Ehlers v. Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc.

251 F.R.D. 378, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31142, 2008 WL 1773698
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedApril 15, 2008
DocketCiv. No. 06-3122 (RHK/AJB)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 251 F.R.D. 378 (Ehlers v. Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ehlers v. Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc., 251 F.R.D. 378, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31142, 2008 WL 1773698 (mnd 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

RICHARD H. KYLE, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Deborah Ehlers filed this product-liability action against Defendant Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. (“Siemens”) after sustaining a crushed ankle in an on-the-job accident. She claims that a design defect in an x-ray machine manufactured by Siemens caused her injury. Siemens denies liability and seeks summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant the Motion.1

[382]*382BACKGROUND

Siemens is the United States distributor of institutional x-ray machines designed and manufactured by Siemens AG, a German company. In August 2003, it sold a C-arm x-ray machine (“x-ray machine”) to Abbott Northwestern Hospital (“Abbott”). (Hirtz Aff. Ex. A-6; Exs. A-3-5.) Ehlers worked at Abbott as a nurse in the catheterization labs that used this x-ray machine. (Id. at 17-20, 25, 31.) In designing this x-ray machine, Siemens followed a comprehensive product-risk-management process. (Id. Ex. A-19; Ex. A-12 at 68-69.) The x-ray machine was equipped with a number of safety features intended to prevent collisions during unit movements.2 (Id. Ex. A-ll.)

In April 2005, Siemens installed the x-ray machine at Abbott. (Id. Ex. A-l at 46, 48, 50; Ex. A-7 at 25.) It provided staff at Abbott with extensive training on the operation and safety features of the x-ray machine. (Id. Ex. A-8 at 53-54; A-9 at 21-24; B-l.) In particular, Siemens asked Abbott to choose no more than six staff members (the “core group”) to receive training on the x-ray machine. (Id. Ex. B-l; Ex. A-9 at 74-76.) Abbott’s core group was made up of radiology technicians, including Carolyn Linde-Flaherty and Tracy Coombs. (Id. Ex. C at H 7.) It also trained the physicians separately from the core group. (Id. Ex. C.) Upon completion of the core-group training, the participants were expected to train other hospital staff who would be working with and around the x-ray machines.3 (Id. Ex. A-8 at 77; A-9 at 30; Ex. B-l.) Abbott did not train Ehlers on the operation or safety of the x-ray machine. (Id. Ex. A-l at 38-39; 46-48.) It did, however, train her on transferring patients to an x-ray table. (Id. at 39, 46.)

Siemens advised the core group and the physicians that the x-ray machine should be placed in the “patient transfer position” when transferring a patient to an x-ray table. (Id. Ex. A-9 at 76-77; 86-87.) The patient-transfer position refers to a safety-position setting that moves the C-arm of the x-ray machine approximately six feet away from the head of the x-ray table. (Id. Ex. D.) The x-ray machine also included an operator manual which instructed the user to put the x-ray machine in the patient-transfer position during patient transfers. (Id. Ex. A-ll.) Siemens also advised the user that it may be necessary to move the control console during a patient transfer to “make sure no unit movements are initiated inadvertently.” (Id.) An operator can easily move the x-ray machine into the patient-transfer position by selecting this option on the system monitor. (Id.) Once the patient-transfer position is selected, the x-ray machine automatically moves to that position. (Id. Ex. A-12 at 25; Ex. A-5 at Part I.) This process takes no more than twenty to thirty seconds. (Id. Ex. A-13 at 146-47; Ex. A-12 at 36-37; Ex. A-5 at Part I.)

On May 5, 2005, Ehlers suffered a broken ankle when the C-arm of the x-ray machine crushed her right foot while she was standing at the head of the x-ray table and assisting other hospital staff with transferring a patient from a gurney to the x-ray table. (Id. Ex. A-10; Ex. A-l at 70.) Linde-Flaherty, who was helping transfer the patient to the x-ray table, leaned across the control panel of the x-ray machine and inadvertently hit the joystick that controlled the movement of the [383]*383C-arm.4 (Id. Ex. D-1.) The activation of the joystick rotated the C-arm into Ehlers’s right foot. (Id.) The hospital staff had been notified of this patient’s arrival thirty minutes before. (Id. Ex. A-1 at 57, 59-60.) Linde-Flaherty, Coombs, Dr. Burke, and Dr. Wang had received training on the operation and safety of the x-ray machine and were in the lab on this day. (Id. Ex. A-10; Ex. C at H10; Exs. C—1, C-2.) At the time of Ehlers’s injury, the C-arm of the x-ray machine was not in the “patient transfer position.” (Id. at 70-71, 79-80; Ex. D.)

In July 2006, Ehlers filed this product-liability action in Minnesota state court, which Siemens removed to this Court. Siemens now moves to exclude the proposed testimony of Barry N. Feinberg, Ph.D., Ehlers’s expert witness, under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), and for summary judgment.

STANDARD OF DECISION

Summary judgment is proper if, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The moving party bears the burden of showing that the material facts in the case are undisputed. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Mems v. City of St. Paul, Dep’t of Fire & Safety Servs., 224 F.3d 735, 738 (8th Cir.2000). The Court must view the evidence, and the inferences that may be reasonably drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Graves v. Ark. Dep’t of Fin. & Admin., 229 F.3d 721, 723 (8th Cir.2000); Calvit v. Minneapolis Pub. Schs., 122 F.3d 1112, 1116 (8th Cir.1997). The nonmoving party may not rest on mere allegations or denials, but must show through the presentation of admissible evidence that specific facts exist creating a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Krenik v. County of Le Sueur, 47 F.3d 953, 957 (8th Cir.1995).

ANALYSIS

Ehlers’s Complaint does not set forth separate causes of action, but asserts claims sounding in negligence, breach of warranty, and strict liability for design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure to warn. (Compl.¶¶ 4-11.) “Minnesota law merges negligence, design defect, and breach of warranty claims under a unified theory of strict product liability.” Rosholt v. Blaw-Know Const. Equip. Corp., Civ. No. 04-1181, 2006 WL 839505, at *2 (D.Minn. March 29, 2006) (citing Bilotta v. Kelley Co.,

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Bluebook (online)
251 F.R.D. 378, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31142, 2008 WL 1773698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ehlers-v-siemens-medical-solutions-usa-inc-mnd-2008.