Brycor, Inc. d/b/a Meineke Car Care Center v. Anthony Alexander (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided July 22, 2020·No. 19A-CT-2963·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Jul 22 2020, 10:09 am

court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK Indiana Supreme Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Robert E. Ahlgrim Patrick W. Harrison State Auto Insurance Columbus, Indiana Carmel, Indiana David W. Stone Anderson, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Brycor, Inc. d/b/a Meineke Car July 22, 2020 Care Center, Court of Appeals Case No. Appellant-Defendant, 19A-CT-2963 Appeal from the Floyd Superior v. Court The Honorable Susan L. Orth, Anthony Alexander, Judge Appellee-Plaintiff. Trial Court Cause No.

22D01-1701-CT-139

Riley, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CT-2963 | July 22, 2020 Page 1 of 18

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

[1] Appellant-Defendant, Brycor, Inc. d/b/a Meineke Car Care Center (Meineke),

appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion for partial summary judgment in favor of Appellee-Plaintiff, Anthony Alexander (Alexander). Alexander cross- appeals.

[2] We reverse, enter partial summary judgment for Meineke, and remand. We deny Alexander’s cross-appeal.

ISSUES

[3] Meineke presents the court with two issues, one of which we find dispositive

and which we restate as: Whether a genuine issue of material fact existed that precluded entry of partial summary judgment on Alexander’s personal injury claims against Meineke.

On cross-appeal, Alexander presents us with one issue, which we restate as: Whether Meineke was required to file a motion to correct error before pursuing the instant appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY [4] The facts most favorable to the non-moving party, Alexander, are as follows.

In the later summer of 2016, Alexander, who is a medical doctor and a chemical engineer, owned a 2008 Lexus SUV (SUV). The SUV developed problems with its air conditioning system, and Alexander took it to Meineke in

New Albany, Indiana, for repair. The first attempt at repair was unsuccessful, Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CT-2963 | July 22, 2020 Page 2 of 18 so Alexander returned to Meineke for a second attempt. After he retrieved the SUV from Meineke after the second attempt at repair, Alexander drove it several times over the ensuing weeks from Jeffersonville, Indiana, to Chicago and back. On these trips Alexander ran the SUV’s air conditioning with the windows closed. Around the same time, Alexander began experiencing fatigue, breathing issues, and severe headaches. On four occasions, Alexander found many flies inside the SUV after having all the windows and doors shut. In October of 2016, Alexander noticed that there was water on the carpet of the front passenger side of the SUV. On October 20, 2016, Alexander took the SUV to a Lexus dealership. Lexus employee David Newton (Newton) inspected the SUV and concluded that the evaporator drain had been left off the evaporator case, causing water to drain onto the SUV’s floorboard and carpet. Newton also found damage to the SUV’s dash pad assembly. The dashboard and carpet were removed and replaced. At Alexander’s request, Lexus employees placed the wet carpet from the SUV into a plastic bag which was then sealed and placed in a box. Parts from the dashboard, including the ventilation system, were also placed into cardboard boxes. Alexander paid for the repairs to the SUV.

[5] The boxes containing the SUV’s carpet and parts were stored in Alexander’s garage until an indoor environmental consulting firm arrived on November 16, 2016, to perform surface fungal sampling on them. On December 6, 2016, the environmental firm generated a report stemming from that sampling. The report indicated that testing had revealed the presence of a moderate level of

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CT-2963 | July 22, 2020 Page 3 of 18

“Aspergillus/Penicillium-like fungi” on the carpet and low-to-very-low levels of various other fungi 1 on the carpet and parts. (Appellant’s App. Vol. II, p. 50). The report provided that Aspergillus and Penicillium are common molds found outdoors and indoors but that some species of these molds do produce toxins that are unhealthy to humans.

[6] On January 25, 2017, Alexander filed a complaint, which he amended on September 25, 2017, alleging that Meineke had negligently repaired his SUV, causing him personal injury and property damage. More specifically, Alexander alleged that Meineke’s negligence had caused mold to accumulate in the SUV and his exposure to the mold had damaged his lungs and liver, necessitating past and future medical care. During discovery, Meineke deposed Alexander. Meineke also propounded requests for admission. Alexander responded to Request for Admission Number 12 (Request No. 12) as follows:

[] Alexander does not possess a measurement of the alleged concentration or level of mold within his vehicle before the parts and carpet were removed by the Lexus dealership.

Response: admit

(Appellant’s App. Vol. II, p. 54).

1 Neither party based its summary judgment arguments on these other fungi, and both parties concentrate their appellate arguments on the Aspergillus and Penicillium found on the SUV’s carpet. We will concentrate our analysis there as well.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CT-2963 | July 22, 2020 Page 4 of 18

[7] On May 24, 2019, Meineke filed a motion for partial summary judgment on Alexander’s personal injury claims only. Meineke argued that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the mold at the base of Alexander’s claims caused his symptoms. In support of its motion, Meineke designated portions of Alexander’s deposition, the fungal testing report, and Alexander’s admission to Request No. 12. The designated portions of Alexander’s deposition showed that he testified that airborne Aspergillus or Penicillium “is not necessarily going to make you sick unless you have high concentrations of it” and that higher concentrations are possible in a contained environment. (Appellant’s App. Vol. II, p. 42). Alexander had also testified that mold tends to grow better in dark, moist, unventilated spaces, mold can be dormant for years and become active when the conditions are right, and one would expect to find mold in a vehicle’s carpet but not in the ventilation system.

[8] On August 9, 2019, Alexander filed his response in opposition to partial summary judgment which included his verified affidavit (the Affidavit) in which he averred that none of his claimed physical symptoms had occurred prior to Meineke working on the air conditioning in his SUV. Alexander further averred that, as a medical doctor and chemical engineer, he could identify mold and did identify mold under the dashboard and on the carpet of his SUV prior to taking it to the Lexus dealership. Alexander testified that

[m]old is by analogy like pollen in the spring and fall. It normally causes little if any problems until the quantity of the spores released increases to the point where one who is allergic to the spores begins having reactions. This is what happened to [Alexander]. As the

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CT-2963 | July 22, 2020 Page 5 of 18

mold increased because of the air conditioning drain not being connected to the evaporation case when [Alexander] would drive with the air conditioning on and the windows up the mold spores in the air caused physical injury. [Alexander] was allergic to the type of mold in his vehicle. . . . [Alexander] then began being treated by an internist and an ear nose and throat physician for the injuries produced by this mold to which [Alexander] was hypersensitive and allergic[.] . . . Without the necessity of any evidence it is common knowledge that there are people who are allergic to penicillin, with [Alexander] being one of those people.

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Brycor, Inc. d/b/a Meineke Car Care Center v. Anthony Alexander (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

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