Gary Harvey & Meg Curley Prevail on a Motion for Summary Judgment in Montana Sixth Judicial District Court

Boston Partner Gary Harvey and Associate Meg Curley recently prevailed on a Motion for Summary Judgment in Montana Sixth Judicial District Court.  In this strict product liability case, Plaintiff, an employee of Montana Rail Link, claimed that he sustained a permanent eye injury as a result of removing a  counterside machine screw from molding by chiseling with a hammer.  The screw broke, flew into plaintiff’s face, striking his safety glasses, shattering the right lens of the glasses, and causing the glass to penetrate his right eye.  Plaintiff sued his employer, the manufacturer of the safety glass lens, the vendor who sold the safety glasses, and our client, who manufactured and sold the frames and side shields of the safety glasses.  Gary and Meg were successful in arguing that plaintiff could not sustain his cause of action against our client, because there was no evidence that the frames and side shields of the safety glasses were defective in any way, either at the time of the incident or at the time they left our client’s control.  Under Montana law, absent evidence of a defect, a claim arising under strict products liability cannot be sustained.