IC Corp. v. Hoover Treated Wood Products, Inc.

385 S.W.3d 880, 2011 Ark. App. 589, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 637
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 5, 2011
DocketNo. CA 10-1266
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 385 S.W.3d 880 (IC Corp. v. Hoover Treated Wood Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
IC Corp. v. Hoover Treated Wood Products, Inc., 385 S.W.3d 880, 2011 Ark. App. 589, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 637 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

|,Appellants International Truck <& Engine Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary IC Corporation (collectively, International) bring this appeal from the order of the Faulkner County Circuit Court granting summary judgment to appellees Osmose Holdings, Inc., and Osmose, Inc. (collectively, Osmose), and Hoover Treated Wood Products, Inc., on the basis that International’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations. On appeal, International argues that it did not know of the problems that led to this suit until August 2003, that its claims were subject to a four-year statute of limitations, and that its claims were not subject to a shortened contractual limitations period. We affirm.

International designs and manufactures school buses. Between August 2002 and August 2003, International purchased treated plywood from J.M. McCormick & Co. for use as |2subflooring in its school buses. The plywood had been treated with alkaline copper quaternary (“ACQ”) by Hoover which had, in turn, bought the ACQ chemical from Osmose. After International built school buses with the ACQ-treated plywood, it began to receive complaints from owners of special-needs buses regarding corrosion to aluminum wheelchair tracks and the mounting bolts of wheelchair lifts.

International filed suit on July 31, 2006, against Hoover and Osmose. The complaint set forth claims for breach of warranty, negligence, and strict liability related to the treated plywood International installed in its school buses. There was a separate breach-of-contract claim against Hoover.

After extensive discovery, Osmose filed a motion for summary judgment on December 15, 2008. In its motion, Osmose argued that International was aware of the relevant facts more than three years before filing its complaint and, thus, its claims were barred by the three-year statute of limitations contained in the Arkansas Product Liability Act, Ark.Code Ann. § 16-116-101 (Repl.2006). On January 20, 2009, Hoover joined Osmose’s motion for summary judgment on the three-year limitations period and also argued that it was entitled to judgment on the basis that International’s claims against it were subject to a one-year statute of limitations found in invoice documents between Hoover and McCormick, as permitted by the Uniform Commercial Code.

After hearing argument on the motions for summary judgment, on August 31, 2010, the court issued a letter opinion granting Osmose’s and Hoover’s motions for summary judgment. The court found that “plaintiff had gone beyond the three-year statute of ^limitations in which to file their action seeking to recover damages.” The court further explained that “not only was the plaintiff aware of the problem created by the corrosive effects of the treated plywood on the aluminum fittings, tracks, and other metallic components that came in contact with them but had made some repairs and in fact had taken some remedial action to isolate the components from the corrosive effects of the plywood and its components.” The court’s judgment, entered on August 24, 2010, denied all other pending motions as moot. This appeal followed.

Our supreme court has set forth the following standard of review with regard to motions for summary judgment:

Our standard of review for summary judgment cases is well established. Summary judgment should only be granted when it is clear that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The purpose of summary judgment is not to try the issues, but to determine whether there are any issues to be tried. We no longer refer to summary judgment as a drastic remedy and now simply regard it as one of the tools in a trial court’s efficiency arsenal. Once the moving party has established a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. On appellate review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion leave a material fact unanswered. We view the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was filed, resolving all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Our review focuses not only on the pleadings, but also on the affidavits and other documents filed by the parties. Moreover, if a moving party fails to offer proof on a controverted issue, summary judgment is not appropriate, regardless of whether the nonmoving party presents the court with any countervailing evidence.

Harvest Rice, Inc. v. Fritz & Mertice Lehman Elevator & Dryer, Inc., 365 Ark. 573, 575-76, 231 S.W.3d 720, 723 (2006) (citations omitted). The standard is whether the evidence is sufficient to raise a fact issue, not whether the evidence is sufficient to compel a conclusion. Wagner v. Gen. Motors Corp., 370 Ark. 268, 258 S.W.3d 749 (2007). A fact issue exists, even if the facts are not in dispute, if the facts may result in differing conclusions as to whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. In such an instance, summary judgment is inappropriate. Id. Summary judgment is proper, however, when the statute of limitations bars an action. Alexander v. Twin City Bank, 322 Ark. 478, 910 S.W.2d 196 (1995); Tony Smith Trucking v. Woods & Woods, Ltd., 75 Ark.App. 134, 55 S.W.3d 327 (2001).

The first issue is whether International’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations. The Arkansas Products Liability Act of 1979, Ark.Code Ann. §§ 16-116-101 through 16-116-107 (Repl.2006 & Supp.2009), provides a three-year statute of limitations for all product liability actions. Ark.Code Ann. § 16-116-103. Arkansas courts apply the discovery rule to products liability actions. A cause of action accrues when the plaintiff first becomes aware of his or her condition, including both the fact of the injury and the probable causal connection between the injury and the product’s use, or when the plaintiff by the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have discovered the causal connection between the product and the injuries suffered. Martin v. Arthur, 339 Ark. 149, 3 S.W.3d 684 (1999).

International argues that it did not know about the corrosion problem caused by the ACQ chemical until preliminary testing was completed in August 2003 and, therefore, the circuit court erred in concluding that International knew of the corrosive properties of ACQ in 2002, more than three years before International filed suit. At times, the beginning of the running of the statute of limitations is a law question to be determined by the circuit court; at other times, it is a fact question for the jury to determine. Orsini v. Larry Moyer Trucking, Inc., 310 Ark. 179, 833 S.W.2d 366 (1992).

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385 S.W.3d 880, 2011 Ark. App. 589, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ic-corp-v-hoover-treated-wood-products-inc-arkctapp-2011.