Case Title: Hinkle v. Niehaus Lumber Co.

Citation: 525 N.E.2d 1243

Docket Number: 63S04-8807-CV-637

State: indiana

Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Date: 1988-07-18T00:00:00Z

Document:
525 N.E.2d 1243 (1988)
Kelly E. HINKLE, Appellant,
v.
NIEHAUS LUMBER COMPANY, Appellee.
No. 63S04-8807-CV-637.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
July 18, 1988.
*1244 Bruce A. Smith, Washington, for appellant.
Stephen Hensleigh Thomas, Statham McCray Thomas & Krohn, Evansville, for appellee.
James R. Fisher, Robert B. Clemens, Ice Miller Donadio & Ryan, Indianapolis, amici curiae, for Indiana Retail Council, Inc., Indiana Lumber & Builders Supply Ass'n, and Ins. Institute of Indiana.
DICKSON, Justice.
Defendant-appellee Niehaus Lumber Company (Niehaus) obtained a summary judgment in a products liability case brought by plaintiff-appellant Kelly E. Hinkle (Hinkle). The Court of Appeals reversed, finding that Niehaus failed to carry its burden at summary judgment to show an absence of evidence upon the factual question of whether Niehaus had a duty to warn. Hinkle v. Niehaus Lumber Co. (1987), Ind. App., 510 N.E.2d 198. We grant transfer and affirm the trial court.
As summarized by the Court of Appeals, the underlying facts are as follows. In 1984, Alumax Aluminum Recycling (Alumax) needed to replace the roof over a "dross"[1] storage shed where corrosive salt compounds were stored. A roofing contractor submitted a bid for the roofing job based upon the cost of labor and fiberglass roofing materials. Fiberglass does not corrode.
However, Alumax's plant manager wanted to do the job as cheaply as possible. Determining a fiberglass roof would be too costly, he rejected the contractor's original bid and asked him to rebid the job as to labor only. When the contractor did so, the plant manager accepted the labor bid, then ordered 28 gauge sheet metal roofing material directly from Niehaus. Before that order was placed, Alumax's maintenance supervisor told the plant manager sheet metal would be more costly in the long run because it would deteriorate faster.
The roofing contractor's workmen installed this sheet metal roofing over the dross storage area. A heavier gauge metal would have been more suitable for the job. The roofing material purchased from Niehaus contained no written warnings or installation instructions of any kind.
As installed, the metal sheets on the roof overlapped approximately 18 inches at every other purlin.[2] While it was thought this overlap would add extra strength, in fact it caused more serious corrosion and deterioration.
Six months later, Hinkle, an employee of Alumax, was ordered to make repairs on the metal roof over the dross shed. When Hinkle walked on the roof to do his job, the roof collapsed because of excessive corrosion in one of the purlin areas. Hinkle was severely injured.
Indiana's Product Liability Act imposes strict liability in tort upon sellers of a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to any user or consumer. Ind. Code § 33-1-1.5-3. The definition of product in a defective condition is provided by Ind. Code § 33-1-1.5-2.5:
Identifying the "threshold question" as "whether a duty to warn arose," the Court of Appeals concluded that Niehaus had a duty to warn because certain claimed unreasonable dangers were unknown to the purchaser Alumax. However, the extent of a purchaser's knowledge is not the sole criteria giving rise to a duty to warn. There must be evidence that the supplier knew or had reason to know that the product was likely to be dangerous when used in a foreseeable manner. American Optical Co. v. Weidenhamer (1983), Ind., 457 N.E.2d 181. Where injury results from use not reasonably expectable, the product is not defective under Ind. Code § 33-1-1.5-2.5(c), and the seller is not liable.
Hinkle claims that his fall was caused by the excessive metal roof corrosion and deterioration which resulted from the corrosive nature of the salts and chemicals used in the Alumax recycling process. Although the record contained purchase documents merely noting that the sheets were intended for roofing "over dross area," Hinkle presented no evidence to show that Niehaus knew or should have had any reasonable expectation that the metal roofing sheets were to be used in an unusually corrosive environment. The roofing contractor employed by Alumax testified by deposition that the sheet metal roofing material would support a man's weight under normal use. The deposition of the Alumax maintenance superintendent describes the extent of knowledge and expectations by Niehaus as follows:
Trial Rule 56(E) includes the following explicit requirement:
A party opposing summary judgment is "obliged to disgorge sufficient evidence" to *1246 show the existence of a genuine triable issue. Shideler v. Dwyer (1981), 275 Ind. 270, 417 N.E.2d 281; Pan American World Airways, Inc. v. Local Readers Service, Inc. (1968), 143 Ind. App. 370, 240 N.E.2d 552. The party opposing summary judgment must "come forth with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Criss v. Bitzegaio (1981), Ind., 420 N.E.2d 1221; Whipple v. Dickey (1980), Ind. App., 401 N.E.2d 787.
We find no evidence in the record that the roofing sheets were unreasonably dangerous when used in "reasonably expectable handling and consumption." Ind. Code § 33-1-1.5-2.5(c). The trial court was correct in granting summary judgment.
Hinkle also contends that the trial court erred in failing to state the facts, issues or findings on which its judgment was based.
Trial Rule 56(C) requires the trial court to "designate the issues or claims upon which it finds no genuine issue as to any material facts." However, as appellant concedes, the failure to make specific findings in regard to summary judgment will not necessarily mandate reversal if the reasons for the summary judgment are apparent in the record. Shortridge v. Platis (1984), Ind. App., 458 N.E.2d 301. We find that the basis for summary judgment, as discussed above, is apparent in the record, and decline to reverse on this ground.
The trial court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed.
SHEPARD, C.J., and DeBRULER, J., concur.
GIVAN, J., concurs in result with opinion in which PIVARNIK, J., concurs.
GIVAN, Justice, concurring in result.
I concur in the result of the majority opinion in this case. I cannot, however, agree with the majority statement:
Although Ind. Code § 33-1-1.5-3 states, in part:
The use of the term "strict liability" in this statute is a misnomer and a corruption of the term, for what follows in the statute is actually a legislative statement of what constitutes liability under certain acts of negligence. This corruption of legal terminology has for some unknown reason become widespread throughout the case law and treatises concerning products liability.
This anomaly was properly characterized by the United States Court of Appeals in LaRossa v. Scientific Design Co. (3d Cir.1968), 402 F.2d 937, 29 A.L.R.3d 1416 (1970). Although the court observed:
The Court went on to say:
I see nothing in the Indiana statute which actually imposes strict liability. In all instances, both under the case law and the statutory law of this state, some act of negligence is required to impose liability. The result in this case does not transcend that principle.
I therefore concur in the result.
PIVARNIK, J., concurs.
[1]  "Dross" is defined as (1) "the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal;" (2) "waste or foreign matter: IMPURITY." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 347 (1980).
[2]  "Purlin" is defined as "a horizontal member in a roof supporting the rafters." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, supra, 930.