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Volter v. C. Schmidt Co.5/8/1991
Per Curiam.
This cause came on to be heard upon an appeal from the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.
Plaintiff-appellant, Steven Volter, appeals from the summary judgment entered in favor of defendant-appellee, Cincinnati, Inc., the manufacturer of a press brake which injured Volter's hand as he operated the machine during the course of his employment with defendant, C. Schmidt Company, Inc. ("Schmidt"). Volter sued both his employer and the manufacturer, alleging that the employer's conduct was willful, wanton or malicious and that Cincinnati, Inc. was strictly liable for having manufactured a machine that was defective and the proximate cause of his injuries. Schmidt was dismissed from the suit with prejudice following a settlement with Volter, but his actiosagainst Cincinnati, Inc. remained. Volter now argues that the trial court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of the manufacturer because the employer's failure to install adequate safeguards was not a superseding cause which relieved the manufacturer from its liability for selling a defective product. We hold that there is a genuine issue of material fact, and therefore reverse the trial court's judgment and remand the cause for further proceedings.
An appellate court reviewing a summary judgment is required by Civ.R. 56 to view all inferences in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion for summary judgment. See Williams v. First United Church of Christ (1974), 37 Ohio St.2d 150, 66 O.O.2d 311, 309 N.E.2d 924. Viewing the inferences in such a light, we find within the record a genuine question of material fact as to whether the press brake manufactured and sold by Cincinnati, Inc. was defective at the time of the sale. A press brake is a machine designed to bend and form metal between an upper die and a lower die. The dies are brought together with great force by the descent of a ram holding the upper die to contact the metal to be formed which rests on the lower die, at the "point of operation." The press brake in question was manufactured by Cincinnati, Inc. and sold to Schmidt in 1957.
According to the deposition testimony of Volter's expert witness, Gerald Rennell, the machine was defective in 1957 because it was sold without a point-of-operation safety system which would have prevented Volter's hands from entering the point of operation during the lowering of the ram. Rennell also stated that the machine was defective because it lacked a single-stroke device which would have prevented inadvertent repetition of the lowering of the ram caused by Volter's.failure to lift his foot off the clutch pedal which activated the machine. Rennell further testified that these safety precautions were known and available in 1957 and that the manufacturer could have installed them without knowing of, or interfering with, the actual configuration of dies and material to be used by the product's end user.
Before summary judgment may be granted, a reviewing court must determine that no genuine issue as to any material fact remains to be litigated, that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion from the evidence, and viewing such evidence most strongly in favor of the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made, that conclusion is adverse to that party. Temple v. Wean United, Inc. (1977), 50 Ohio St.2d 317, 327, 4 O.O.3d 466, 471, 364 N.E.2d 267, 274. Under Ohio law, a manufacturer is liable for injuries resulting from a defect in design if the benefits of the challenged design do not outweigh the risks inherent in such design. Cremeans vsInternatl. Harvester Co.
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