Opinion ID: 878577
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Instructions relating to strict liability in tort.

Text: Gee contends that the court erred in failing to give his offered Instruction No. 24, as follows: You may find that the dumbwaiter was defective and unreasonably dangerous if you find that it was not functioning as intended at the time of the accident, and the failure of the dumbwaiter to function as intended was a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury. Gee contends he was entitled to this instruction under Brown v. North American Manufacturing Company (1978), 176 Mont. 98, 576 P.2d 711. In Brown we held that patent as well as latent design defects could impose strict liability on a manufacturer under certain conditions. Gee's contention here is that the alleged design defect was latent, so as to entitle him to the instruction. Offered Instruction No. 24 was obviously too broadly stated, and inapplicable to the facts in this case. The dumbwaiter was jammed because of the interposition of the chef's jacket. The thrust of Gee's case was that the design of the doors to the dumbwaiter shaft improperly permitted a chef's jacket to enter and get caught between the floor of the dumbwaiter and the sill. Instruction No. 24 does not focus on that issue in any manner. Under this heading, Gee also claims error in the refusal of the District Court to give the following instruction: When a person's lawful employment requires that he work in a dangerous location or a place that involves unusual possibilities of injury, or requires that in the line of his duty he take risks which ordinarily a reasonably prudent person would avoid, the necessities of such a situation, insofar as to limit the caution he can take for his own safety, lessen the amount of caution required of him by law in the exercise of ordinary care. There was no support in the record for this instruction. There is no evidence that Gee's employment required that he take risks which ordinarily a reasonably prudent person would avoid. Other evidence raised a fact question for the jury as to whether Gee had been instructed not to enter upon the dumbwaiter. Gee also raises under this heading, the refusal of the court to give his proposed Instruction No. 27: You are instructed that compliance with a relevant industry standard at the time of construction of the dumbwaiter at the Cartwheel Inn Restaurant does not prevent a finding of defectiveness or negligence where a skillful and prudent contractor would take additional precautions. Again, the instruction is unsupported in the evidence. For the reasons foregoing, we find no instructional error in this case on the grounds raised by the plaintiff, Gee.