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Messer Griesheim Industries11/10/2005
endant protections to be afforded consumers in certain circumstances are no less compelling here. The underlying theory supporting the doctrine does not disappear simply because Cryotech's final product was less than instead of more than the initial product supplied by Eastman. The feedgas supplied by Eastman is still very much a part of the final product sold by Cryotech, and is even more so than in the typical case involving a component part.
We reject Messer's claim that the feedgas supplied by Eastman was per se defective or unreasonably dangerous. The Products Liability Act defines a "defective condition" as "a condition of a product that renders it unsafe for normal or anticipatable handling and consumption." Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-28-102(2). The Act defines "unreasonably dangerous" as follows:
"Unreasonably dangerous" means that a product is dangerous to an extent beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it, with the ordinary knowledge common to the community as to its characteristics, or that the product because of its dangerous condition would not be put on the market by a reasonably prudent manufacturer or seller, assuming that the manufacturer or seller knew of its dangerous condition.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-28-102(8).
Eastman's "product" was non-food grade carbon dioxide. By definition, it was not to be used for human consumption and any "normal or anticipatable" use of that particular product would not involve human consumption such as using it in soft drinks or the like. It was only after Cryotech purchased the non-food grade carbon dioxide and purified it that any potential use was to involve human consumption. Simply because Cryotech failed to properly purify the feedgas does not make the non-food grade feedgas supplied by Eastman to Cryotech either defective or unreasonably dangerous.
In Davis, supra, the Supreme Court also recognized that the component parts doctrine is based on the premise that the obligation of a component parts manufacturer does not extend to anticipating how a component which is not in and of itself dangerous or defective can become dangerous or defective depending upon how it is integrated into the final product and sold by another. To hold otherwise would force component part manufacturers to "to retain private experts to review an assembler's plans and to evaluate the soundness of the proposed use of the manufacturer's parts. The added cost of such procedure both financially and in terms of stifled innovation outweighs the public benefit of giving plaintiffs an additional pocket to look to for recovery." Davis, 42 S.W.3d at 40 (quoting Orion Ins. Co., Ltd. v. United Technologies Corp., 502 F. Supp. 173, 178 (E.D. Pa. 1980)).
We do not think the Tennessee Products Liability Act or the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 5 prohibits Eastman from simply selling its feedgas to an entity who claims the ability to purify the feedgas and then resell it. Nor do we believe that Eastman was obliged "to retain private experts to review an assembler's plans and to evaluate the soundness of the proposed use." However, this does not mean Eastman cannot be liable if it knew the feedgas contained cyanide and thereafter it: (1) substantially participated in the integration of its feedgas into the design of the food grade carbon dioxide as sold by Cryotech; (2) the integration of the feedgas caused Cryotech's product to be defective; and (3) the defect in Cryotech's product caused the property damage. See Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 5(b)(1) - (3).
As we noted previously:
In late 1993 Cryotech detected increasing levels
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