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Falkner v. Para-Chem6/18/2003
DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY
This cause was heard upon the record in the trial court. Each error assigned has been reviewed and the following disposition is made:
Defendant-Appellant Para-Chem has appealed from a judgment entered in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas in favor of Plaintiffs-Appellees Gregory Roach and Gordon Falkner on their product liability claims for failure to warn. This Court affirms.
I.
In early September 1998, Gregory Roach and Gordon Falkner (collectively, "Appellees") were hired as carpet installers by Callahan's Carpet Barn ("Callahan's"). On September 28, 1998, Appellees went to Callahan's to pick up the materials they would need to install a carpet in the basement of Mrs. Frances Biondo's home. Both Appellees understood that the installation at Mrs. Biondo's home would require them to glue the carpet to the floor surface by applying an adhesive.
When they arrived at Callahan's, Appellees found the roll of carpet and two cans of adhesive on the dock. Both cans contained Parabond M280 ("M280"), a highly flammable adhesive manufactured by Para-Chem. Neither Mr. Roach nor Mr. Falkner had ever used M280 before.
Appellees loaded the materials into their van and drove to Mrs. Biondo's address. Once they arrived at the residence, Appellees examined the basement, which consisted of a kitchenette and a separate storage area. Appellees then moved a refrigerator from the kitchenette into the doorway of the storage area in preparation for the carpet installation. Mr. Roach noticed a water heater inside the storage area, but its presence did not cause him any concern.
After the old carpet had been removed, Mr. Roach began spreading the M280 on the basement floor while Mr. Falkner was outside cutting pieces of the new carpet to install. Mr. Falkner brought a piece of carpet to the basement and set it on the floor. Both Appellees described that they then heard a "click" followed by a "whoosh" or a "boom" as the vapors from the M280 ignited, and the force of the blast hurled Mr. Roach across the room. The floor where Mr. Roach applied the M280 had erupted into flames, and the basement quickly filled with smoke. As Appellees got up and began making their way toward the steps to exit the basement, a second blast again knocked them both off their feet. The flames from the second blast traveled up the basement stairwell, blew out a kitchen window, and set a neighbor's tree ablaze. The second blast also knocked Mrs. Biondo, who was in a dining room on the first floor, through two rooms and out the front door of her home onto a sidewalk.
In his struggle to escape the basement after the second blast, Mr. Roach tripped over a roll of carpet on the floor and fell down into the burning glue. Mr. Falkner, seeing that Mr. Roach was lying face down in the glue and was no longer moving, pulled his shirt over his face and ran to where he thought Mr. Roach was. Mr. Falkner finally found Mr. Roach, and dragged him up the stairs and out of the basement. Both men then ran outside, where a neighbor helped extinguish their burning bodies with water from a garden hose.
Appellees suffered severe burns, and underwent months of hospitalization, reconstructive surgeries, and rehabilitative therapy. Both subsequently filed actions against Para-Chem and several other defendants, alleging numerous causes of action and seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The cases were consolidated by the trial court, and all parties proceeded with discovery. The parties disposed of all claims prior to trial except a product liability failure to warn claim against Para-Chem, and the matter proceeded to trial only on tha
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