Hathaway v. Cintas Corporate Services, Inc.

903 F. Supp. 2d 669, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146233, 2012 WL 4857828
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedOctober 11, 2012
DocketNo. 1:10 CV 195
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 903 F. Supp. 2d 669 (Hathaway v. Cintas Corporate Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hathaway v. Cintas Corporate Services, Inc., 903 F. Supp. 2d 669, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146233, 2012 WL 4857828 (N.D. Ind. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES T. MOODY, District Judge.

Defendant Cintas Corporate Services #2 d/b/a Cintas Corporation (“Cintas”) has moved for summary judgment on Counts I, II, and III of plaintiffs’ complaint. (DE # 105.) For the following reasons, that motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. Facts and Procedural History1

Plaintiff Rex Hathaway was employed as a welder/plasma torch operator at Quik Cut, Inc. (“Quik Cut”), a welding/plasma cutting company located in Allen County, IN. On February 12, 2009, Mr. Hathaway was operating a Pro Cut 80 plasma cutter, which was manufactured by defendant Lincoln Electric Company (“Lincoln”). The Pro Cut 80 plasma cutter (“the plasma cutter”) is a machine that is used to cut through metal and steel. The plasma cutter emits sparks when used to cut metal.

While using the plasma cutter on February 12, Mr. Hathaway’s shirt caught on fire, which resulted in Mr. Hathaway suffering serious burns to a substantial portion of his body. The fire was started when sparks from the plasma cutter contacted the shirt Mr. Hathaway was wearing at the time. The shirt Mr. Hathaway was wearing at the time of the accident was a 100% cotton shirt (“the shirt”) provided to Quik Cut by defendant Cintas Corporate Services #2 d/b/a Cintas Corporation (“Cintas”).

The relationship between Quik Cut and Cintas was governed by a uniform rental agreement. (DE # 105-1 at 3.) Under that agreement, Cintas provided Quik Cut employees with work clothes, and also provided laundering and repair services for those clothes. (Id.)

Mr. Hathaway and his wife, Tammy Hathaway, brought suit against several defendants, including Cintas. (DE # 1.) In their complaint, plaintiffs brought three Counts against Cintas: negligence (Count I), breach of warranty (Count II), and products liability (Count III). (Id.) Plaintiffs also brought a loss of consortium claim against all defendants (Count VIII). (Id.) Cintas has now moved for summary judgment on Counts I, II, and III.

II. Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 requires the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery, against a party “who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “[Sjummary judgment is appropriate-in fact, is mandated-where there are no disputed issues of material fact and the movant must prevail as [672]*672a matter of law. In other words, the record must reveal that no reasonable jury could find for the nonmoving party.” Dempsey v. Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Ry. Co., 16 F.3d 832, 836 (7th Cir.1994) (citations and quotation marks omitted).

The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating that these requirements have been met; it may discharge this responsibility by showing that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case. Carmichael v. Village of Palatine, Ill., 605 F.3d 451, 460 (7th Cir.2010) (citing Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548). To overcome a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must come forward with specific facts demonstrating that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id. (citing Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). The existence of a mere scintilla of evidence, however, is insufficient to fulfill this requirement. Id. (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). The nonmoving party must show that there is evidence upon which a jury reasonably could find for him. Id.

The court’s role in deciding a summary judgment motion is not to evaluate the truth of the matter, but instead to determine whether there is a genuine issue of triable fact. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Doe v. R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 42 F.3d 439, 443 (7th Cir.1994). On summary judgment a court may not make credibility determinations, weigh the evidence, or decide which inferences to draw from the facts; these are jobs for a factfinder. Payne v. Pauley, 337 F.3d 767, 770 (7th Cir.2003) (citing Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505). In viewing the facts presented on a motion for summary judgment, the court must construe all facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of that party. Chmiel v. JC Penney Life Ins. Co., 158 F.3d 966, 968 (7th Cir.1998); Doe, 42 F.3d at 443. Importantly, the court is “not required to draw every conceivable inference from the record [in favor of the nonmovant]-only those inferences that are reasonable.” Bank Leumi Le-Israel, B.M. v. Lee, 928 F.2d 232, 236 (7th Cir.1991) (emphasis added).

III. Count II: Breach of Warranties

Cintas begins its brief in support of its motion for summary judgment by arguing that Count II of plaintiffs’ complaint is superseded by plaintiffs’ product liability claims, and therefore Count II should be dismissed as duplicative. (DE # 106 at 7.) Plaintiffs do not respond to this argument.

“When interpreting state law, a federal court’s task is to determine how the state’s highest court would rule.” Rodas v. Seidlin, 656 F.3d 610, 626 (7th Cir.2011). It is also proper for a federal court to defer to state appellate courts, unless there is a “persuasive indication[ ] that the state supreme court would decide the issue differently.” Id. (quoting Allstate Ins. Co. v. Tozer, 392 F.3d 950, 952 (7th Cir.2004)).

The Indiana Supreme Court discussed, but ultimately did not decide, this issue in Kovach v. Caligor Midwest, 913 N.E.2d 193, 197 (Ind.2009). It did, however, make note that the Indiana Court of Appeals and several federal district courts sitting in Indiana have all held that “tort-based breach-of-warranty claims have been subsumed into the PLA.” See Cincinnati Ins. Cos. v. Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc., No. 4:05 CV 49, 2006 WL 299064, at *3 (N.D.Ind. Feb. 7, 2006); N.H. Ins. Co. v. Farmer Boy AG, Inc., No.

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903 F. Supp. 2d 669, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146233, 2012 WL 4857828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hathaway-v-cintas-corporate-services-inc-innd-2012.