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Russell v. Deere & Co.1/29/2003
Argued and submitted November 21, 2002.
This appeal arises out of a product liability action involving a defective combine. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of defendant Deere & Company on the ground that plaintiff had not presented evidence sufficient to create a jury question as to whether the combine was unreasonably dangerous to persons or property. See ORS 30.920. In reviewing plaintiff's challenge to that ruling on appeal, we view the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff, along with all reasonable inferences flowing from those facts, and uphold the judgment if there is no genuine issue of material fact and defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ORCP 47 C; Jones v. General Motors Corp., 325 Or 404, 408, 939 P2d 608 1997. We affirm.
Although the parties disagree as to their significance, the facts in this case are not in dispute. Plaintiff purchased a combine and platform header with pickup reel ("combine"), manufactured by defendant, from a local dealer for use in his custom farming business. During the 1997 harvest season, plaintiff used the combine to harvest grain for 10 farmers. Near the end of that season, plaintiff learned from one of those farmers, who noticed a "terrible streak of green" in his field, that the combine had left a substantial amount of grain on the ground after cutting it from the stalks. Plaintiff then discovered that the same thing had happened to the crops of all 10 farmers for whom he had harvested that summer. Plaintiff paid all 10 farmers for the losses they allegedly sustained as a result of the combine's malfunction, which totaled $106,255.93. Plaintiff then filed a "complaint for indemnity" based on a product liability theory, alleging that the combine "experienced a manufacturing defect in that it failed to properly separate, collect and store seed from the stalks of the rye, wheat, barley and oat grain straw."
Defendant moved for summary judgment asserting, among other things, that the alleged defect did not make the combine "unreasonably dangerous," as is required for recovery under ORS 30.920. The trial court agreed with defendant that "the damage alleged in plaintiff's complaint does not establish that the product was unreasonably dangerous to persons or to property" and granted defendant's motion.
On appeal, the parties renew the arguments that they made to the trial court. Specifically, plaintiff argues that the defect in the combine rendered it unreasonably dangerous because it "destroyed a significant amount of the very product it is designed to harvest." In addition, plaintiff asserts that the determination of whether a defect makes a product unreasonably dangerous is for the jury and should not have been decided by the court in the context of a motion for summary judgment. In response, defendant does not dispute that the combine was defective or that it sold (through the dealer) the combine to plaintiff. Instead, defendant contends only that the loss that plaintiff sustained was purely economic in nature and that, as a matter of law, a jury could not find on the basis of such "damage" that the defect in the combine rendered it unreasonably dangerous. As we explain below, we agree with defendant.
Product liability actions in Oregon are governed by ORS 30.900 to 30.920. ORS 30.920 sets out the elements for recovery in a product liability action. As relevant to this case, it provides:
"(1) One who sells or leases any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to the property of the user or consumer is subject to liability for physical harm or damage to property caused by that condition[.]
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