In this products liability case, Appellants Steve Bailey and Laura Bailey appeal the trial court’s order granting summary judgment under Indiana law to Cottrell, Inc. in the Baileys’ suit to recover for injuries Steve Bailey sustained when he fell from the top level of a car-hauler/tractor-trailer rig. Because we find that the trial court erred in failing to apply Georgia law to the Baileys’ claims, we reverse. At all pertinent times, the Baileys were residents of Missouri. Cottrell, Inc. is a Georgia corporation engaged in the design, development and manufacture of car hauling equipment. Steve Bailey worked as a driver for a car-hauling company, Jack Cooper Transport “JCT”, out of Wentzville, Missouri. The accident at issue occurred in Indiana on October 28, 2005, while Steve Bailey was loading pickup trucks onto his assigned car-hauler, a 1998 Cottrell rig owned by JCT. After Bailey loaded an extended-cab pickup truck with a camper top onto an area called the “headramp,” which is located on top of the tractor, he stepped out of the pickup to dismount from the headramp’s upper level. Bailey, who was wearing work gloves, stuck his right fingers into the top of the doorjamb above the rear door of the pickup, while closing the pickup’s driver door with his left hand. As Bailey closed the door, the air from inside the pickup blew against his right hand, dislodging his fingers. Losing his grip, he fell backwards onto the parking lot surface below. Bailey asserts that he sustained traumatic injuries in the fall that have left him disabled.
The Baileys allege that the car-hauler he was using was designed, manufactured and sold by Cottrell with inadequate space for maneuvering and with no fall prevention devices, such as safety chains or grab bars on the rig’s upper level, despite the fact that Cottrell knew that drivers like Bailey would be required to load and unload automobiles from that area. Cottrell counters that Steve Bailey had knowledge of these supposed defects in the rig, as well as the knowledge of the specific risks of falling, and that he understood, appreciated and assumed these risks. The trial court, applying Indiana law, found that Steve Bailey voluntarily assumed the risk of working on the upper level of the car hauler and granted Cottrell’s motion for summary judgment.
