West v. Sonke, No. 22546

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
• Writing for the Court: SCHROEDER; WALTERS; TROUT
• Citation: 132 Idaho 133,968 P.2d 228
• Parties: , Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,392 Kimberlee WEST, individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Her Minor Child, Robert A. Grudzinskas, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald And Susan SONKE d/b/a Meadow Hills Dairy Company, and Ford Motor Company, a Michigan Corporation, Defendants-Respondents, and Vaughn P. Barson and Gertrude M. Barson and Barson Farms, a Partnership; John Doe, Whose True Name is Unknown, Defendants.
• Decision Date: 27 October 1998
• Docket Number: No. 22546

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968 P.2d 228 132 Idaho 133, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,392 Kimberlee WEST, individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Her Minor Child, Robert A. Grudzinskas, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Donald And Susan SONKE d/b/a Meadow Hills Dairy Company, and Ford Motor Company, a Michigan Corporation, Defendants-Respondents,
and Vaughn P. Barson and Gertrude M. Barson and Barson Farms, a Partnership; John Doe, Whose True Name is Unknown, Defendants. No. 22546. Supreme Court of Idaho. Oct. 27, 1998.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 8, 1998.

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Marcus, Merrick & Montgomery, Boise, for appellants. Barry L. Marcus argued.

Benoit, Alexander, Sinclair, Harwood & High, Twin Falls, for respondent Sonke. J. Walter Sinclair argued.

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Eberle, Berlin, Kading, Turnbow & McKlveen, Chtd., Boise, for respondent Ford Motor Company. William A. Furhman argued.

SCHROEDER, Justice.

This is an appeal of the district court's grant of the defendants' motions for summary judgment in a wrongful death action brought by Kimberlee West (West) against Vaughn Barson (Barson), Donald and Susan Sonke (Sonkes), and Ford Motor Company (Ford) to recover damages resulting from the death of her son, Robert Grudzinskas (Robert), on April 11, 1992. West did not appeal the judgment in favor of Barson.

I.

BACKGROUND

On November 1, 1989, Barson entered into a contract to sell his dairy business to the Sonkes and to lease his buildings and equipment. A 1969 Ford 5000 tractor (tractor) was among the items leased to the Sonkes. The tractor was manufactured by Ford and was first sold in 1969. Barson purchased the tractor used in 1985 from Nampa Ford Tractor Sales.

The Sonkes operate Meadow Hills Dairy Farm. On April 7, 1992, the Sonkes hired Robert to work in their dairy operation. Robert was sixteen years old and had limited experience with farm machinery. He was given various jobs around the farm including accompanying another employee who operated the tractor. Robert was killed four days after starting his employment with the Sonkes while operating the tractor unsupervised for the first time.

The facts surrounding Robert's death are only partially known. The only witness to the accident is Kelly Cook (Cook) who was operating a tractor in an adjacent field some distance away. Robert was driving the tractor which was pulling a manure spreader. Cook first noticed Robert when he observed flames coming out of the engine compartment located in front of the driver's seat of Robert's tractor. According to Cook, Robert jumped off the left side of the tractor. The tractor proceeded driverless at a slow pace. Robert walked beside the tractor, eventually remounting the tractor as it moved. Cook saw Robert bend over, as if he were reaching down to the floor area of the driver's seat. After a few seconds, he jumped off the left side of the tractor and backed away as it crossed a small ditch.

After the tractor cleared the ditch, Robert remounted the tractor for a second time but remained on the footpad located just in front of the left rear drive wheel. Shortly thereafter, Robert again jumped off the left side of the tractor. At this point the tractor was approaching a gate. Robert was alongside the manure spreader that was in tow. Cook could only see Robert's head and shoulders because the manure spreader obstructed his view. As the tractor neared the gate, Robert ran towards the tractor, but as he closed with it, he was hidden from Cook's view by the left drive wheel of the tractor. Cook did not see Robert again until he went to investigate a short time later. The tractor had proceeded through the gate and stopped in the field on the other side. Cook found Robert dead some ten to twenty feet into the adjacent field on the other side of the gate. Robert had suffered fatal trauma caused by either being crushed by the tractor, the manure spreader or both, or from being crushed between the gate and the tractor and dragged through the gate.

Ernest McNeil and Steve Dewey of Schloffman Tractor Sales inspected the tractor the following day. The purpose of this inspection is unclear, although later Mr. Sonke asked these men to provide him with an estimate regarding the extent and cost of repair. Cook also inspected the tractor the day after Robert died and observed what he believed to be gasoline dripping down the side of the fuel tank from a source somewhere beneath the engine cowling. The record does not indicate any unusual mechanical failures previously in the tractor other than the tractor had caught fire while being fueled by another employee of the Sonkes approximately one year before Robert was hired. The prior fire was apparently due to gasoline that spilled.

