Court Opinion

ID: 9744388
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:01:46.552694+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:48.897807
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring.
The summary judgment in favor of Robinson is premised upon the applicability of Section 388 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. I fully agree that Restatement § 388 does not give rise to Lability upon the part of Robinson and subscribe to the reasoning of the majority in reaching that result.
As to Midwest, however, I would respectfully submit an observation concerning our opinion with regard to the Indiana Products Liability Act. Our opinion in part reads as follows:
“The Birches also contend that the design of the reversing mechanism alone “was sufficiently defective that the federal government found it necessary to ban the manufacturing of openers without optical sensors.’ Appellant’s Brief at 13. However, as we discussed above, the change in federal safety regulations, in and of itself, did not render the Birches’ garage door opener defective. In fact, although the regulations required the future manufacture of all garage door opener systems to include optical sensors as a standard feature, they permitted sellers, such as Midwest, to continue to sell garage door openers that were in compliance with the prior regulations and had been manufactured prior to January 1, 1993, which did not have optical sensors, until such stock was exhausted.” Op. at 518.
Our conclusion as set forth above should not be read to imply that Midwest could not be held hable for negligence in the matter. Notwithstanding the federal government’s lenient directive concerning implementation of its safety standards and permitting manufacturers or suppliers to exhaust current inventories, such does not mean that a supplier who sells such doors in violation of the new safety regulations is, as a matter of law, free of any negligence. It would not be unreasonable for a trier of fact to conclude that the government’s safety regulations placed the supplier on notice that the old doors were considered to be unsafe and that, notwithstanding the largesse of the government, to continue to sell and install such doors would be neghgent conduct.
Be that as it may, this matter has been fully resolved by litigation. As noted in our opinion, and as crucial to our determination, the negligence claim against Midwest was tried to a jury which rendered a verdict in favor of Midwest. The Birches did not appeal this judgment.
I fully concur.