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

Heading: The Product Liability Claim for Failure to Warn

Text: [¶ 23] We move then to consider the court's rulings during trial regarding Burns's product liability claim. [7] To establish a claim that a product was defective due to a failure to warn, a party must prove three elements in addition to those explicitly stated in the defective product statute: (1) the defendant had a duty to warn the plaintiff of the product hazard; (2) any actual warning on the product was inadequate; and (3) the inadequate warning or absence of a warning proximately caused the plaintiff's injury. See Bouchard v. Am. Orthodontics, 661 A.2d 1143, 1145 (Me.1995). The court concluded, without objection from either party, that no evidence of a warning had been presented, therefore determining that the plaintiff had met his burden regarding the second element. That left the questions of duty, proximate cause, and damages for adjudication. [¶ 24] Burns asserts that the court erred in denying his requested instruction that a seller has a duty to warn of a danger, even if the danger is obvious and apparent to users of the product, if it is foreseeable that users of the product will proceed to encounter that hazard out of necessity, lack of a safe apparent alternative, or through momentary inadvertence. Marois, 539 A.2d at 624. The court concluded that this instruction was not required because Burns had been aware for years of the specific danger posed by the product at issue. See id. at 624-25; Hatch, 666 A.2d at 94-95 (holding that the Marois instruction was not required when the deliberate misuse of a product produced a danger that was obvious, known, and continuous over the course of several months). [¶ 25] We need not determine whether the court erred in declining to give the additional instruction in this case because, even if ADW had a duty to warn Burns of the crush risk, Burns offered no evidence at trial that ADW's failure to place a warning on the door caused Burns's injury. See Bouchard, 661 A.2d at 1145. Burns testified that he knew of the danger but nevertheless entered the garage while the door was closing. In those circumstances, no warning placed anywhere on the door would have prevented Burns's injury. [¶ 26] Accordingly, even if ADW had a duty to warn Burns of the product hazard, ADW was entitled to judgment in this matter because Burns failed to establish causation for the single claim that he properly pleaded. See M.R. Civ. P. 50, 61; cf. Koken v. Black & Veatch Constr., Inc., 426 F.3d 39, 43, 49-51 (1st Cir.2005) (affirming summary judgment when the plaintiff offered no evidence that the failure to give certain warnings caused the alleged injury to its property). [¶ 27] In sum, the court did not err in limiting the evidence and argument presented by Burns, it did not err in its extensive trial rulings, and any error in the jury instructions regarding the duty to warn was harmless, see M.R. Civ. P. 61. Burns's remaining arguments are unpersuasive. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.