Case Title: Brokenshire v. Rivas and Rivas, Ltd.

Citation: 

Docket Number: S43650

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1998-04-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
Filed:  April 30, 1998

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON

VICTORIA BROKENSHIRE,

	Respondent on Review,

	v.

RIVAS AND RIVAS, LTD., an Oregon
corporation, dba CASCADE PACIFIC 
GROUP,

	Petitioner on Review.

(CC 940100028; CA A87637; SC S43650)

	On review from the Court of Appeals.*

	Argued and submitted May 1, 1997.

	Thomas A. Gordon, of Gordon & Polscer, Portland, argued the
case and filed the briefs for petitioner on review.

	James D. Huegli, Portland, argued the cause for respondent
on review.  With him on the brief was M. Elizabeth Duncan, of
Foley & Duncan, P.C., Portland. 

	Robert K. Udziela, of Pozzi Wilson Atchinson, LLP, Portland,
filed a brief on behalf of amicus curiae Oregon Trial Lawyers
Association.

	Karen O'Kasey, of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Portland
filed an brief on behalf of amicus curiae Oregon Association of
Defense Counsel.

	Before Carson, Chief Justice, and Gillette, Van Hoomissen,
and Kulongoski, Justices.**

	MEMORANDUM OPINION

	Petition for review dismissed as improvidently allowed.

	*Appeal from Multnomah County Circuit Court,
	 Anna Brown, Judge.
	 142 Or App 555, 922 P2d 696 (1996).

	**Fadeley, J., retired January 31, 1998, and did not
participate in this decision; Graber, J., resigned March 31,
1998, and did not participate in this decision; Durham, J., did
not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.

		MEMORANDUM OPINION

		This is a strict products liability case.  We allowed
review to consider whether the trial court properly denied
defendant's motion for a directed verdict.  

		In the Court of Appeals, defendant argued, inter alia,
that it had provided a service, not a product, and, therefore,
that plaintiff had no claim under ORS 30.920.(1)

  Plaintiff
responded that defendant never had argued at trial that it had
provided a service rather than a product and, therefore, that the
issue had not been preserved for appeal.

		A majority of the Court of Appeals' panel concluded
that the issue had been preserved at trial and held that
defendant had provided a product.  Brokenshire v. Rivas and
Rivas, Ltd., 142 Or App 555, 922 P2d 696 (1996).  Without
addressing whether the issue had been preserved at trial, the
dissenting judge concluded that plaintiff's claim was a claim for
negligent installation and that the trial court erred in allowing
that claim to go to the jury under the strict products liability
statute.  Id. at 569.  This court allowed defendant's petition
for review.  Brokenshire v. Rivas and Rivas, Ltd., 324 Or 487,
930 P2d 851 (1996).  We now conclude that we cannot reach the
issue that prompted that allowance.

		In the Court of Appeals and in this court, plaintiff
consistently has argued that defendant never argued at trial that
it had provided a service rather than a product.  On review of
the entire record, we agree.  That claim of error appeared for
the first time in defendant's opening brief in the Court of
Appeals.  Accordingly, review should not have been allowed.  See
ORAP 5.45(2) (no assignment of error will be considered on appeal
unless preserved in lower court); Ailes v. Portland Meadows,
Inc., 312 Or 376, 380, 823 P2d 956 (1991) (generally, before
appellate court may address whether trial court committed error,
adversely affected party must have preserved alleged claim of
error in trial court).

		Petition for review dismissed as improvidently allowed.

1. 	ORS 30.920 provides in part:

		"(1) One who sells or leases any product in a
defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user
or consumer or to the property of the user or consumer
is subject to liability for physical harm or damage to
property caused by that condition, if:

		"(a) The seller or lessor is engaged in the
business of selling or leasing such a product; and

		"(b) The product is expected to and does reach the
user or consumer without substantial change in the
condition in which it is sold or leased."