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Calloway v. City of Reno2/29/2000
eaknesses in a series of prototypes, which are built but never put on the market, as is often done with manufactured goods. Neither can the contractor test a variety of method and material combinations before putting up the final structure. Even identical model subdivision homes are subject to the vagaries of subsurface soil conditions. . . . Furthermore, in construction work the project is generally designed by one independent firm and built by another. The consistent interplay between designer and builder, usually present in the manufacturing industry, is absent in the construction industry. . . .
Another major distinction between manufactured goods and buildings is that normally a building is put up at the direction of the owner/developer, and if his needs change, the final product may be quite different from that shown in the original plans. . . .
A final difference between buildings and manufactured goods [is that] uildings have significantly longer expected useful life than do other products, which warrants different standards of maintenance and repair.
Edie Lindsay, Strict Liability and the Building Industry, 33 Emory L.J. 175, 184-91 (1984).
In Worrell v. Barnes, 87 Nev. 204, 484 P.2d 573 (1971), we considered whether a contractor who had performed remodeling work on a home could be subject to strict liability in tort. The contractor had installed a gas line to a new water heater, and the gas line had a leaky fitting. The leak caused a fire that damaged the house and its contents. After the district court dismissed the homeowners' strict liability and warranty claims, the homeowners appealed. On appeal, this court noted that strict liability had been applied to buildings:
As in the application of the doctrine to cases where injury was caused by foodstuffs, automobiles, medicine and others, strict liability has been applied to homes or builders. The nature of the product is such that superior and exclusive knowledge in the builder or fabricator is called for and he therefore must bear the responsibility of its quality within reasonable limits.
Id. at 207, 484 P.2d at 575.
We then explained that the allegedly defective product was that part of the gas system added onto the original system by the contractor. We concluded that a "leaky fitting comes within the definition of a defective product" and "that [the contractor] must be said to have manufactured and sold a 'product' so as to bring into operation the doctrine of strict liability." Id. at 208, 484 P.2d at 576.
The contractor who installed the gas line fitting in Worrell should not have been subject to the doctrine of strict products liability. As set forth above, one is strictly liable for damages from a dangerously defective product only if one is a seller "engaged in the business of selling such a product." See Restatement (Second) of Torts ยง 402A (1965). Although a contractor may, as part of a construction or remodeling project, install certain products, a contractor, without doing more, is not engaged in the business of "manufacturing" or selling such products and therefore does not come within the ambit of section 402A. Consequently, we overrule Worrell with respect to its application of strict products liability.
For the reasons set forth above, we conclude that the district court properly determined that appellants' strict liability claims were not viable.
III. The City's cross-appeal
The City filed a cross-appeal contending that the district court erred in dismissing its cross-claims against the developer and contractor for indemnity and contribution. We conclude that we lack jurisdiction to conside
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