Tavitas, J.
Case Summary
Crawfordsville Town & Country Home Center, Inc. (“Town & Country”) appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment in proceedings brought by Odilon Elias Cordova (“Cordova”) and Jamie Busse (“Busse”). We reverse and remand.
Issue
Town & Country raises two issues. We find the following issue dispositive: Whether the trial court properly denied Town & Country’s motion for summary judgment based on lack of duty.
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According to Town & Country, the aerial lift’s manufacturer’s warnings were sufficient, and it was not required to provide additional warnings to Cordova. Cordova argues that the warnings were provided in English and that his English is limited; Cordova also contends that Town & Country had a duty because Perigo allegedly was aware of where Cordova was using the aerial lift. “[W]hether a duty exists is a question of law for the court to decide.” Rogers v. Martin, 63 N.E.3d 316, 321 (Ind. 2016). “Although the adequacy of warnings, which implicates breach of duty, is generally a question of fact for the trier of fact to resolve, the nature of the duty to provide warnings is a question of law to be decided by the court.” Rushford, 868 N.E.2d at 810.
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Town & Country argues that Rushford is controlling here. In Rushford, the plaintiff and her husband purchased a car from a Ford dealer. A few weeks later, the plaintiff, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was injured by the air bag during a crash. The plaintiff brought a product liability action against the dealer and the manufacturer and alleged that they failed to provide reasonable, adequate warnings regarding the air bags. According to the plaintiff, the dealer should have given her additional warnings because it was aware she did not drive and saw her short stature. The trial court denied the dealer’s and manufacturer’s motions for summary judgment. On appeal, this court reversed the denial of the manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment but affirmed the denial of the dealer’s motion for summary judgment.
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Town & Country argues that, based on Rushford, it had no obligation to give Cordova warnings in addition to the warnings provided by the manufacturer. Town & Country also contends that Cordova’s limited grasp of the English language is a unique characteristic analogous to the plaintiff’s short stature in Rushford, which did not require additional warnings. Cordova, however, argues that Town & Country’s argument would favor English speakers and non-English speakers would not be “entitled to receive critical safety information and/or warnings in a form that they can understand.” Appellee’s Br. p. 19.
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In this case, warnings were given by the manufacturer and were clearly visible on the aerial lift. Cordova cites no authority that Indiana law imposes a duty to provide bilingual warnings on a product or that the “reasonable warning” requirement includes an obligation to provide bilingual warnings. [Footnote omitted.] Other courts considering this issue have analyzed whether the product was specifically marketed to non-English speakers, and there is no evidence of such here. See Farias v. Mr. Heater, Inc., 684 F.3d 1231 (11th Cir. 2012) (holding that the warnings on a heater were adequate even though they were not provided in Spanish where the product was not specifically marketed to Spanish-speaking customers).
We conclude that the Rushford analysis is more applicable and persuasive here. Under Rushford, Town & Country had no duty to provide additional warnings to Cordova. In Rushford, the seller had no obligation to provide additional warnings regarding the airbags even though it was aware of the plaintiff’s short stature. Rushford, 868 N.E.2d at 811. Town & Country, similarly, had no obligation to provide Cordova with additional warnings regardless of Cordova’s limited English skills.
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Under either the Dutchmen or Rushford analysis, Town & Country prevails. The warnings were placed on the aerial lift and in the operating manual by the manufacturer, and Town & Country passed on these warnings to Cordova. Having considered the written warnings and illustrations and our supreme court’s opinions in Rushford and Dutchmen, we conclude that there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding whether the manufacturer-provided warnings and illustrations supplied adequate warnings of danger about the risks of electrocution when using the aerial lift. Town & Country had no duty to provide additional warnings to Cordova. Accordingly, Town & Country was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The trial court erred by denying Town & Country’s motion for summary judgment. [Footnote omitted.]
Conclusion
The trial court erred by denying Town & Country’s motion for summary judgment. We reverse and remand.
Reversed and remanded.
Brown, J., and Altice, J., concur.