 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Schaffer v. Gateway Harvestore8/19/1998
EVANS, Judge.
This appeal is brought by Constance and Jeanne Schaffer, appellants, on behalf of their minor children, Taaron and Leah Schaffer, from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Auglaize County granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of appellee, Gateway Harvestore, Inc., in appellants' wrongful death action.
On June 26, 1989, David and Garry Schaffer, two brothers from Monroeville, Ohio, were found dead at the bottom of a pit of liquified cow manure located on their family farm. Each man was survived by a wife and minor child. On January 13, 1997, a wrongful death suit was filed on behalf of appellants, Taaron and Leah Schaffer, against Gateway Harvestore, Inc. ("Gateway"), the company that allegedly designed and constructed the manure-handling system used on the Schaffer farm. The complaint claimed that Gateway caused the wrongful death of David and Garry Schaffer, based on theories of negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty of merchantability, breach of warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and respondeat superior. Gateway filed an answer on July 9, 1997, denying liability for the accident and asserting numerous defenses including the defense that appellants' claims were barred by the statute of limitations.
On October 9, 1997, Gateway filed a motion for summary judgment. Among various arguments made by Gateway, the company alleged that no issue existed for trial on the wrongful death claims since appellants had failed to bring their claim within two years of their decedents' deaths, as required under the wrongful death statute, R.C. 2125.02(D). Appellants responded to the motion for summary judgment on December 5, 1997, countering with the argument that the time period in which they had to proceed in a wrongful death claim was tolled due to the minority of the claimants in this case, pursuant to R.C. 2305.131 and 2305.16sThe trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Gateway, finding that the two-year statute of limitation contained in the wrongful death statute barred appellants' claims.
Appellants appeal from the decision of the common pleas court, asserting three assignments of error.
"The trial court erred as a matter of law in holding that plaintiffs' claims are barred by the statute of limitations where the action was based upon the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property and such actions are specifically tolled with respect to minors."
The manure pit from which the bodies of David and Garry Schaffer were extricated was a part of a larger manure-handling system installed on the Schaffer farm by Gateway in 1979. Pursuant to R.C. 2305.131, appellants' complaint alleged that Gateway was liable for the wrongful death of the Schaffer brothers because Gateway created a defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property. The applicable version of R.C. 2305.131 states:
"No action to recover damages for any injury to property, real or personal, or for bodily injury or wrongful death, arising out of the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property * * * shall be brought against any person performing services for or furnishing the design, planning, supervision of construction, or construction of such improvement to real property, more than ten years after the performance or furnishing of such services and construction."
Furthermore, appellants contend that the ten-year statute of repose contained in R.C. 2305.131 may be tolled for a minor until the child reaches the age of majority, as provided by R.C. 2305.16, which states:
"Unless otherwise provid
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|