Opinion ID: 772378
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Miners's Liability

Text: 12 Although it is a close question, we believe that the evidence plaintiffs presented was sufficient to generate a fact question as to whether Miners could foresee that an accident would occur, and thus whether Miners could be negligent. See Gremmels v. Tandy Corp., 120 F.3d 103, 105 (8th Cir. 1997) (listing elements required to recover in negligence action under Iowa law); Marcus v. Young, 538 N.W. 2d 285, 288 (Iowa 1995) (same). 13 The day after Amber's injury, her mother spoke with the store manager, who stated that the freezer should have had an ice buildup on it so that the accident would not have happened. Similarly, the store's frozen food manager stated that he would not want to place his hand on the freezer wall before the protective layer of frost had built up. The following exchange occurred at the frozen food manager's deposition: 14 Q: Would you want to put your hand on that wall, just you, yourself, before it's frosted up and after it's been turned on a while, and hold it there? 15 A: I wouldn't hold it there. 16 Q: Why not? 17 A: I don't want to freeze my hand. 18 Q: Were you aware . . . that [a] hand on there before it frosts up, that it could get frostbitten or froze up?A: I think I thought it could probably happen. (Jt. App. at 577). 19 The store manager also admitted that a frostbite injury was possible. 20 Further, the frozen foods manager testified that the freezer had been positioned in such a way that the electric cord could easily be pulled out inadvertently by the carts of other shoppers. The freezer would then defrost, and, once the freezer was plugged in, it would take thirty to sixty minutes for the frost coating to form again. Another store employee estimated that the plug would come loose approximately twice a week, and that when that happened, the employees would just go plug it back up. (Jt. App. at 412). 21 Miners argues that it was unaware of any incident in which anyone had become stuck to the freezer wall, and that hundreds of children in their store had been seen picking at or playing with the frost buildup on the freezers without incident. Miners argues that because an accident like Amber's had never happened before, it was unforeseeable and thus not actionable. 22 It is this very question of foreseeability, however, that is disputed in this case. See W. Page Keeton, et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 43 (5th ed. 1984) (If one could not reasonably foresee any injury as the result of one's act . . . there would be no negligence, and no liability.). That this is the first reported accident with a defrosted freezer does not necessarily mean that the accident was unforeseeable. To adopt Miners's position would mean that, no matter how careless a tortfeasor had been the first time an accident happened, it would be excused. Miners's position is simply another way of restating the now overruled tort law chestnut that every dog gets one bite. See, e.g. Bauman v. Auch, 539 N.W.2d 320, 324-25 (S.D. 1995); Maxwell v. Fraze, 344 S.W.2d 262, 264 (Mo. Ct. App. 1961). It is not a complete defense to assert that an injury has never happened before, should the facts and circumstances indicate that the defendant should nevertheless have foreseen that injury could result. 23 Here, the testimony of the store manager and the frozen food manager has generated a fact question in regard to whether Miners could have foreseen Amber's injury, and, thus, whether Miners was negligent. Miners was aware that young children would be among those likely to retrieve food items from the freezer. The store manager testified that one's hands could stick to the wall of the freezer if no protective coating of frost had formed. Reasonable minds could disagree as to whether Miners should have foreseen that a child could receive frostbite burns if there was no frost covering the freezer walls. Cf. City of Cedar Falls v. Cedar Falls Community Sch. Dist., 617 N.W.2d 11, 16-17 (Iowa 2000) (holding that question of whether golf cart with key in ignition posed foreseeable danger to children in context of school field trip was question for jury). Further, reasonable minds could differ as to whether it was negligent to place the freezer on the sales floor without the frost overlay or to leave the freezer there after the plug had been disconnected, the freezer had defrosted, and the frost had dissipated. As these matters remain factually disputed, the plaintiffs' negligence claim against Miners survives summary judgment.