Maricle v. Axis Medical & Fitness Equipment, LLC

191 So. 3d 697, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 1063, 2016 WL 2342644, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 881
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 4, 2016
DocketNo. 15-1063
StatusPublished

This text of 191 So. 3d 697 (Maricle v. Axis Medical & Fitness Equipment, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maricle v. Axis Medical & Fitness Equipment, LLC, 191 So. 3d 697, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 1063, 2016 WL 2342644, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 881 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

KEATY, Judge.

1¶ Plaintiffs/Appellants, Russell Maricle and Mary Francis Maricle, appeal the trial court’s judgment granting a cross motion for summaiy judgment in favor of Defendant/Appellee, Axis Medical & Fitness Equipment, LLC. For the following reasons, the trial court’s judgment is reversed.

FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This products liability matter arose after Mr. Maricle sustained injuries from a defective wheelchair that he was using during his recovery for injuries sustained in an automobile -collision. The wheelchair was provided by Axis who delivered it to him on Januaiy 8, 2018, On April 27, 2013, Mrs. Maricle was pushing him in his wheelchair up a ramp when the back of his wheelchair ripped, causing Mr. Maricle to fall backwards, hit his head on the pavement, and reinjure his neck.

As a result, Plaintiffs filed suit on June 26, 2013, which was amended and supplemented, against Axis, Dalton Medical Corporation, and Dalton Instrument' Corporation (hereinafter the two' Dalton entities will be referred to as “Dalton”), alleging that the wheelchair was defective in design and/or manufacture - by Dalton and that Axis “knew or should have known of the defects in the [wjheelchair, because it should have inspected the [w'Jheelchair before delivery!/]” Plaintiffs also alleged that Axis was “in the business of renting medical equipment.” On May 9, 2014, Plaintiffs filed their second-supplemental and amending petition for damages and asserted a redhibitory claim against Axis and Dalton. On that same day, Axis filed a cross claim against Dalton, seeking tort indemnification for redhibitory and/or manufacturing defects. -Also -on that same day, Axis filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of. Plaintiffs’ claims, alleging that it was not negligent under La.Civ.Code art. 2317.1, which governs a custodian’s pliability for damages caused by defective things. In opposition, .Plaintiffs argued that Axis was strictly ha-ble as a lessor pursuant to La.Civ.Code arts. 2696-97, which govern a lessor’s warranties against vices or defects. The foregoing pleadings were timely filed in accordance with the trial court’s May 9, 2014 deadline for amendment of pleadings.

After the deadline passed, Plaintiffs and Dalton participated in a mediation, which resulted in them settling their products liability claim against Dalton while reserving their rights against Axis., Axis did not participate in the mediation, and on June 5, 2014, it filed a supplemental cross claim against Dalton, asserting á products liability claim and alleging comparative fault. Plaintiffs and Dalton each filed motions to strike Axis’s supplemental cross claim as untimely in light of the May 9, 2014 deadline. Dalton also filed an exception of prescription and argued that Axis’s redhi-bition claims asserted in its original cross claim had prescribed.

After the June 30,. 2014 hearing on the pending motions, the trial court orally denied Axis’s motion for summary judgment, holding that Plaintiffs’ pleadings contained “sufficierit allegations” that made it “clear that the wheelchair was leased to Mr. Mar-icle[ ]” and that. “Axis has understood from the beginning that that’s the-basis of the claim here.” This was reduced to writing in .the trial court’s September 16, 2014 judgment. Approximately one month pri- or, on August 13, 2014, the trial court [700]*700signed another written judgment granting Plaintiffs’ and Dalton’s motions to strike and dismissing Axis’s cross claim and amended cross claim. The trial court also granted Dalton’s exception of prescription.

Axis appealed the August 13, 2014 judgment prior to the scheduled trial on the merits. Axis also filed a motion to stay the judgment pending an appeal on September 2, 2014, which Plaintiffs opposed. Following a hearing on September 8, |s2014, the trial court denied Axis’s motion to stay the judgment pending an appeal and bifurcated the trial between liability and damages, with the trial on the damages to begin on September 10, 2014. This was memorialized in the trial court’s written Order signed on September 10, 2014. According to the December 31, 2014 written reasons for judgment and its January 27,2015 written judgment on damages, the trial court fixed Plaintiffs’ general damages at $150,000 plus medical special damages.

In the meantime, Axis’s pending appeal was heard by another panel of this court, and on May 6, 2015, it affirmed the trial court’s August 13, 2014 judgment. Mancle v. Axis Med. & Fitness Equip., LLC, 14-1249 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/6/15), 2015 WL 2125950 (unpublished opinion). This court held that “[t]he only remaining issue concerns the Marides’ claims against Axis for its alleged negligent failure to inspect.” Id. at 4.

Plaintiffs subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment on May 20, 2015, alleging that Axis was strictly liable as a lessor under La.Civ.Code arts. 2696-97. Axis filed a cross motion for summary judgment on June 11, 2015, arguing that the only allegations against Axis arose from its' alleged negligent failure to inspect the wheelchair prior to delivery. Axis asserted that it was not liable since there were no visible defects in the wheelchair prior to or at the time of its- delivery to Mr. Mari-de. After the July 13, 2015 hearing on the pending motions, the trial court granted Axis’s cross motion for summary judgment and dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice, which was reduced to writing in the August 26, 2015 judgment. In its written reasons for judgment rendered on July 23, 2015, the trial court referenced our previous holding in Maride, 14-1249, and stated that the only' remaining • issue was whether Axis negligently inspected the [.¡wheelchair. Plaintiffs appealed the trial court’s granting of Axis’s cross motion for summary judgment.

On appeal, Plaintiffs assert the following four assignments of error:

1. The trial court committed legal error when it .granted summary judgment in favor of Axis Medical & Fitness Equipment, LLC based on Louisiana Civil Code [Ajrtiqle 2317.1, as that Civil Code article does not apply in this case.
2. The trial court committed legal error when it denied Russell and Mary Maricle’s motion for summary judgment, as the Court was presented with proof that Axis leased a defective wheelchair to Russell Maride, and that Russell Maride was injured . due to the defect, as provided in Louisiana Civil Code [Ajrticles 2696[,] et seq.
3. The trial court erred, and this Court erred, in holding that the only issue for trial was active negligence on the part of Axis, as .that issue was not properly before the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in the prior appeal in this case, and it[,] therefor[,] had no.value as “law of the case.”
4. The trial court erred in casting plaintiffs with all of Axis’[s] court costs, as a previous Judgment of the trial court dated August 13, 2014 [701]*701cast Axis with certain court costs, and that Judgment was appealed and affirmed and is[,] therefore[,] final.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In Whitbeck v. Champagne, 14-245, p. 9 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/1/14), 149 So.3d 372, 379, this court stated the following:

Summary judgments are reviewed de novo, applying the same standard to the matter as that applied by the trial court. Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hosp., Inc.,

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191 So. 3d 697, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 1063, 2016 WL 2342644, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maricle-v-axis-medical-fitness-equipment-llc-lactapp-2016.