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Zenaida-Garcia v. Recovery Systems Technology7/5/2005
This case presents a single choice of law issue. Oregon resident Gregorio Garcia-Munoz died in an industrial accident in Portland, allegedly because of a defective machine manufactured in Washington. We hold that under the circumstances of this case, Washington's statute of repose applies. We therefore reverse the trial court's grant of summary judgment and remand for trial.
Background
Gregorio Garcia-Munoz lived and worked in Oregon. In October 2001, he was employed by Labor Ready in Portland, and was working at TPS Technologies of Oregon, Inc., processing soil through a trommel, which recycles contaminated soils. As he was cleaning soil from under the machine, his shirt became caught on an unguarded part of the trommel and he was unable to free himself. He died at the scene from asphyxiation.
On behalf of Garcia-Munoz's estate, his sister, Maria Zenaida-Garcia, filed this action against the alleged manufacturer of the machinery, Recovery Systems Technology, Inc. (Recovery Systems), a Washington corporation. Zenaida-Garcia alleges Recovery Systems manufactured the trommel in 1991 and sold it to Northwest Design and Equipment Company, a Spokane company, which sold the trommel to Oregon Hydrocarbon in Portland, which in turn sold it to TPS Technologies.
Arguing that the suit was barred by Oregon's eight-year statute of repose, Recovery Systems sought summary judgment. The court granted the motion. Zenaida-Garcia appeals, asserting that Washington's 12-year statute of repose applies to this product liability action and the Estate's claim is not time barred. We apply the usual standard of review on summary judgment.
ANALYSIS
Under Washington's statute of repose, a manufacturer is not liable for causes of action accruing after the useful safe life of the product. RCW 7.72.060(2) creates a rebuttable presumption that a product's useful safe life expires 12 years after delivery. The Oregon statute of repose is eight years. Garcia-Munoz died eight and a half years after the trommel was delivered. The only question here is which of these two statutes should control.
Washington has adopted the 'most significant relationship' rule for choice-of-law problems in cases sounding in tort. Under this approach, the rights and liabilities of the parties are determined by the local law of the state which, with respect to that issue, has the most significant relationship to the occurrence and the parties.
In Johnson v. Spider Staging Corporation, a Kansas resident died when he fell from a scaffold manufactured by a Washington corporation. His wife sued the Washington corporation for wrongful death. The issue was whether Washington or Kansas law on wrongful death damages applied. In holding that Washington law applied, the Spider Staging court enunciated a two-step analysis for determining the appropriate choice of law. First, the court must evaluate the contacts with each potentially interested state, including the following:
'(a) the place where the injury occurred,
(b) the place where the conduct causing the injury occurred,
(c) the domicile, residence, nationality, place of incorporation and place of business of the parties, and
(d) the place where the relationship, if any, between the parties is centered.
These contacts are to be evaluated according to their relative importance with respect to the particular issue.'
The court emphasized that 'our approach is not merely to count contacts, but rather to consider which contacts are most significant and to determine where these contacts are found.'
If the contacts are
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