Corp., 9 F.3d 51, 52 (8th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1083, 114 S.Ct. 1834, 128 L.Ed.2d 462 (1994). To establish a claim of negligence, the Vandelunes must prove that 4B owed a duty to conform to a given standard of conduct, that 4B's breach of that standard was a proximate cause of Mark Vandelune's injury, and damages. See Gremmels v. Tandy Corp., 120 F.3d 103, 105 (8th Cir.1997).

Failure To Warn. The M700 instructions told users and installers how to connect the ten percent safety alarm and the twenty percent shutdown features. Relying upon the deposition testimony of their expert, the Vandelunes argue that 4B was negligent in failing to specifically warn grain elevator customers that OSHA regulations require them to connect the M700's twenty percent shutdown feature. The district court rejected this claim for two independent reasons: because there is no evidence that 4B should have known that grain elevator users would not connect the twenty percent safety feature, and because any failure to warn was not a proximate cause of the explosion since Pfrimmer knew of the OSHA requirement and did not look at the M700 instructions when installing the replacement at Consolidated's elevator.

The Supreme Court of Iowa has adopted § 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts to determine whether a manufacturer or supplier has satisfied its duty to warn of a product's dangerous propensities. "[T]he duty to warn is based upon superior knowledge of the manufacturer or supplier as to the dangers a certain product poses." Lamb v. Manitowoc Co., 570 N.W.2d 65, 68 (Iowa 1997); see Nichols v. Westfield Indus., Ltd., 380 N.W.2d 392, 401 (Iowa 1985). "[T]here is no duty to warn if the user knows or should know of the potential danger, especially when the user is a professional who should be aware of the characteristics of the product." Strong v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co., 667 F.2d 682, 687 (8th Cir.1981) (applying Restatement § 388 under Nebraska law). Here, OSHA regulations imposed a duty on Consolidated, the purchaser of the M700, to install a motion sensor device with a twenty percent shutdown feature. Though 4B sold equipment to grain elevators and doubtless knew of the risks of grain dust explosions, it did not have greater knowledge of such risks than its ultimate customers. Moreover, the M700 did not create an explosion risk; it was designed to alleviate a risk the customer itself creates. In these circumstances, we agree with the district court that 4B had no duty to warn.

Alternatively, even if 4B owed a duty to warn, we agree with the district court that any breach of that duty was not a proximate cause of Mark Vandelune's injuries. Pfrimmer testified he was aware of the OSHA regulation requiring a twenty percent shutdown feature but nevertheless did not connect that feature on the new M700 because he simply duplicated the wiring of the M700 being replaced. The record does not reflect why Consolidated instructed its electrician not to connect the shutdown feature on the first M700, thereby violating the OSHA regulation. Moreover, Pfrimmer did not even consult the M700 instructions and warnings in performing his work. Thus, 4B's lack of an explicit warning was not a proximate cause of the explosion.

Negligent Manufacture and Testing. The Vandelunes contend that the M700 was negligently manufactured, tested, and inspected because the ten percent safety feature malfunctioned when tested by their expert after the explosion. The Vandelunes acknowledge that 4B received the M700 in a sealed box and did not open the box before reshipping the product ten days later. But they argue 4B is liable for this negligence because the M700 was designed and manufactured "in joint cooperation" between Synatel, Braime, and 4B. The district court dismissed these claims because there is no evidence 4B negligently designed or manufactured the M700 and no evidence 4B had reason to believe the M700 was not reasonably safe for its intended use. We agree. Whatever the involvement of Braime in inducing Synatel to design the M700 for the United States market, there is no evidence 4B participated in the design and manufacture of that product in England. Therefore, 4B as reseller cannot be liable for negligent manufacture. See Nichols, 380 N.W.2d at 397. Likewise, 4B cannot be liable for negligent failure to inspect or test because there is no evidence it knew or had reason to know that the M700 "is, or is likely to be, dangerous." Spaur v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 510 N.W.2d 854, 864 (Iowa 1994), quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402.

Denial of Motion To Amend. After the district court dismissed Synatel for lack of personal jurisdiction, the Vandelunes moved to amend their complaint to add claims against 4B for strict liability and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability. The district court denied this...