Court Opinion

ID: 9715305
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:59:54.774671+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:33.442248
License: Public Domain

BAKER, Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur with the majority opinion except that section which addresses the work Russell’s performed on the truck’s bumper.
This case squarely presents us with an issue we tangentially mentioned in Hamilton v. Roger Sherman Architects Group, Inc., et al. (Ind.App.1991), 565 N.E.2d 1136. Hamilton involved an architect and an independent contractor who were sued in strict liability and negligence for the design and installation of a bar in a restaurant. In that case, we did not need to decide whether the defendants were “manufacturers/sellers” who sold a “product” as those terms are defined in the Indiana Product *1152Liability Act (the Act). The present case, however, requires us to answer a similar question: whether a repairer can be held strictly liable for repairs to a chattel.
I agree with the majority that “[i]f the work provided was predominantly a service, then the transaction would not be subject to the Products Liability Act.” Maj. at 1149. This statement is a tautology, however, which simply restates the language of IND.CODE 33-1-1.5-2. If Russell’s manufactured the bumper, it is of course subject to liability under the Act. If Russell’s performed a service, it is equally obvious that there is no liability under the Act. The real question, then, is, assuming Russell’s performed only repair work, whether those repairs are sales or services under the Act.
In my opinion, repairs to chattels are not sales under the Act. The Act is largely an adaptation of § 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965). The Restatement discusses the liability of independent contractors for repairs to chattels, however, in a separate section — § 404. § 404 establishes a negligence standard for repairs' by independent contractors such as Russell’s.
One who as an independent contractor negligently makes, rebuilds, or repairs a chattel for another is subject to the same liability as that imposed upon negligent manufacturers of chattels.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 404 (1965). The liability imposed upon negligent manufacturers of chattels is set forth in § 395.
The Act imposes liability for placing defective, dangerous products into the stream of commerce. IND.CODE 33-1-1.5-3(a). As the Alaska supreme court succinctly stated in a similar case involving truck repairs, “[a] repairer does not” place a product in the stream of commerce. Swenson Trucking & Excavating, Inc. v. Truckweld Equip. Co. (1980), Alaska, 604 P.2d 1113, 1117, appeal after remand (1982), Alaska, 649 P.2d 234.
While Indiana has not spoken on the liability of a repairer for injuries caused by negligent repairs, the negligence theory espoused by § 404 is in accord with the general rule. See Swenson Trucking, supra; Fancher v. Southwest Missouri Truck Center, Inc. (1981), Mo.App., 618 S.W.2d 271; 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 101 (1966). I agree with the logic of the Swenson Trucking court and would hold that Russell’s repairs are services, not sales, and that the repair work subjects Russell’s to liability only for negligence, not to strict product liability under the Act.1
Subject to these remarks, I concur with the majority’s opinion.

. I also agree with the Swenson Trucking court’s caveat: the court expressly did not decide “that a business that fabricates a vehicle or any product from used component parts, even if the customer contributes some of the parts, may not be the equivalent of a seller (either manufacturer or retailer) and hence strictly liable for defects in the completed product." Id. 604 P.2d at 1117. It is not inconceivable, though it is unlikely, that a repair job could entail so much replacement and reworking that, in fact, a manufacture could be said to have occurred.