Court Opinion

ID: 9532681
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:23:57.450866+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:48.880957
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
There is support within the affidavits and statements made in opposition to summary judgment, that there is a legal duty owed by those who designed and constructed this ductwork to those who would ultimately dismantle and remove it. Representations in these documents support the proposition that there is a standard method in the trade for removing ductwork of this type. If this is so, then the designer and constructor of it have a legal duty to factor the employment of that method of removal into its design and construction. A duty of like nature is owed by the manufacturer of fluorescent lightbulbs and aerosol cans and the like, to provide warnings which instruct on how to safely discard such items when the end of their useful lives is reached. Here, the joinder of the duct by a flush, sheet metal band at one point, rather than by the rigid flange and bolt method used at other points, could reasonably be viewed as inconsistent with the safe employment of the standard removal procedure, and hence provide a rational basis for liability. I agree with the Third District majority, that summary judgment was not appropriate in this case.