Lipkin v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority

7 Am. Tribal Law 461, 3 G.D.R. 114
CourtMohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court
DecidedMay 29, 2008
DocketNo. GDTC-T-06-119-PMG
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Am. Tribal Law 461 (Lipkin v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lipkin v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, 7 Am. Tribal Law 461, 3 G.D.R. 114 (Mo. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

GUERNSEY, Chief Judge

As a result of injuries sustained by the Plaintiff on February 16, 2006, the Plaintiff has brought two actions, the first against the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and the second against a non-Tribal entity, Drive Medical Design & Manufacturing (hereafter “Drive Medical”), alleged to be [463]*463the manufacturer of a walking assistance device, the Go-Lite Rollator. These two actions were consolidated by order of this Court on March 7, 2007. Before the Court is Drive Medical’s Motion for Summary Judgment; the claims against the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority are not presently at issue.1

As regards Design Medical, the Plaintiffs claims, although couched in terms of negligence, also contained allegations suggestive of a products liability claim.2 In its Motion for Summary Judgment, Drive Medical argued, correctly, that there is no Mohegan Tribal Law governing product liability claims. Therefore, Drive Medical asserted that Connecticut law should be controlling, under which common law causes of action are barred by the exclusivity provision of Conn. Gen.Stat. § 25-572n.3 “The exclusivity provision makes the product liability act the exclusive means by which a party may secure a remedy for an injury caused by a defective product.” Gerrity v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 263 Conn. 120, 126, 818 A.2d 769 (2003). The Plaintiff, while agreeing that under Connecticut law the negligence aspect of his claims was barred, asserted that it was unclear what law this Court would apply, but that in any case there remained the issue as to the adequacy of any warnings related to the use of the Go-Lite Rollator.

Subsequent to the oral argument on Drive Medical’s motion, the Gaming Disputes Court of Appeals rendered its Decision on Appeal in Lubrano v. Brennan Beer Gorman, Et Al., GDCA-T-07-501, 1 G.D.A.P. 48, 7 Am. Tribal Law 369, 2008 WL 5479063 (2008). In Lubrano, a case against numerous non-Tribal defendants, the Gaming Disputes Trial Court had held that the provisions of the Mohegan Torts Code (other than the provision regarding damage limitations) governed tort claims even against non-Tribal entities. In reversing the Trial Court’s summary judgment in favor of one Defendant on grounds that claims against it were not filed within the Tort Code’s statute of limitations, thereby depriving the Court of jurisdiction, [464]*464the Court of Appeals, after reviewing the statutory history and purpose of the Torts Code as well as its express statement of purpose, held that the Torts Code had no applicability to tort claims against non-Tribal entities. Such claims remained subject to Connecticut law, under which the defense of statute of limitations would be a special defense, not involving the jurisdiction of the Court.

Drive Medical is therefore correct in asserting that Connecticut statutory and case law authority is controlling as to the claims against it. As for the negligence and warranty claims, these are barred by Conn. Gen.Stat. § 52-572n. The issue thus before the Court is whether there exists a “genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law” on the Plaintiffs product liability claims. G.D.C.P. § 49(f). Under Connecticut’s product liability law, “[a] product may be defective due to a flaw in the manufacturing process, a design defect or because of inadequate warnings or instructions.” Vitanza v. The Upjohn Company, 257 Conn. 365, 373, 778 A.2d 829 (2001). As for inadequate warnings or instructions, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 52-576q provides as follows:

§ 52-572q. Liability of product seller due to lack of adequate warnings or instructions
(a) A product seller may be subject to liability for harm caused to a claimant who proves by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the product was defective in that adequate warnings or instructions were not provided.
(b) In determining whether instructions or warnings were required and, if required, whether they were adequate, the trier of fact may consider: (1) The likelihood that the product would cause the harm suffered by the claimant; (2) the ability of the product seller to anticipate at the time of manufacture that the expected product user would be aware of the product risk, and the nature of the potential harm; and (3) the technological feasibility and cost of warnings and instructions.
(c) In claims based on this section, the claimant shall prove by a fair preponderance of the evidence that if adequate warnings or instructions had been provided, the claimant would not have suffered the harm.
(d) A product seller may not be considered to have provided adequate warnings or instructions unless they were devised to communicate with the person best able to take or recommend precautions against the potential harm.

In this context, user awareness is an issue to be weighed by the trier of fact:

Thus, pursuant to § 52-572q(b), the anticipated awareness of an expected user with respect to the dangers of a particular product factors into the trier’s determination of whether warnings were required and if so whether those provided were adequate.

Sharp v. Wyatt, Inc., 31 Conn.App. 824, 849, 627 A.2d 1347 (1993). In this respect, the Plaintiffs affidavit in opposition to the motion for summary judgment asserts that the Rollator chair was purchased for him by his brother, and that the Plaintiff never received any user’s manual or other paperwork. The Plaintiff claims that the chair was defective “because there are no warnings on the chair at all and the wheels on my model are too small, making it tippy.” Affidavit of Richard Lipkin, Paragraph 9. The Plaintiff also asserts that the chair itself contained no “warning labels or notices ... not to use it as a transportation [465]*465device,” Id, Paragraph 7, and he used the device in a way he thought was appropriate. Id, Paragraph 10.

It is precisely this manner of use that Drive Medical argues constitutes misuse of the product. The videotape of the incident reveals the Plaintiff seated in the Rollator, propelling himself backwards for a considerable distance, until the rear wheels of the chair meet what appears to be an expansion strip in the floor and the chair falls over. Drive Medical argues that its warnings assert that the Rollator is a walking aid only and not a transportation device. To this the Plaintiff responds that such warnings do not appear on the device itself and that the Plaintiff had never seen such a warning.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gaulton v. Reno Paint & Wallpaper Co.
412 A.2d 311 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1979)
Spencer v. Good Earth Restaurant Corporation
319 A.2d 403 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1972)
Elliot v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.
642 A.2d 709 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1994)
Vitanza v. Upjohn Co.
778 A.2d 829 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2001)
Gerrity v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
818 A.2d 769 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2003)
Sharp v. Wyatt, Inc.
627 A.2d 1347 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1993)
Lubrano v. Brennan Beer Gorman Architects, LLP
7 Am. Tribal Law 369 (Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court of Appeals, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 Am. Tribal Law 461, 3 G.D.R. 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lipkin-v-mohegan-tribal-gaming-authority-mohegangct-2008.