Duty to Warn – Product Liability

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Gregory Aregood, Jr., et al. v. Givaudan Flavors Corporation, et al.

Case No.: 17-3390

Officials: RIPPLE, KANNE, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Duty to Warn – Product Liability

More than twenty current and former employees at the ConAgra microwave popcorn plant in Rensselear, Indiana sued various manufacturers and suppliers of butter flavorings that contained the chemical diacetyl, which if inhaled can cause a respiratory disease called “popcorn lung.” All defendants were dismissed except Givaudan Flavors Corporation (“Givaudan”), a long‐time supplier to the plant, which faced claims under Indiana product liability law for strict liability, failure to warn, negligence, and design defect.

Givaudan moved for and eventually received summary judgment in full. The employee plaintiffs appeal, contending that the district court erred in reviewing the evidence and applying the law. Summary judgment for the flavor manufacturer Givaudan is proper on many of plaintiffs’ claims, but not that Givaudan failed to warn plaintiffs that its products contained a dangerous substance. Whether an exception to that duty to warn—the sophisticated intermediary doctrine— applies to the employer ConAgra and exonerates Givaudan is a fact question, so we remand for trial on that claim.

For these reasons, we AFFIRM the grant of summary judgment to Givaudan on the employees’ claims other than the failure to warn, REVERSE the grant of summary judgment on the employees’ duty to warn claim based on the sophisticated intermediary doctrine, and REMAND for further proceedings on that claim.

Affirmed in part. Reversed and Remanded in part.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.