DiCola

Plaintiffs and appellants Janice DiCola, individually and on behalf of the estate of Thomas DiCola, Gina DiCola, by and through her guardian ad litem Phyllis Pearson, Christopher DiCola and Daniel DiCola appeal from summary judgments in favor of defendants and respondents White Brothers Performance Products, Inc. (White), and Tolemar, Inc. (Tolemar), on plaintiffs’ wrongful death and products liability action stemming from an accident that was alleged to have occurred when a motorcycle side stand failed to retract. The trial court granted summary judgment on the grounds (1) defendants’ evidence demonstrated neither White, a distributor, nor Tolemar, a manufacturer, placed the allegedly defective side stand on the market; (2) plaintiffs’ evidence did not create a triable issue of material fact as to whether White and Tolemar were the distributor and manufacturer, respectively, of an exemplar side stand (example B) that plaintiffs’ experts asserted was essentially identical to the subject side stand; and (3) defendants demonstrated they were not responsible for placing the subject side stand into the stream of commerce. In reaching its holding, the court rejected a…