Rennert v. Great Dane PDF

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Gavin Navarro Prof. Harrington FIN240 T/Th 9:30am Rennert v. Great Dane Brief Citation: The name of the case is Rennert v. Great Dane Limited Partnership. Rennert is the plaintiff. Great Dane Limited Partnership is the defendant. The Illinois Supreme Court was the court that dictated the deciding factor in the case and it was decided on September 11, 2008. Facts: In July, 2005, while driving on a road behind a Great Dane trailer, Shmuel Rennert and his wife hit the back of the trailer with their minivan, sliding under the trailing causing injury to Rennert and death to his wife. Rennert claims the underride guard on the trailer failed to work and therefore Great Dane is responsible for the incident. Rennert believes an accident like this was foreseeable and it was necessary for Great Dane to improve the design of the underride guard. The state of Illinois does not recognize a cause of action in this situation. The court decided a manufacturer is only responsible for the safety of the people within the vehicle and does not owe a duty to protect those who collide with its vehicle. Issue: The question before us is whether the Supreme Court of Illinois would recognize a cause of action based on these allegations? Decision: No Reason: The court concluded that the manufacturer is solely responsible for the design of the vehicle and that it is reasonably safe for the occupants, but does not have a duty to those who collide with the vehicle. They also claimed that they did not consider that the alleged defective design was the cause for the unreasonable danger or unreasonable risk of injury. They based it strictly on liability and not on a negligence claim. They agreed that the manufacturer is only responsible for the occupant in that vehicle and are not responsible to protect those who collide with its vehicles....