Nichols

We hold that a manufacturer and seller of a diving platform installed in a swimming pool is not an improver of real property for purposes of the four-year statute of limitations in Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1. The judgment of nonsuit entered in respondent’s favor is reversed.

Facts

On September 7, 1969, appellant James E. Nichols was using the swimming pool at the South Hills Country Club. He fell through the railing on the three-meter diving platform, and was seriously injured.

On May 23, 1980, appellant filed suit against respondent Swimquip who stipulated that it designed, manufactured and sold the diving platform. The complaint alleged, inter alia, that the platform was defectively designed in that it lacked adequate protection against accidental falls. It further alleged that the railing was negligently designed and manufactured.

Respondent’s answer raised several affirmative defenses, including the 10-year statute of limitations embodied in section 337.15.

Testimony at trial established that the diving platform from which appellant fell was installed in 1955. The railing on each side of the board consisted of a single, semicircle bar that left a…