 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Fritz v. Yeager2/12/2002
sts "is entirely a question of law, to be determined by reference to the body of statutes, rules, principles and precedents which make up the law; and it must be determined only by the court." Id., citing Prosser & Keeton on the Law of Torts § 37, at 236 (5th ed. 1984). Accordingly, in appropriate situations, a trial court is authorized to grant judgment as a matter of law because no duty exists. See Super. Ct. Civ. R. 50.
The Superior Court found that Restatement (Second) of Torts § 392 provided the standard or duty of care required of Yeager. Section 392 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts provides as follows:
One who supplies to another, directly or through a third person, a chattel to be used for the supplier's business purposes is subject to liability to those for whose use the chattel is supplied, or to those whom he should expect to be endangered by its probable use, for physical harm caused by the use of the chattel in the manner for which and by persons for whose use the chattel is supplied
(a) if the supplier fails to exercise reasonable care to make the chattel safe for the use for which it is supplied, or
(b) if he fails to exercise reasonable care to discover its dangerous condition or character, and to inform those whom he should expect to use it.
Under Delaware law, the duty to warn extends only to those who can reasonably be assumed to be ignorant of the danger. Where the user has actual knowledge of the alleged danger, there is no duty to warn. Farm Family, 608 A.2d 726 (holding it would have been improper for the trial judge to submit the issue to the jury because the plaintiff was aware of the danger). In this case, the Superior Court held that Yeager's duty to warn or make the saw safe was discharged because of Fritz' superior knowledge of the saw's dangerousness.
We agree with the Superior Court that § 392 provides the relevant standard of care here. Fritz argues that, as a business invitee, Yeager owed him a duty to render the premises safe. See Koutoufaris v. Dick, 604 A.2d 390, 398 (Del. 1992). Fritz was not injured as a result of a condition on the land, however, but by reason of the use of a specific chattel on the premises. Thus, the standards of premises liability do not apply. Fritz used the chattel with full knowledge that its condition, the absence of the guard, rendered it dangerous. In fact, Fritz possessed superior knowledge than Yeager by virtue of his twenty-five year career as an industrial arts teacher. Accordingly, this case falls squarely within the language of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 392 and the holding of Farm Family applies. The Superior Court's decision to grant Yeager a directed verdict is, therefore, affirmed.
III.
In view of our affirmance of the Superior Court's grant of judgment as a matter of law, it is unnecessary to consider Fritz' additional claim that the court erred in holding that his action was barred by the assumption of the risk doctrine and we express no view on the correctness of that ruling.
|