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Alder v. Bayer Corp.11/26/2002
plained by science, including, for example, the law of gravity, the nature of light, the source of personality, and the process of cell differentiation. If a bicyclist falls and breaks his arm, causation is assumed without argument because of the temporal relationship between the accident and the injury. The law does not object that no one measured the exact magnitude and angle of the forces applied to the bone. Courts do not exclude all testimony regarding the fall because the mechanism of gravity remains undiscovered. Legally, an observable sequence of condition ----> event ----> altered condition, has been found sufficient to establish causation even when the exact mechanism is unknown. Therefore, we hold that Technicians enjoy the same opportunity to prove that which they can, as do the victims of more prosaic injuries.
CONCLUSION
We hold that the law supports a duty of care running from AGFA to Technicians for the safe installation and maintenance of the Curix x-ray processing machine and that the factual determinations supporting that duty and its breach are questions for the jury. We further hold that expert testimony qualified under Utah Rule of Evidence 702 is admissible regarding Technicians' diagnoses of CFS, fibromyalgia, and chemically induced cognitive deficits, and that Technicians have raised triable issues of fact regarding injury , exposure, and causation. Therefore, we reverse the summary judgment and remand this case to the district court for trial.
Chief Justice Durham and Justice Russon concur in Justice Howe's opinion.
WILKINS, Justice, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the trial court's summary judgment in favor of defendants Bayer Corporation, AGFA Division (now known as AGFA Corporation) on the basis that the defendants ("AGFA") owed no duty to the plaintiffs upon which a cause of action for negligence can be pursued. As a result, I would not reach the other issues addressed by the lead opinion.
AGFA Corporation entered into a contract with LDS Hospital to supply the x-ray processing equipment giving rise to this action. As part of that contract, AGFA informed its customer, LDS Hospital, of the ventilation requirements of the equipment, and of the risks involved from inadequate ventilation. LDS Hospital undertook to provide the ventilation for the equipment. There is no evidence in the record suggesting that AGFA had any responsibility under the contract with LDS Hospital to install, inspect, or approve the ventilation arrangements made by the hospital.
The plaintiffs have not made, and cannot support, a cause of action based on claims that the machine was defective or unreasonably dangerous when purchased, since they used the machine without problems for a period of years prior to its relocation into the new space prepared by the hospital. The only possible remaining claims raised by the plaintiffs sound in tort, based on claims of negligence.
I will assume, for purposes of this analysis, that the plaintiffs suffered the injuries of which they complain, and incurred them entirely as a result of exposure to chemical fumes emitted by the AGFA equipment located at their place of employment within LDS Hospital. These assumptions, many of which AGFA does not concede, still leave the plaintiffs without a cause of action if no tort duty exists running from AGFA to the plaintiffs. Absent such a duty, any discussion of the plaintiffs' other issues on appeal, namely the questions of legal causation, differential diagnosis as a basis for expert medical testimony, and the nature of the plaintiffs' injuries, become moot questions. Absent a duty, we need not reach an
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