Safyari v. Fujitec America CA2/5
Plaintiff and appellant Ben Safyari (plaintiff) was injured when an elevator he was standing in suddenly dropped one and a half floors. He brought product liability and negligence claims against the elevator’s manufacturer and against defendant and respondent Fujitec America, Inc. (defendant), the company that agreed to provide maintenance services for the elevator. Plaintiff dismissed his claims against the manufacturer, and the trial court granted summary judgment for defendant, finding (1) defendant carried its initial summary judgment burden by relying on plaintiff’s factually devoid responses to defendant’s discovery requests, and (2) plaintiff’s opposition to summary judgment did not demonstrate the existence of a material dispute of fact requiring trial. We consider whether the grant of summary judgment was proper, which requires us to analyze, among other things, whether plaintiff can properly invoke the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to defeat summary judgment.
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