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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Hunckler v. Air Sorce-1, Inc., No. 84A01-1405-CT-217, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Feb. 3, 2015).

February 5, 2015 Filed Under: Civil Tagged With: Appeals, J. Baker

Baker, J.
Nick Hunckler appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of appellees Timothy Miller and Air Sorce-1, Inc., (Air Sorce-1) regarding his personal injury claim. Finding that material issues of fact exist, thereby precluding summary judgment, we reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
….
Hunckler argues that the trial court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of Miller and Air Sorce-1. He contends that the trial court erred in determining that he was a “volunteer” and maintains that the trial court erred in applying the volunteer duty of care as stated in Thompson v. Owen, 141 Ind. App. 190, 218 N.E.2d 351 (Ind. Ct. App. 1966), to his negligence claim. [Footnotes omitted.]
….
Hunckler argues that Thompson does not apply to him because the case at bar is not a premises liability case. Miller concedes that this is not a premises liability case, but argues that the volunteer doctrine is not limited to premises liability cases. In May 2001, the Supreme Court of Michigan addressed the continued relevance of the volunteer doctrine, and abandoned it entirely. James v. Alberts, 626 N.W.2d 158, 161-162 (Mich. 2001). It stated that it would “return this area of law to traditional agency and tort principles, comfortable that they will better resolve the matters to which the doctrine might have applied.” Id. at 162.
We now adopt the same approach. We will continue to rely on traditional tort and agency principles and, to the extent it was ever applied, abandon the volunteer doctrine. Therefore, it follows that ordinary negligence principles apply in the instant case. We find that there are genuine issues of material fact as to duty, causation, breach, and damages.
….
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Kirsch, J., concurs, and Robb, J., concurs in result with opinion
 

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