Filed: Oct. 18, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: FILED United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS October 18, 2007 Elisabeth A. Shumaker FO R TH E TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court TIM OTHY A. TABOR; DEBRA J. TABOR; FARM ERS INSURANCE GRO UP, No. 05-4155 & 05-4156 Plaintiffs-Appellants, (D.C. No. 2:99-CV-503-TC) (Utah) v. THE M ETAL WA RE CORPORATION, a W isconsin corporation, Defendant-Appellee, and NESCO AM ERICAN HARVEST, a M innesota corporation; N EWC O OF TW O RIVERS, a W isconsin corporation, Defendants. OR
Summary: FILED United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS October 18, 2007 Elisabeth A. Shumaker FO R TH E TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court TIM OTHY A. TABOR; DEBRA J. TABOR; FARM ERS INSURANCE GRO UP, No. 05-4155 & 05-4156 Plaintiffs-Appellants, (D.C. No. 2:99-CV-503-TC) (Utah) v. THE M ETAL WA RE CORPORATION, a W isconsin corporation, Defendant-Appellee, and NESCO AM ERICAN HARVEST, a M innesota corporation; N EWC O OF TW O RIVERS, a W isconsin corporation, Defendants. OR ..
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FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS
October 18, 2007
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
FO R TH E TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
TIM OTHY A. TABOR; DEBRA J.
TABOR; FARM ERS INSURANCE
GRO UP,
No. 05-4155 & 05-4156
Plaintiffs-Appellants, (D.C. No. 2:99-CV-503-TC)
(Utah)
v.
THE M ETAL WA RE
CORPORATION, a W isconsin
corporation,
Defendant-Appellee,
and
NESCO AM ERICAN HARVEST, a
M innesota corporation; N EWC O OF
TW O RIVERS, a W isconsin
corporation,
Defendants.
OR D ER AND JUDGM ENT *
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
Before K ELL Y and TYM K O VICH , Circuit Judges, and EAGAN, ** District
Judge.
Appellants Timothy and Debra Tabor and Farmers Insurance Company
appeal from an order entered M ay 20, 2005, granting appellee M etal W are
Corporation summary judgment on products liability claims filed against
American Harvest, a company whose assets M etal W are acquired in 1997. The
district court concluded that 1) Utah law would not impose strict liability on
successor corporations for defective products sold by the predecessor corporation,
and 2) that Utah law would, however, recognize an independent post-sale duty to
warn by successor corporations. The court held, as a matter of law, that the
Tabors could not establish that M etal W are’s failure to warn caused their
damages.
On M ay 26, 2006, we certified questions of state law to the Utah Supreme
Court in this matter. On August 31, 2007, the court responded. See Tabor v.
M etal Ware Corp., ___P.3d___,
585 Utah Adv. Rep. 23 (Utah 2007). W e have
since received supplemental briefs from the parties addressing the impact of the
Utah Supreme Court’s decision.
Upon consideration of the response to our certified questions and the briefs
filed in response to our order dated September 12, 2007, we VACATE the district
**
The Honorable Claire V. Eagan, Chief Judge, United States District Court for
the Northern District of Oklahoma, sitting by designation.
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court’s order entered M ay 20, 2005 and the judgment entered that same day, and
REM AND for additional proceedings consistent with the opinion of the Utah
Supreme Court. W e make no comment on the outcome of those proceedings, and
defer to the district court with respect to the appropriate scope of the proceedings.
The mandate shall issue forthwith.
Entered for the Court
Timothy M . Tymkovich
Circuit Judge
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