Opinion ID: 853006
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On July 6, 1992, Tri-Etch, Inc., entered into a written contract with MLS, Inc. (the owner of Muncie Liquors), to monitor the security alarm system that Tri-Etch sold to and installed at the Muncie Liquors' store on Tillotson Avenue in Muncie. Tri-Etch's obligation under the contract was expressly limited to monitoring the alarm system while it was activated. The contract also contained a clause requiring that any lawsuit against Tri-Etch be filed within one year of the event giving rise to the lawsuit. [1] In addition, there was evidence that Tri-Etch provided an additional service to Muncie Liquors not described in the contract. If the store's alarm has not been set within a certain amount of time after the usual closing time for the store, Tri-Etch would call the store. If no employee answered, Tri-Etch would notify the store's general manager and then call the police. The store's usual closing time was midnight. In the event the alarm was not set by this closing time, Tri-Etch customarily notified the Tillotson store or, if no answer, the general manager, by 12:30 a.m. On August 12, 1997, Michael Young, an employee at the Tillotson store, worked the closing shift. At some time after 11:50 p.m. and before Young could activate the store alarm, Michael Moore robbed the store at gunpoint, kidnapped Young, drove him to a nearby park, beat him severely, and left him tied to a tree in the park. The alarm was never set. Tri-Etch did not call the store or the general manager to notify Muncie Liquors that the alarm had not been set until approximately 3:15 a.m. Young was found alive at approximately 6:00 a.m. on August 13, 1997, but he died later that day as a result of his injuries. The estate presented some evidence that had Young been found earlier, he might have survived. The estate filed a wrongful death action on August 6, 1999, claiming Tri-Etch had assumed a duty to notify Muncie Liquors by 12:30 a.m. if the alarm was not activated. Tri-Etch filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that Young's wrongful death action was barred by the one-year limitations period contained in the contract between Muncie Liquors and Tri-Etch mentioned supra and set forth in footnote 1. The trial court found that Young's claim was governed by the terms of the contract and that more than one year had passed between Young's murder and the filing of the complaint. It granted summary judgment for Tri-Etch based upon the service contract's one-year limitation on actions. [2] The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that the one-year liability limitation applied to the estate's claim and if the limits did not apply greater rights [would be granted to Young] under the contract than the parties themselves had under that contract. Young v. Tri-Etch, Inc., 767 N.E.2d 1029, 1034 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). We granted the estate's petition to transfer. 783 N.E.2d 702 (Ind.2002) (table).