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Hoon v. Lightolier9/15/2004
regoing basis. And, in any event, such an argument would have been futile. The label on the fixture advising the consumer of the significance of the blinking light, plus the Hoons' experience with the other two light fixtures, could have led reasonable persons in the Hoons' position to believe that if Gede installed the fixture too close to the insulation, the lights would blink. Here, it is undisputed that the lights in the fixture that started the fire never blinked. At most, a jury issue was raised as to whether the plaintiffs' claims were barred by contributory negligence on the part of the Hoons and/or by their voluntary assumption of a known risk.
B.
We shall hold that the motions court also erred in granting summary judgment on its alternative ground, i.e., that the failure of Gede to heed the manufacturer's warning was, as a matter of law, the sole proximate cause of the fire.
In support of its no-proximate-cause argument, Lightolier stresses three facts. First, the warning label on the light fixture telling the installer not to place the fixture within three inches of insulation was clear and unambiguous. Second, there was no valid reason why Gede should have ignored the warning and installed the light fixture flush against the insulation, rather than at least three inches from it. Third, the fire would not have occurred if Gede had heeded Lightolier's warning. Although we agree that all three of these facts were established by Lightolier, it does not follow, as a matter of law, that Gede's failure to heed the warnings was the sole proximate cause of the fire.
Lightolier's central thesis is that there can be no liability on its part because Maryland recognizes a "heeding assumption," i.e., "a manufacturer is entitled to assume that its warnings will be obeyed." It is true that often a manufacturer can reasonably assume that its warnings will be obeyed. See, e.g., Higgins v. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Inc., 671 F.Supp. 1063 (D. Md. 1987), aff'd, 863 F.2d 1162 (4th Cir. 1988) (discussed infra). But here, the appellants produced evidence from which it could be inferred, legitimately, that Lightolier did not assume its warning would be obeyed by installers. It evidently assumed the opposite when it installed the SHTPs as a part of the fixture and labeled its product so that the consumer would be led to believe that if a third-party installer of the fixture failed to heed the warning, the lights would blink a warning. According to expert testimony produced by appellants, the dual purpose of the SHTPs was (1) to lower the fixture's temperature by making the flow of electricity to the bulb intermediate and (2) to warn the customer, by means of a blinking light, that the insulation has been installed too close to the fixture. Given the existence of such evidence, we can see no justification for applying a heeding assumption in this case.
Lightolier cites no cases, and we have found none, where any court has applied the heeding assumption when a manufacturer installs a defective safety device whose very purpose is to protect the user in case its warning is not heeded by a third party.
In support of its contention that Gede's failure to heed Lightolier's warning was, as a matter of law, the sole proximate cause of the fire, Lightolier places primary reliance on four cases, viz: Ellsworth v. Sherne Lingerie, Inc., 303 Md. 581 (1985); Simpson v. Standard Container Co., 72 Md. App. 199 (1987); Halliday v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., 138 Md. App. 136 (2001), aff'd, 368 Md. 186 (2002); and Higgins, supra. We shall discuss those cases seriatim.
1. Ellsworth v. Sherne Lingerie, Inc. 303 Md. 581 (1985)
The plaint
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