Plaintiff was injured in 2001 by an oil drum that had been installed in 1987. The district court found that the base coating line was an improvement to real property, and that the manufacturer was thus entitled to Oklahoma’s 10-year statute of repose. The Tenth Circuit reversed, noting a general distinction between pre-fabricated mass-produced products, on the one hand, and those components which are unique in design and manufactured to fit the specifications of a particular location, on the other. Then, applying a multi-part test, (tax treatment, ownership, permanence, value enhancement, and intent), the Court concluded that the production line machinery was not an “improvement to real property” subject to the statute of repose. Durham v. Herbert Olbrich, 404 F.3d 1249 (10th Cir. 2005).
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