Automotive News Canada - August 2019 - v2 - F39

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

LEGAL LANE
Court dismisses service
customer slip-and-fall suit

A service customer who fell during a rainyday visit to a Chevrolet dealership in Louisiana can't pursue his personal injury lawsuit,
the state Court of Appeal ruled.
Charles Hamner visited Ray Chevrolet in
Abbeville, La., for service on his Tahoe in February 2014. According to the court decision,
when Hamner got out of the vehicle in the service area, he slipped, fell backward, hit his
head on the running board and lost consciousness.
The court cited testimony from two dealership service managers that there were
24-inch-high yellow floor signs in the service
area that day warning of wet floors. Two
months before the mishap, the store spent
more than $13,000 to resurface the floor of the
service area with a nonslip epoxy coating embedded with grit, according to legal documents.
Hamner failed to show "an unreasonable
risk of harm," the court said, noting his statement that the floor was wet because rainwater
dripped off the Tahoe when he pulled in. It
said Ray Chevrolet couldn't have discovered
any hazardous condition before Hamner fell
"if the rainwater was brought into the service
area with his vehicle."
The lesson for service departments is the
importance of having "cones and warnings in
place when there is any possibility of rainy
weather and possibly at all times since the air
conditioners on cars almost all of the time
drip water," said James Ryan III, a lawyer for
the dealership.
"It helped that the dealership had recently
resurfaced the drive in an area with warning
cones," Ryan added.
Hamner's lawyer, David Lefeve, said his client may pursue a further appeal.

again in June 2018, the ruling said.
The dealership and insurer countered that
adding the lift voided the policy. A lift kit "can
adversely impact the transmission as it changes the angle of the drive shaft. Due to the
steeper angle, it can cause different types of
wear inside the transmission," they said.
Millennium also said the axle stub shaft and
transmission coupler the shaft fits into "were
stripped out" and rusted, causing the steel to
"deteriorate that in turn caused the splines to
deteriorate and strip." The policy excluded
coverage for the rust that caused the damage,
the insurer said.
Siding with Foundation and Millennium, Lopez said: "The evidence shows that for the 2018
transmission repair, there were multiple reasons why coverage was not available," including
Fulcher's failure to have a transmission fluid
and filter change done at a required interval.
Fulcher had sought $2,000 in damages, $241
for reimbursement of rental car charges and a
refund of the warranty cost.

Jeep modification voids
warranty, tribunal says

Ford must defend
technician survivors' suit

A 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that was
modified with a lift kit isn't covered by a service contract for a dealership's allegedly faulty
transmission repairs, the British Columbia
Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled.
The modification by owner Joely Fulcher
voided a powertrain warranty underwritten
by Millennium Insurance Corp., tribunal
member Shelley Lopez held. Fulcher claimed
Foundation Squamish Chrysler-Dodge-JeepRam in Squamish, British Columbia, improperly serviced the vehicle in May 2016 and

Ford Motor Co. must defend a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by survivors of a service
technician at a Harahan, La., dealership who
contracted peritoneal mesothelioma allegedly from working in the late 1960s on engines
and brakes that included asbestos, a federal
judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance rejected
Ford's request to dismiss the suit brought by
Victor Michel, a former mechanic and generator service technician at Crescent Ford Truck
Sales. His responsibilities included changing

brakes and clutches and overhauling engines,
the suit says.
Michel's family continued the suit after he
died last year. Claims against other defendants have been settled or dismissed.
Michel did not receive workers' compensation benefits related to asbestos exposure,
said Roshawn Donahue, a lawyer for the family in New Orleans.
Vance's decision allows Michel's family to
proceed with the effort to hold Ford liable on
the legal theory that the automaker controlled
the facility where Michel worked, as well as
the theory of product liability. She rejected
claims based on the assertion that Ford was
Michel's employer.
Donahue said a trial is scheduled for April,
and "the Michel family is looking forward to
their day in court, and wish their father was
alive to tell his side of the story." A Ford
spokeswoman said the automaker doesn't
comment on pending litigation.

Insurer for loaner faces
suit arising from accident

The insurance company for a Canadian
Acura dealership's courtesy vehicle must defend a lawsuit arising from an accident caused
by the driver of a loaner that hit a skateboarder, a judge in Alberta ruled.
That decision is being appealed, according
to Edmonton lawyer Peter Gibson, who represents Tokio Marine & Nichido Insurance
Co., which insured the loaner.
The dispute arose after Gurpreet Sran drove
a friend's vehicle to Northwest Acura in Calgary for service.
After Sran signed a one-page agreement, the
dealership gave her a loaner owned by Honda
Canada Finance and leased by Honda Canada, which in turn had leased it to Northwest
Acura, the court decision said.
Tokio Marine & Nichido unsuccessfully argued that the insurer for Sran's friend's vehicle, Security National Insurance, must defend
the personal injury suit.
Justice George Fraser said the dealership
had no obligation to provide a loaner, and the
fact that Sran's friend gave her permission to
drive his vehicle wasn't the same as authorizing her to drive the loaner.
A lawyer for Security National Insurance,
Michelle Grose of Edmonton, said her client
did not want to comment on the case.
- Eric Freedman
foj@autonews.com

AUGUST 2019

PAGE 39

Automotive News Canada - August 2019 - v2

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