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II.

PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

West instituted this action against the Sonkes, alleging that they had been negligent in warning and training Robert and negligent in causing the tractor to be fueled. Ford and Barson were later added as defendants. West brought negligence claims against the Sonkes and Barson and a product liability claim against Ford based on negligence and strict liability for design defects related to the placement of the fuel tank and the design of the tractor mounting step. The defendants filed motions for summary judgment following discovery.

Ford asserted: (1) that there was no evidence of any defect in the tractor, (2) that there was no evidence that an alleged defect caused Robert's death, and (3) that there was no evidence that the tractor was within its statutory "useful safe life" and that, consequently, Ford was entitled to the protection of Idaho's statute of repose, I.C. § [6-1403(2) ]. ¹ The Sonkes' motion was based on portions of Ford's motion and argued that Robert's actions were an intervening and superseding proximate cause and/or that Robert misused the tractor.

At the conclusion of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, the district judge informed the parties that he did not believe the opinions expressed by West's expert, Bill M. Chronic, P.E. (Chronic), should be given weight because Chronic did not appear to be qualified. Chronic's opinions related to the issues of: (1) whether the placement of the fuel tank rendered the tractor unreasonably dangerous; (2) whether the placement and design of the mounting footpads rendered the tractor unreasonably dangerous; and (3) whether the tractor was operating within its "useful safe life" as defined in I.C. § [6-1403(1)(a) ]. West filed a motion to supplement Chronic's affidavit. The district court never ruled on this motion. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of all of the defendants and dismissed the action with prejudice.

The district court denied West's motion for reconsideration which was accompanied by a copy of Chronic's supplemented affidavit. During the pendency of that motion, West filed a notice of appeal with this Court alleging: (1) that the district court had erred in not considering the opinions rendered by Chronic because he was a qualified expert and his opinions raised triable issues of fact; (2) that the district court erred in analyzing the Sonkes' duty to warn Robert about the "reasonably foreseeable" dangers of remounting a moving tractor; and (3) that the district court erred in determining there were no triable issues of fact regarding Ford's alleged negligence and strict product liability. West asserts that there were triable issues of fact and that the district court erred in determining: (1) that there was no evidence that the tractor was operating within its "useful safe life" as defined in I.C. § [6-1403(2)(a) ]; (2) that no design defect existed regarding either the fuel tank or the mounting footpad; and (3) that if such a defect did exist, there was no evidence that a design defect caused Robert's death. West did not appeal the district court's judgment in favor of Barson.

III.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

When reviewing a ruling on summary judgment, this Court reviews all pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, to determine whether there is a genuine issue as to any material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. City of Chubbuck v. City of Pocatello, 127 Idaho 198, 200, 899 P.2d 411, 413 (1995). This Court construes all facts liberally in favor of the nonmoving party. Id.

If the defendant moves for summary judgment on the basis that no genuine issue of material fact exists with regard to an element of the plaintiff's case, the plaintiff must establish the existence of an issue of fact regarding that element. In order

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to forestall summary judgment in that case, the plaintiff must do more than present a scintilla of evidence, and merely raising the "slightest doubt" as to the facts is not sufficient to create a genuine issue.

Zimmerman v. Volkswagen of Am., Inc., 128 Idaho 851, 854, 920 P.2d 67, 70 (1996) (citations omitted). The existence of disputed facts will not defeat summary judgment when the plaintiff fails to make a showing sufficient to establish a prima facie case on which he or she will bear the burden of proof at trial. State v. Shama Resources Ltd. Partnership, 127 Idaho 267, 270, 899 P.2d 977, 980 (1995); Johnson v. K-Mart Corp., 126 Idaho 316, 317, 882 P.2d 971, 972 (Ct.App.1994).

IV.

CHRONIC WAS AN EXPERT WITH RESPECT TO THE EXISTENCE OF A DESIGN DEFECT, BUT WAS NOT AN EXPERT WITH RESPECT TO WHETHER THE TRACTOR WAS OPERATING WITHIN ITS USEFUL SAFE LIFE.

The admissibility of the evidence contained in affidavits and depositions in support of or in opposition to a motion for summary judgment is a threshold question to be answered before applying the liberal construction and reasonable inferences rule to determine whether the evidence is sufficient to create a genuine issue for trial. Hecla Mining Co. v. Star-Morning Mining Co., 122 Idaho 778, 784, 839 P.2d 1192, 1198 (1992). Where the expert's opinion is subject to being stricken at...