Opinion ID: 2112037
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Liability of Defendant Implement Dealer.

Text: We first consider the issues affecting liability of the implement dealer, Siouxland. Although requested to do so by plaintiff, the district court refused to submit the dealer's liability to the jury under theories of strict liability in tort or breach of implied warranty of merchantability. Plaintiff asserts that this was error. Issues were submitted to the jury concerning the alleged negligence of the dealer, and the jury found that Siouxland was free from fault. Plaintiff urges that the district court erred in the trial of the negligence issues by excluding his proffered expert testimony concerning Siouxland's failure to meet the applicable standard of care and in instructing the jury on that standard. After considering all of plaintiff's contentions, we find that they provide no basis for reversing the judgment in favor of Siouxland. A. Strict liability and implied warranty issues. Plaintiff argues that in not submitting issues of strict liability and breach of implied warranty against the dealer, the court misapplied Iowa Code section 613.18. He points out that this statute only applies to a person who is not the assembler, designer, or manufacturer. Plaintiff argues that this statute is inapplicable because Siouxland did perform services in the assembly of the husking bed and its power unit. We conclude that the district court properly refused to submit issues involving Siouxland's fault under theories of strict liability and breach of implied warranty irrespective of the applicability of section 613.18. Although privity of contract is not essential in establishing liability under either of these theories, both strict liability and liability based on breach of implied warranty are only visited upon a seller of the product causing injury. [1] Siouxland only sold the power unit, for which no defect or breach of warranty has been claimed. It did not sell the husking bed or corn head nor did it sell the assembled power unit, husking bed, and corn head system. It only provided mechanical services to connect the power unit to the other corn picker components purchased from another source. Given these circumstances, we believe no basis exists for applying the doctrines of strict liability or breach of implied warranty. B. Exclusion of expert testimony concerning defendant implement dealer's negligence. On the negligence claims submitted against Siouxland, plaintiff proffered expert testimony that this defendant was negligent in not warning plaintiff concerning the hazards of the harvesting equipment that caused his injuries. In particular these experts suggested that, when the equipment was in Siouxland's shop, it should have affixed warning stickers to the husking bed. This testimony was based in part on letters to the defendant dealer from the defendant manufacturer with respect to warning labels for other equipment models with similar mechanical functions. The trial court refused to allow the jury to consider this expert testimony. We find no reversible error in the exclusion of this testimony. This is not a case such as Nichols v. Westfield Industries, 380 N.W.2d 392, 398 (Iowa 1985), in which negligence of an equipment dealer was predicated on failure to notify equipment purchasers about the manufacturer's recall program. In Nichols, the defendant dealer had sold the auger that injured the plaintiff in that case. The recall program antedated the Nichols plaintiff's purchase of the auger from the party to whom the dealer had sold it. In contrast to the situation presented in Nichols, the implement dealer in the present case had never sold the corn picker components with the open and unguarded moving parts that caused plaintiff's injury. In Anderson v. Glynn Construction Co., 421 N.W.2d 141, 143-44 (Iowa 1988), we recognized that a mere furnisher of services is not liable for a dangerous condition that it neither created nor aggravated unless it somehow acts to mask the danger. In the present case, Siouxland neither created nor aggravated the dangerous condition that inhered in the husking bed nor did its act mask that dangerous condition. The defendant in Anderson had installed an open and unguarded auger system in dangerous proximity to an open and unguarded hopper box on the customer's premises. Although we held that this gave rise to a duty to warn under the doctrine espoused in Restatement (Second) of Torts section 388, this conclusion was predicated on the defendant's being a supplier of a dangerous chattel which caused the claimant's injuries. As we have indicated, that circumstance was not shown in the present case. The trial court did submit the case to the jury in a manner that permitted a finding that Siouxland was negligent in failing to warn plaintiff of the dangerous propensities of the husking bed. In so doing, it treated plaintiff more favorably than he was entitled to be treated under applicable law. Under these circumstances, there was no prejudice in excluding the proffered expert testimony.