Opinion ID: 2550045
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Identifying the Plaintiff's Cause of Action

Text: [¶ 16] Burns argues that he should not have been limited at trial to a product liability claim for failure to warn. This argument implicates the reach of notice pleading in litigation. See Johnston v. Me. Energy Recovery Co., 2010 ME 52, ¶ 16, 997 A.2d 741, 746 (stating that Maine is a notice pleading state). Notice pleading requires that a complaint give fair notice of the cause of action, id. (quotation marks omitted), by providing a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, M.R. Civ. P. 8(a)(1). [¶ 17] A complaint need not identify the particular legal theories that will be relied upon, but it must describe the essence of the claim and allege facts sufficient to demonstrate that the complaining party has been injured in a way that entitles him or her to relief. Johnston, 2010 ME 52, ¶ 16, 997 A.2d at 746; see Champagne v. Mid-Me. Med. Ctr., 1998 ME 87, ¶ 18, 711 A.2d 842, 848 (stating that notice pleading requires a party to aver[ ] the essential elements of a claim). A party may not, therefore, proceed on a cause of action if that party's complaint has failed to allege facts that, if proved, would satisfy the elements of the cause of action. See Johnston, 2010 ME 52, ¶ 16, 997 A.2d at 746; Champagne, 1998 ME 87, ¶ 18, 711 A.2d at 848. [¶ 18] Here, Burns pleaded a single count of product liability against ADW. The court's conclusion in limine that Burns had not properly pleaded a negligence claim, a defective-design-as-installed claim, or a component-parts claim is a legal determination that is subject to de novo review. See Bean v. Cummings, 2008 ME 18, ¶ 7, 939 A.2d 676, 679. To be clear, we are not called upon to determine whether any of the alternate theories could have been tried had they been properly pleaded and been the subject of discovery. Rather, we address several, but not all, of Burns's alternate theories to determine whether the trial court properly limited the evidence and argument that Burns could present to the jury based on the facts that he did plead. [¶ 19] Burns first argues that he should have been permitted to offer evidence and argument of a design defect, see Bernier, 516 A.2d at 537 n. 3, because the garage door that struck him was defective at the time it le[ft] the seller's hands, quoting comment g of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1986). As comment g makes clear, however, an injured person can prevail in such a design defect claim only if the product left the seller's hands in a condition not contemplated by the ultimate consumer. Id. § 402A cmt. g. Burns made no such allegation. Rather, he alleged and produced evidence to show that ADW, with Whited's knowledge, left the door operatora separate productin the same condition that existed before ADW replaced the door and that Burns understood how the door operator functioned throughout his employment at Whited. Pursuant to Burns's complaint, therefore, the door did not leave ADW's hands in a condition not contemplated by the ultimate consumer. Id. [¶ 20] As to his theories related to the installation of the door, although evidence that ADW should not have installed the door on Whited's operator could have been relevant and admissible in establishing a negligence claim, see Belyea v. Shiretown Motor Inn, LP, 2010 ME 75, ¶ 6, 2 A.3d 276, 278; M.R. Evid. 401, 402, Burns did not allege negligence but instead pleaded only a product liability claim. To the extent that Burns's product liability claim can be viewed as alleging a design defect, again the relevant question is whether there was a flaw in the design of the challenged productthe door. [3] Burns offered no argument or evidence concerning any design defect in the door itself, however, but instead focused on the alleged defective condition of the door operators to which the door was connected and sought to cast his product liability claim as alleging a design defect as installed. That late attempt to insert a component parts claim, which would be a new theory in Maine law, was similarly appropriately rebuffed by the court. [4] [¶ 21] Maine's notice pleading standard may be forgiving, see M.R. Civ. P. 8(a)(1); Johnston, 2010 ME 52, ¶ 16, 997 A.2d at 746; it does not, however, permit a party to shift his cause of action at any point in the proceedings. Although an initial pleading may be presented in general terms, certainly by the time the parties are addressing a motion for summary judgment, a plaintiff must be prepared to clearly identify the asserted cause or causes of action and the elements of each claim. When the plaintiff has failed to do so, it is well within the court's authority to provide such clarification by defining the claims that will be presented at trial. Without such definition, the parties may waste time and money litigating extraneous issues not generated by the pleadings. [¶ 22] Accordingly, the court acted properly in clarifying through its summary judgment order the nature of the cause of action that would be tried to the jury. Neither before nor after the summary judgment was entered did Burns take steps to add a claim to his complaint or otherwise amend his complaint to clarify his cause of action. [5] Nonetheless, he sought to offer proof at trial of several alternate claims, despite the court's consistent reminders about the nature of the cause of action being tried. [6] The court properly denied Burns's efforts to circumvent the effect of the court's clarification in the summary judgment order.