 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Beta Steel v. Rust6/30/2005
ecisely as he said it was given, and we reiterate that the existence, clarity, and efficacy of this warning clearly appears to be a question of fact for a jury to address. Additionally, a jury might reasonably conclude that Hyre's failure to request that the cabinet above which Brian was working be de-energized, or to provide more protection for its workers above the electrical control cabinets, stemmed at least in part from Beta's negligent failure to disclose adequately the extreme dangerousness of the cabinets.
As for Beta's alleged negligence in the initial installation of the cabinets, the fact that such occurred in 1991 and Brian was not killed until 2000 is not an indication that its original negligence was too remote from the harm that ultimately resulted from it. According to Doolittle's deposition, Beta was specifically warned in 1991 that failing to install a ground fault protection system was highly dangerous and in violation of national and state standards. In other words, a jury could find that, despite the passage of time, what happened to Brian in 2000 was reasonably foreseeable by Beta as the original negligent actor in 1991, such that any alleged negligence of Hyre in 2000 is not necessarily the intervening cause of Brian's death as a matter of law. See id.
Finally, we note, as the trial court did, that the Comparative Fault Act may lead a jury to assign percentages of fault for Brian's death to both Beta and Hyre. Depending on the evidence presented at trial, it might even decide to assign some fault to Brian himself, or to completely absolve Beta of liability. The designated evidence on Beta's summary judgment motion, however, does not establish that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law of the question of proximate causation. " iability may not be imposed on an original negligent actor who sets into motion a chain of events if the ultimate injury was not reasonably foreseeable as the natural and probable consequence of the act or omission." Id. at 108. Here, there is sufficient designated evidence that death by electrocution was a reasonably foreseeable result of Beta's original negligence in installing the cabinets, particularly when it requested Hyre's employees to perform work in close proximity to the cabinets such that one false step onto one of them would result in instant death.
Conclusion
The designated evidence fails to demonstrate that Beta is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Margaret's negligence claim with respect to duty, breach, or causation. The trial court properly denied Beta's motion for summary judgment. We affirm.
Affirmed.
KIRSCH, C.J., and BAKER, J., concur.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Indiana Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|