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Abraham v. Great Western Energy11/24/2004
[ ] Craig Abraham was severely burned and permanently injured in a propane gas flash fire at his home in Otto, Wyoming, on July 29, 2000. On November 29, 2001, a complaint was filed in the district court naming Craig, as well as his wife Kim Abraham and their four children, as plaintiffs (collectively the Abrahams). In their complaint, the Abrahams asserted that they ran out of propane gas (which was used to run two hot water heaters and a furnace) in late July of 2000. Kim Abraham called Great Western Energy, LLC (GWE) and asked it to deliver 50 gallons of propane. Craig was unable to get the hot water heater to light after that delivery was made, and so he ordered a second delivery of propane from Big Horn Co-Operative Marketing Association (Big Horn). He called Big Horn for the second delivery because it was the only supplier open on Saturday. Following the second delivery, Craig made a second attempt to light the hot water heaters and that effort eventuated in the flash fire.
[ ] The Abrahams averred that GWE and Big Horn were negligent because they "failed to provide adequately odorized gas, preventing Craig Abraham from being alerted to the presence of propane when he was attempting to light the pilot light. Furthermore, [both GWE and Big Horn] failed to follow proper off-loading procedures, violated industry safety standards, and failed to perform the necessary inspections to ascertain whether the gas system was safe.." In addition, they claimed that because of the inherently dangerous nature of propane gas, GWE and Big Horn owed a duty to ensure that their product was safely delivered and used in a safe manner. The Abrahams' complaint included claims for negligence, strict liability (defective product), and willful and wanton misconduct. Big Horn answered the complaint on February 28, 2002, denying any negligence on its part and raising numerous affirmative defenses, including spoliation (destruction) of evidence. GWE answered on August 1, 2002, denying any negligence on its part and also raising numerous defenses, including spoliation of evidence ("certain evidence may have been tampered with, destroyed, lost and/or undergone destructive testing to prejudice.").
[ ] On June 4, 2003, Big Horn filed a motion for summary judgment that ran to almost 400 pages. The central issue in that motion was that it was entitled to summary judgment because of spoliation of evidence. On June 30, 2003, GWE filed a very similar motion for summary judgment centered on the spoliation of evidence issue.
[ ] The Abrahams opposed both motions by papers filed on June 25, 2003, and July 16, 2003, respectively. In the later document, the Abrahams asked for a continuance and asserted that the deadline for discovery was August 15, 2003, but that the hearing on the motions for summary judgment was scheduled for July 28, 2003. The Abrahams contended this additional time was important in order to respond to the affidavit of an expert witness submitted by Big Horn.
[ ] A decision letter granting the motions for summary judgment was filed of record on August 5, 2003, and an order memorializing the decision letter was entered on September 3, 2003. The effect of the summary judgment order was that the Abrahams' complaint was dismissed with prejudice. It is from that order that this appeal is taken, as well as the district court's denial of the Abrahams' motion for continuance, which was incorporated into the summary judgment order.
ISSUES
[ ] The Abrahams articulate these issues:
1. Whether denial of [the Abrahams'] Rule 56(f) motion for a continuance to substantively respond to pending motions for summary judgment constitutes an abuse of discretio
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