Zwingman v. Kallhoff

507 N.W.2d 894, 244 Neb. 514, 1993 Neb. LEXIS 259
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 12, 1993
DocketS-91-784
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 507 N.W.2d 894 (Zwingman v. Kallhoff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zwingman v. Kallhoff, 507 N.W.2d 894, 244 Neb. 514, 1993 Neb. LEXIS 259 (Neb. 1993).

Opinions

Boslaugh, J.

The original plaintiff, Brian Zwingman, brought this negligence action to recover damages resulting from personal injuries which occurred on October 19,1987, when his clothing became caught on a haystack mover which was owned by the [515]*515original defendant and appellant in this appeal, Ronald Kallhoff. Kallhoff filed a third-party petition against Keating International, Inc. and Farmhand, Inc. Those parties moved for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Farmhand only. Kallhoff appeals from that summary judgment. Thus, this appeal involves only Kallhoff’s assertion that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Farmhand.

A summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, depositions, admissions, stipulations, and affidavits in the record disclose that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact or as to the ultimate inferences to be drawn therefrom and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Gould v. Orr, ante p. 163, 506 N.W.2d 349 (1993). In reviewing an order sustaining a motion for summary judgment, an appellate court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion and gives that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences that may be deduced from the evidence. Design Data Corp. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 243 Neb. 945, 503 N.W.2d 552 (1993).

The record shows that the appellee Farmhand manufactured the haystack mover on which Zwingman was injured. Farmhand shipped the partially unassembled haystack mover to its dealer, Keating International. The machine was accompanied by printed assembly instructions. Keating International assembled the machine and sold the machine to the appellant, Kallhoff, on October 11,1979.

Within 2 weeks after purchasing the haystack mover, Kallhoff encountered difficulty in maintaining the required coupling of two component parts of the haystack mover. Kallhoff discussed the problem with John Keating of Keating International. John Keating indicated to Kallhoff that someone from Keating International would travel to Kallhoff’s farm to “have it checked out.” Within a week after that conversation, Kallhoff discovered that set screws in the coupling had been replaced by protruding hex-headed bolts. It is one of these bolts which caught Zwingman’s clothing.

There remains a dispute as to whether Keating International actually performed the repairs which resulted in the protruding [516]*516headbolt’s being placed into the drive shaft, and there is also some question whether the repair, if made by Keating International, was made pursuant to the manufacturer’s warranty. For purposes of this opinion, however, we assume that Keating International did make the repair, that Keating International was negligent in making the repair, and that the repáir was covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Given these assumptions, the question presented is whether, under the circumstances in this case, a manufacturer is vicariously liable for a dealer’s negligent repair of the manufacturer’s product when the repair is covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.

Generally, the employer of an independent contractor is not liable for physical harm caused to another by the acts or omissions of the contractor or his servants. Erickson v. Monarch Indus., 216 Neb. 875, 347 N.W.2d 99 (1984); Sullivan v. Geo. A. Hormel and Co., 208 Neb. 262, 303 N.W.2d 476 (1981). See Herman v. Bonanza Bldgs., Inc., 223 Neb. 474, 390 N.W.2d 536 (1986). Furthermore, control or the right to control is the chief criterion in the determination of whether one acts as an independent contractor. Herman v. Bonanza Bldgs., Inc., supra; Erspamer Advertising Co. v. Dept. of Labor, 214 Neb. 68, 333 N.W.2d 646 (1983). In addition, one who receives goods from another for resale to a third person is not thereby the other’s agent unless the former’s duty is to act primarily for the benefit of the one delivering the goods. Herman v. Bonanza Bldgs., Inc., supra.

Consistent with these principles is the analysis contained in Peeples v. Kawasaki Heavy Indust., Ltd., 288 Or. 143, 603 P.2d 765 (1979). In Peeples, a motorcyclist who was injured in an accident allegedly caused by a loose chain drive slipping off a sprocket sought recovery against the dealer and also the distributor and manufacturer of the motorcycle on the theory that they were vicariously liable for the dealer’s negligence in performing service work under the terms of the warranty agreement. The court reviewed the contract between the distributor and the dealer and stated:

This agreement clearly gives the distributor the right, through its power to set “standards” governing the dealer’s method of operation, service, and warranty repair [517]*517and its power of immediate termination for the dealer’s breach of any of those standards, to control to some degree the physical conduct of the dealer and his employees in the performance of warranty-related service work. If that right exists, we have said that it is not important that the right may not actually have been exercised. [Citations omitted.] In this case there was, however, some evidence that the distributor’s right of control was in fact exercised. There was testimony from which the jury could conclude that the distributor furnished the dealer with charts showing how certain adjustments, including adjustments to the drive chain, should be made and that the dealer’s mechanics were directed to follow those charts. The jury could also find that the distributor required the dealer’s mechanics to attend its training schools and that the distributor periodically sent representatives to visit the dealer’s shop to see that instructions were being followed.

288 Or. at 148-49, 603 P.2d at 768. The Supreme Court of Oregon concluded that based upon such evidence, a jury could find that the distributor was vicariously liable for its dealer’s negligence in performing service work under terms of the warranty.

The court then considered the prospective vicarious liability of the manufacturer and determined that the manufacturer could not be held liable for the dealer’s negligence in servicing the motorcycle. The court stated:

As to the manufacturer, however, we find no comparable evidence in the record. So far as the evidence shows, there is no contractual relationship between the dealer and the manufacturer, and no history of either the exercise of actual control by the manufacturer over the dealer’s performance of service work or any recognition by the dealer of the manufacturer’s right to exert such control. The failure to grant the manufacturer’s motion for directed verdict was error, and the judgment against the manufacturer must be reversed.

288 Or. at 150, 603 P.2d at 769.

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Zwingman v. Kallhoff
507 N.W.2d 894 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
507 N.W.2d 894, 244 Neb. 514, 1993 Neb. LEXIS 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zwingman-v-kallhoff-neb-1993.