Dekalb-Cherokee Counties Gas Dist. v. Raughton

257 So.3d 845

DEKALB–CHEROKEE COUNTIES GAS DISTRICT

v.Timothy RAUGHTON

1160838

Supreme Court of Alabama.

February 23, 2018

H. Edgar Howard of Ford, Howard & Cornett, P.C., Gadsden, for appellant.

W. Whitney Seals of Cochrun & Seals, LLC, Birmingham, for appellee.

SELLERS, Justice.

In this personal-injury action, the DeKalb–Cherokee Counties Gas District ("DC Gas") appeals from a judgment of the DeKalb Circuit Court denying DC Gas's renewed motion for a judgment as a matter of law ("JML") or, in the alternative, for a new trial. We reverse the trial court's judgment and render a judgment for DC Gas.

On October 10, 2011, the plaintiff, Timothy Raughton, an employee of the City of Fort Payne, was working at the city landfill. One of his duties on that day was to tell users of the landfill where to dump their refuse. On that same day, Neal Ridgeway, in his capacity as an employee of DC Gas, drove a dump truck to the landfill. The bed of the dump truck contained bricks and concrete blocks that had been collected from a site on which DC Gas planned to have constructed an office building.

While Ridgeway dumped the contents of the truck at the landfill, Raughton stood next to the truck. He testified that he was standing there because the truck shielded him from the wind, which had been blowing dust in his eyes. At some point during the dumping process, the debris in the bed of the truck became lodged and would not fall out. In an effort to dump the remaining debris, Ridgeway performed a maneuver, which the evidence in this case indicates is commonly performed by drivers of dump trucks—he put the truck into gear and released the clutch, causing the truck to shake and to move forward slightly. As he was performing this clutch-release maneuver, the side wall of the truck bed fell from the truck, striking and injuring Raughton. There is no evidence in this case indicating that the clutch-release maneuver violated any formal safety standards.

Raughton sued DC Gas, alleging negligence and wantonness. The trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of DC Gas on Raughton's wantonness claim, but his negligence claim proceeded to trial.

When asked during the trial how the side wall was attached to the truck, Ridgeway testified that it "sits down in three or four standards on the side, and it's got a pin—It's got a pin at the front. I won't really say a pin, but it's got a way it attaches at the very front up there." There is no other testimony or evidence as to how the side wall was attached to the truck. There also is no testimony or evidence indicating exactly how the side wall became detached from the truck.¹

The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Raughton in the amount of $100,000. The trial court entered a judgment on that verdict and denied DC Gas's renewed motion for a JML. DC Gas appealed.

" ‘The standard of review applicable to a ruling on a motion for [a JML] is identical to the standard used by the trial court in granting or denying [that motion]. Thus, in reviewing the trial court's ruling on the motion, we review the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmovant, and we determine whether the party with the burden of proof has produced sufficient evidence to require a jury determination.

" ‘....

" ‘... In ruling on a motion for a [JML], the trial court is called upon to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to submit a question of fact to the jury; for the court to determine that it was, there must have been "substantial evidence" before the jury to create a question of fact. "[S]ubstantial evidence is evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved." ’

" American Nat'l Fire Ins. Co. v. Hughes, 624 So.2d 1362, 1366–67 (Ala. 1993). (Citations omitted.)."

Acceptance Ins. Co. v. Brown, 832 So.2d 1, 12 (Ala. 2001). Questions of law are reviewed de novo. Pritchett v. ICN Med. Alliance, Inc., 938 So.2d 933, 935 (Ala. 2006).

During the trial, Raughton proposed two theories of liability. He argued that Ridgeway, DC Gas's employee, acted negligently in choosing to perform the clutch-release maneuver while Raughton was standing next to the truck and that DC Gas was negligent in failing to have the dump truck properly inspected.

DC Gas argues on appeal that it cannot be held liable for negligence based on Ridgeway's performing the clutch-release maneuver because, DC Gas asserts, no evidence was presented indicating that it was foreseeable that the maneuver could result in the side wall of the truck bed becoming detached and falling from the truck. DC Gas points to Butler v. AAA Warehousing & Moving Co., 686 So.2d 291 (Ala. Civ. App. 1996). In that case, the defendant had assembled a multi-level reviewing stand, which was then made available for people to stand on while watching a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile. The plaintiff sued the defendant after she was injured when her foot became caught in an open space between two levels of the stand. The trial court in Butler granted the defendant's summary-judgment motion. On appeal, the Court of Civil Appeals noted that "[n]egligence has been defined as the ‘failure to do what a reasonably prudent person would have done under the same or similar circumstances.’ " 686 So.2d at 293 (quoting Elba Wood Prods., Inc. v. Brackin, 356 So.2d 119, 122 (Ala. 1978) ). The court concluded that the plaintiff had not presented substantial evidence indicating that the defendant reasonably should have foreseen that someone's foot could get caught in the open space between the levels of the stand. To the contrary, people responsible for erecting and inspecting the stand testified that they were unaware of any reason to consider the uncovered space between the levels a safety hazard; a forensic engineer testified that the uncovered space did not violate any safety standards; and there had been no similar accidents involving the stand in the previous 25 years. Thus, the Court of Civil Appeals concluded, the evidence established that the defendant "did not breach its standard of care in erecting the reviewing stand and in leaving the spaces open." 686 So.2d at 294. The court affirmed the summary judgment for the defendant.

In Motor Terminal & Transportation Co. v. Millican, 244 Ala. 39, 12 So.2d 96 (1943), the plaintiff sued the employer of a truck driver after a tire and rim detached from the truck while it was in operation and struck the plaintiff. This Court concluded that the defendant could be held liable for negligence based on evidence indicating that such an accident was foreseeable because the defendant's agents knew the truck was in poor condition and knew that its wheels had become detached on prior occasions. In Clayton v. Fargason, 730 So.2d 160 (Ala. 1999), the Court held that a defendant driver's belief that children had been struck by vehicles in the area in which he was driving was relevant to the plaintiff's negligence claim because such a belief "would cause [the defendant] to have knowledge of potential hazards that he should consider." 730 So.2d at 163. See also Pritchett, 938 So.2d at 937 (noting that the key factor in determining whether a duty exists is whether the injury was foreseeable by the defendant); Alabama Power Co. v. Henderson, 342 So.2d 323, 326 (Ala. 1976) ("The ultimate test of a defendant's duty to use due care is the foreseeability of the harm which would result if due care was not exercised."); and City of Birmingham v. Latham, 230 Ala. 601, 606, 162 So. 675, 678 (1935) ("[W]hile a person is expected to anticipate and guard against all reasonable consequences, yet he is not expected to anticipate and guard against that which no reasonable man would expect to occur.").

The testimony at trial indicates that the clutch-release maneuver performed by Ridgeway is a common method of dislodging and dumping the contents of dump trucks. There was no testimony or other evidence indicating that performing the maneuver violated any formal safety standards. Terry Tinsley, who was Ridgeway's supervisor at the time the accident occurred, testified that he was unaware of any other instance during the 29 years he had worked for DC Gas in which the side wall of a dump truck had loosened or fallen off. Likewise, Ridgeway, who, at the time of the accident, had been...