Lopez v. Precision Papers

In Lopez v. Precision Papers (107 AD2d 667, 668, 484 N.Y.S.2d 585 2d Dept 1985, affd 67 N.Y.2d 871, 492 N.E.2d 1214, 501 N.Y.S.2d 798 [1986]), the plaintiff's employer removed a safety guard attached to a forklift. The Appellate Division, Second Department held that "because of the ease with which the overhead guard could be removed and the forklift's added versatility when operated without the guard, there is a legitimate jury question as to the scope of the forklift's intended purposes" (id. at 669). The Court of Appeals affirmed, stating that: In contrast with the detaching of the removable safety guard in this case, Robinson involved "material alterations i.e., cutting a 6-inch by 14-inch access hole in the safety gate of a plastic molding machine which worked a substantial change in the condition in which the product was sold by destroying the functional utility of a key safety feature." There is evidence in this record that the forklift was purposefully manufactured to permit its use without the safety guard (67 NY2d at 873).