Sixth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment for Manufacturer of Custom Overhead-Gantry Milling Machine

The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a manufacturer of a custom overhead-gantry milling machine that caused the death of a worker at a Michigan machining company.  The worker’s estate brought suit against the manufacturer alleging negligent design and failure to warn after the machine’s cutting tool killed the worker.  Prior to the lawsuit, the accident was thoroughly investigated by Michigan OSHA and no citations were issued given the presence of safety guards and the inexplicable fashion in which the incident unfolded.

The district judge granted summary judgment on the negligent design claim because the estate presented insufficient evidence to establish that the likelihood of the injury was foreseeable to the manufacturer at the time it manufactured the machine.  The estate’s experts failed to quantify the probability of a similar accident occurring, failed to produce statistical evidence to demonstrate the likelihood of an injury or of similar prior accidents, and failed to produce evidence that the machines were widely known to cause serious injuries.  The Sixth Circuit affirmed this reasoning in performing the risk-utility balancing analysis required in a Michigan design-defect product liability action.

The appellate court also affirmed summary judgment on the failure to warn claim because there were no genuine issues of material fact as to whether the company that ordered the machine or the deceased worker were sophisticated users.  In Michigan, a manufacturer or seller is not liable in product liability for failure to provide an adequate warning if the product is provided for use by a sophisticated user.