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Dean F. Hatch and Mary L. Hatch v. Trail King Industries, Inc

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Before Lynch, Chief Judge, Torruella and Howard, Circuit Judges.

A jury rejected both the negligence and the breach of the implied warranty of merchantability claims brought by the plaintiffs, Dean Hatch and his wife, after Hatch was severely injured at work and left paralyzed from his chest down. Hatch did not bring this suit against his employer, Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (“ADS”); it may be he was restricted to an exclusive workers’ compensation remedy. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 152, §§ 23-24; Roberts v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 599 F.3d 73, 77 (1st Cir. 2010).

Rather, he brought suit against Trail King Industries, Inc., the company that had built a specialized trailer for Hatch’s employer, following the employer’s specifications as to the parts of the trailer which were said to have caused the injuries. The suit was filed in October 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs asserted that the design of the hydraulically operated drop gate of the trailer was defective and that the addition of an inexpensive fixed safety chain or an extended spring-loaded pin would have prevented the accident. The district court denied cross-motions for summary judgment and the case went to trial. The Hatches appeal both from the jury instructions on negligence and the implied warranty and from denial of the plaintiffs’ motion in limine.*fn1

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