Product Liability – Partial summary judgment obtained on behalf of product manufacturer dismissing breach of warranty, and design defect claims.

Howard F. Strongin and Yelena Davydan obtained partial summary judgment dismissing breach of warranty and design defect claims in Gunn v. Hytrol Conveyor Co., Inc, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York.

Plaintiff sustained crush and degloving injuries to his left hand while clearing a jam in a conveyor that transported cardboard to a baler machine. Hytrol designed and manufactured the subject conveyor. The installer and system integrator had settled out with the Plaintiff. Although the incorrect dust pan cover was initially shipped with the product components, the correct dust pan cover was received at the workplace 18 days before Plaintiffs accident. The correct dust pan was not installed on the conveyor, nor, despite the installers’ and employers’ knowledge that the conveyor should not be operated without it, the conveyor was not locked out or tagged out. The Court held that Hytrol had properly limited its warranties, and that the absence of the correct sized dust pan when the product initially shipped did not constitute a design defect.