FCOP’s Wendy Lascher enjoys appellate victory

(April 18, 2011)  Court of Appeal upholds trial court grant of summary judgment finding an “occasional seller” of a used machine is not required to warn an employee of a subsequent purchaser.  “The case law does not support liability on a theory of negligence or strict liability. Defendants are not manufacturers nor did they have a duty to prevent the harm that occurred to plaintiff while he was working for a third party, Lexwest. The court finds that defendants could not have foreseen the harm to the plaintiff. The recoiler could not be guarded to prevent the type of accident that occurred to plaintiff. The cases cited by plaintiff do not support liability for negligence. Plaintiff cites products liability cases, including the case plaintiff cited in closing argument, namely Ortiz v. HPM Corp. (1991) 234 Cal.App.3d 178 . . . . Defendant is only an ‘occasional seller’ and not subject to strict liability.”  Read more of the published the opinion here.

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