Stewart

Plaintiff Roger E. Stewart was horribly burned when the antenna he was installing on a roof came into contact with a high voltage wire, sending a surge of electricity through his body. In this action for strict liability, the plaintiff and his wife, Lora, claim the antenna was defectively insulated and failed to carry an adequate warning. But the manufacturer of the offending antenna had long since declared bankruptcy and gone out of business. The defendant, Telex Communications, Inc. (Telex), purchased most of the bankrupt manufacturer’s assets from the trustee in bankruptcy. The question on appeal is whether the defendant is subject to liability for plaintiffs’ injuries on a “successor corporation” theory. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the action because it did not find any successor liability. Because defendant was not a causal factor in the bankruptcy of the manufacturer, we agree that it did not assume any liability for the defective product of the bankrupt manufacturer when it purchased the assets from the trustee. We shall therefore affirm.

I

Summary Judgment Motion

“Since a summary judgment motion raises only…