Bunch

One hot summer day, 11-year-old Leesa Bunch (Bunch) dove into a four-foot deep, aboveground swimming pool and changed her life forever. Rendered quadriplegic by the dive, Bunch eventually filed suit against, among others, defendants Hoffinger Industries, Inc., doing business as Doughboy Recreational Company, and Golden West Marketing, Inc. (collectively Hoffinger). Hoffinger manufactured the replacement pool liner used in the pool. Bunch also sued cross-complainant McMasker Enterprises, Inc. (McMasker), the seller of the liner. McMasker eventually settled with Bunch.

Bunch’s complaint alleged negligence, products liability, failure to warn, and breach of warranty. A jury awarded Bunch over $12 million and awarded McMasker $1 million on its indemnity claim. Hoffinger appeals, contending: (1) it owed no duty to warn of possible injury from the obvious danger of diving into a shallow aboveground pool, (2) the court misapplied the doctrine of primary assumption of risk, (3) Hoffinger’s acts or omissions were not the proximate cause of Bunch’s injury, (4) the court erred in admitting evidence of prior accidents involving Hoffinger pools, (5) the trial court erred in failing…