Godoy v. Abamaster of Miami, Inc.

Zoila Godoy (plaintiff) lost four fingers when using a manually fed meat grinder. Godoy brought a strict products-liability action against Mike’s Restaurant Equipment Corp. (the retailer), Abamaster of Miami, Inc., and Abamaster, Inc. (the wholesale distributor), and Carfel, Inc. (the importer) (defendants). There was no jurisdiction over the grinder’s Taiwanese manufacturer. The importer had offices in the United States and Taiwan. The importer purchased the grinder from the manufacturer, imported the grinder into the United States, and then sold the grinder to the wholesale distributor without ever having removed the grinder from its carton. The wholesale distributor received the grinder’s sealed carton from the importer and then sold the still-sealed box to the retailer. The retailer then sold the grinder in its store. The trial court entered a default judgment against the retailer. Godoy pursued claims against the grinder’s wholesale distributor and importer. The wholesale distributor filed a crossclaim against the importer for contribution and indemnification. The importer also filed a crossclaim against the wholesale distributor for contribution. At trial, a jury found the grinder was defectively designed and found Godoy 40 percent liable, the wholesale distributor 50 percent liable, and the importer 10 percent liable. After the jury’s verdict, the grinder’s wholesale distributor sought indemnification against the importer. The trial court ruled that the wholesale distributor was not entitled to indemnification from the importer because the jury found both the wholesale distributor and importer liable as joint tortfeasors. The wholesale distributor appealed the lower court’s dismissal of its indemnification claim.