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Schwoerer v. Union Oil Co.3/12/1993
e solvent. Plaintiff worked over an open container of the solvent, and breathed the fumes. His work required him to dip machine parts into the solvent. Plaintiff worked up to his elbows in the solvent, without gloves or other protective equipment. His clothes would become saturated with the solvent. Plaintiff requested his employer provide him with impermeable gloves and other materials to lessen his exposure to the solvent. These requests were disregarded, with plaintiff's supervisor suggesting that at most dermal contact with the solvent "might dry out skin, but it would not harm [plaintiff]." Plaintiff's employer never provided him with a copy of the MSDS and plaintiff's requests to see the MSDS were ignored.
On April 3, 1987, as plaintiff was working with the solvent he became weak and lightheaded. When he tried to stand up his legs buckled. He was later diagnosed as suffering from chronic liver failure.
Plaintiff commenced this action for personal injury . As indicated, his complaint alleges legal theories against these defendants sounding in strict liability and breach of warranty. After they answered the complaint, defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis the warnings provided were adequate as a matter of law and plaintiff's misuse of the product and disregard of the safety warnings relieved defendants as a matter of law of any responsibility for plaintiff's injuries. The trial court granted summary judgment. Plaintiff appeals.
I
"Summary judgment is appropriate only if the evidence shows there is no triable issue of any material fact, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The trial court's obligation in ruling on a summary judgment motion is to determine whether issues of fact exist, not to decide the merits of the issues themselves. When making that determination, the trial court must strictly construe the affidavits of the moving party, and liberally construe those of the opponent. [Citation.] Any doubts about granting the motion should be resolved in favor of the opponent of the motion. [Citation.]" (Jackson v. Deft, Inc. (1990) 223 Cal. App. 3d 1305, 1313 [273 Cal. Rptr. 214].)
On appeal, we confine our review to the facts presented to the trial court. We independently review the record to determine whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. (Brooks v. Eugene Burger Management Corp. (1989) 215 Cal. App. 3d 1611, 1618-1619 [264 Cal. Rptr. 756].)
In granting summary judgment, the trial court commented: "Defendants have shown by uncontroverted evidence that material safety data sheets (MSDS) were given to each successive dealer or user of the product and by Ebbetts ... to Sierra ... with warning labels on the containers. A seller who gives proper warnings to his purchaser is not liable to those whom the purchaser allows to use the product. A manufacturer or distributor of a product cannot be obligated to warn a user of the product of unknown or unknowable effects that might result from gross misuse of the product. The evidence in this case is uncontroverted that Plaintiff used the product in violation and disregard of all warnings and directions for use."
Plaintiff concedes that where adequate warnings have been passed along from manufacturer or seller to the ultimate consumer, there can be no
liability. (See Persons v. Salomon North America, Inc. (1990) 217 Cal. App. 3d 168, 178 [265 Cal. Rptr. 773].) Plaintiff does dispute however the finding implicit in the trial court's ruling that the MSDS warnings wer
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