Opinion ID: 725232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: statement of the facts and the case

Text: 2 Walter Hayes was driving a 1973 Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck on September 11, 1993, when he lost control of the truck, skidding into a light post on a Memphis street. The only injuries Hayes suffered on impact were broken ankles; however, the fuel tank opened during the collision and Hayes was killed by the ensuing fuel-fed fire. 3 As a result of the accident, Hayes' family and estate (the Hayeses) filed suit against General Motors Corporation (GM). The suit alleged that Hayes died as a result of a design defect which placed the truck's gas tank on the outside of the frame rails. According to the Hayeses, GM knew it had a problem with the gas tank design as early as 1973, during production testing, but didn't reveal the problem to the public, if it ever did, until it entered into a settlement in December, 1993, regarding the devaluation of similarly designed vehicles. The Hayeses alleged that the failure to make such information public constituted fraudulent concealment. 4 GM filed a motion pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 12(b)(6) seeking to dismiss the suit as time-barred by Tennessee's ten-year statute of repose which states, in pertinent part: 5 Limitation of actions--Exception.--(a) Any action against a manufacturer or seller of a product for injury to person or property caused by its defective or unreasonably dangerous condition must be brought within ... six (6) years of the date of injury, in any event, the action must be brought within ten (10) years from the date on which the product was first purchased for use or consumption.... 6 TENN. CODE ANN. § 29-28-103(a) (Supp.1995). 7 The district court found the statute applicable to the present case and granted GM's motion to dismiss. The Hayeses subsequently filed this timely appeal.