The Alaska Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court’s ruling that said an automotive repair shop was not negligent when it did not fix a truck’s parking brake. The shop had informed the vehicle’s owner that they were unable to repair the parking brake and that the parking brake did not work. Not long after, the truck rolled backwards and injured the plaintiff.
Below is the article as it appeared on the Legal Newsline website.
Repair shop not at fault for broken parking brake
By Jessica M. Karmasek
October 06, 2010
JUNEAU, Alaska (Legal Newsline) – The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed the ruling of a lower court in favor of an automotive repair shop that failed to fix a truck’s parking brake before it rolled over someone.
The Court, in an opinion filed Friday, upheld the superior court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of E&E Automotive & Tire Service, Inc., and its owner, James Egbert.
In March 2005, Timothy Lindsey was severely injured when his employer’s unattended truck rolled backwards and struck him. An inspection revealed that the cause of the accident was a non-functioning parking brake.
Lindsey sued E&E Automotive & Tire Service Inc., the repair shop that had recently serviced the truck, for negligence.
E&E had been asked to repair the parking brake but was unable to do so. E&E informed Lindsey’s employer that it had not repaired the parking brake and that the brake still did not work.
The superior court granted summary judgment in E&E’s favor, concluding that E&E had fulfilled its duty to warn Lindsey’s employer that the requested repair had not been made and that a defect still existed with the parking brake. Lindsey subsequently appealed.
To read the entire article, visit the Legal Newsline website at http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/228987-repair-shop-not-at-fault-for-broken-parking-brake.
