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The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases, including one involving a Paoli quarry company seeking damages after an explosion decimated an asphalt plant on its property.
The high court also denied transfer to nine cases for the week ending Feb. 2.
In Cave Quarries, Inc. v. Warex, LLC, 24S-CT-39, Warex LLC, a company that provides explosives and blasting services, carried out a blast on a Paoli property owned by Cave Quarries, which conducts a limestone quarrying operation there.
The resulting explosion destroyed an asphalt plant.
The blast in March 2021 was focused on a wall at the quarry that had to be lowered in phases, so Warex conducted multiple small blasts.
But because Cave Quarries was paying a fee for each blast, the company’s superintendent and Warex’s licensed blaster on site made a mutual decision to do a larger blast, which caused the damage.
Cave Quarries filed a complaint for damages against Warex.
The quarry company alleged strict liability and negligence or, alternatively, negligence in its use of explosives.
Cave Quarries sought summary judgment declaring Warex liable for the damages, and Warex filed its own motion for summary judgment.
The Orange Circuit Court denied the motions, determining in part that strict liability was not the applicable standard and that material issues of fact exist regarding Cave Quarries’ negligence claim.
Cave Quarries appealed, arguing the trial court erred as a matter of law by denying its motion.
But the Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling that strict liability isn’t the applicable standard in the case. The case was remanded for further proceedings on Cave Quarries’ remaining count of negligence.
In Perdue Farms, Inc. v. L & B Transport, LLC, et.al., 24S-PL-40, William Richardson, who was an employee of L&B Transport LLC, made an unannounced delivery to Perdue Farms’ plant outside of its normal business hours.
He informed the gate employees that he was delivering bleach. They directed him to the bleach tank, where he connected his truck to the tank and began filling it. Richardson didn’t watch the transfer, but instead waited in his truck.
However, Richardson was not transporting bleach but rather aluminum chloride.
The transfer caused a chemical reaction, creating fog and foam in multiple rooms of the plant.
The plant had to shut down for multiple days to clean and repair, and Perdue had to replace damaged equipment costing more than $1.2 million.
In May 2021, Perdue filed an amended complaint in Daviess Circuit Court against Richardson, L&B, U.S. Security, and several of its employees, as well as other entities, for negligence, strict liability, and breach of contract.
U.S. Security and the employees filed a Trial Rule 12(B)(3) motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to the forum selection clause.
A trial court granted U.S. Security and the employees’ motion to dismiss. It found that the forum selection clause was “valid and enforceable.”
The Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings.
In the nine cases justices denied transfer, all justices concurred in eight of the cases.
For Autumn B. Stahl v. State of Indiana, 23A-CR-143, Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff voted to grant transfer.
That case involved a woman who stabbed a man and attempted to drown her 6-week-old child.
A jury rejected her insanity defense plea and found her guilty but mentally ill on charges of Level 3 felony attempted aggravated battery, Level 5 felony battery with a deadly weapon, Level 6 felony domestic battery but mentally ill of all but Level 3 aggravated battery, and felony neglect of a dependent.
She was sentenced to a nine-year aggregate term.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.
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