Harden v. City of Muscle Shoals) (In re City of Muscle Shoals ()

257 So.3d 850

EX PARTE CITY OF MUSCLE SHOALS

(In re: Reginald M. Harden

v.City of Muscle Shoals)

1160396

Supreme Court of Alabama.

February 23, 2018

David J. Canupp and Brad A. Chynoweth of Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C., Huntsville, for petitioner.

Joel Hamner of McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C., Florence, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

The City of Muscle Shoals ("the City") petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the Colbert Circuit Court to vacate its denial of the City's motion for a summary judgment as to claims asserted against it by Reginald M. Harden stemming from injuries Harden sustained from falling through a grate at Gattman Park, a City-owned park. We grant the petition.

I. Facts

Rusty Wheeles, director of the City's Department of Parks and Recreation ("the Department"), testified by an affidavit attached to the City's motion for a summary judgment that "[t]he City owns and operates Gattman Park. Among the facilities at Gattman Park are five baseball fields with lights mounted on poles." In April 2014, the City accepted a bid from Big River Electric, Inc. ("Big River"), to replace the lights on the poles at the baseball fields at Gattman Park. Big River began replacement of the baseball-field lights in early May 2014. Wheeles testified that in order to perform the job, Big River arranged with the City to have access to a maintenance-shop area in Gattman Park where Big River could store the lights that were going to be installed on the poles at each baseball field. Wheeles also explained:

"The maintenance area is a fenced-off area consisting of a shop with several garages, an office, and a gravel lot with various items of equipment. At the time of [Harden's] accident there was a natural drain covered by a grate located near a group of trees in the gravel parking lot of the maintenance area at Gattman Park. The drain is surrounded by a concrete rim. A metal grate consisting of steel rebar welded together laid inside the concrete rim and covered the drain."

In 2014, Harden was working as an electrician's helper for Big River. On May 7, 2014, Harden was helping John Blair White, foreman for Big River's job of installing the baseball-field lights. White testified by affidavit that, during the afternoon of May 7, he and Harden

"were inside the maintenance shop area on the gravel lot. The lights that were to be installed were contained in boxes and were lined up in rows in the gravel lot near some trees. [Harden] and I had a list of numbers that corresponded to numbers contained on the boxes with the lights. Our job was to select the boxes of lights with the appropriate numbers, load the lights onto the trailer, and take them to the relevant baseball field.

"[Harden] and I were walking down the aisles between the rows of boxes on opposite sides of the boxes when I bent over to uncrate a light. When I looked over in [Harden's] area, he was gone. I walked over to where I last saw [Harden] in the opposite aisle, and I saw him pulling himself up out of a drain hole. I saw that [Harden] had fallen through a metal grate that had been covered by leaves and debris."

For his part, Harden in his deposition stated that before lunch on the day he fell through the grate he and White had made three or four trips delivering light boxes to their specific ball-field locations and that no one noticed the grate during those trips because it was covered with leaves. Harden described the accident as follows:

"A. I was walking down the right side of the aisle [between the rows of boxes]. [White] was walking down the left like we were doing helping each other pick [the box] up from both sides, and all of a sudden, I fell. I was just gone. I was—you know, I've been through OSHA's safety training, and I know how to look for—look for danger on the job. And I was looking for danger, and you could not see that. You could not see that drain.

"Q. So when you say you fell, you fell—are you saying that essentially the grate when you stepped on it broke underneath you?

"A. When I stepped on it, I went straight through.

"Q. Okay. And you hadn't seen it before you stepped on it?

"A. No.

"Q. And as far as you know, nobody working with you saw it before you stepped on it?

"A. No."

Jake Mackey, who had served as the maintenance supervisor for the Department since 1995 and who had worked for the Department since 1975, testified by affidavit that the drain in question "is surrounded by a concrete rim. A metal grate consisting of steel rebar welded together laid inside the concrete rim and covered the drain. This metal grate has been in place for approximately 25 years." Mackey also stated that,

"[i]n the years prior to [Harden's] accident, City employees drove equipment through the gravel lot in the area of the metal grate at least three times per week. In the days prior to the beginning of Big River's job, City employees accessed the maintenance area in order to move equipment out of the way. At no point during this time did any City employee notice anything wrong with the metal grate."

Quinton Bailey, the assistant maintenance supervisor for the Department since 2013 who had also worked for the Department as a laborer from 1995 until his promotion to assistant maintenance supervisor, testified by affidavit that,

"[w]hen I was a laborer from 1995 to 2013, I accessed the gravel lot of the maintenance area on a near daily basis. At no point during that time did I notice anything unsafe about the metal grate. At no point during that time did I become aware of anyone else reporting anything unsafe about the grate."

Wheeles stated in his affidavit that,

"[p]rior to [Harden's] accident, there had been no accidents or injuries resulting from this metal grate. Prior to [Harden's] accident, the City had never received any complaints about the metal grate or any reports that the metal grate was unsafe. Prior to [Harden's] accident, the City had no knowledge of any potential hazard presented by the grate."

Both Mackey and Bailey confirmed in their affidavits that they had "received no reports or complaints about the metal grate prior to [Harden's] accident."

On March 27, 2015, Harden sued the City and multiple fictitiously named parties in the Colbert Circuit Court, alleging that the City was negligent in failing to safeguard Harden from the defective grate and that, as a proximate result of the City's negligence, he was injured. The parties commenced discovery, and the City took Harden's deposition. Harden did not take any depositions. On May 2, 2016, Harden filed an amended complaint in which he added a claim seeking the recovery of benefits under Alabama's Workers' Compensation Act.

On May 13, 2016, the City filed a motion for a summary judgment in which it asserted that it was entitled to dismissal of all claims against it based on the doctrine of municipal immunity recognized in § 11–47–190, Ala. Code 1975. The City also contended it could not be liable for the claim seeking recovery under the Workers' Compensation Act because the City was not Harden's employer.

On October 10, 2016, Harden filed a response in opposition to the summary-judgment motion in which he contended that the common-law doctrines pertaining to premises liability as to business invitees controlled and that under those doctrines he did not have to present evidence that the City had notice that the grate was defective. In support, Harden submitted his deposition and some pictures of the area where the accident occurred and of the grate. Harden did not present any evidence in opposition to the City's summary-judgment motion regarding the grate that contradicted the information provided in the affidavits submitted by Wheeles, Mackey, and Bailey. Harden conceded in his response that the City could not be liable for the workers' compensation claim.

On January 3, 2017, the trial court entered an order granting the City's summary-judgment motion with regard to Harden's claim for benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act but denying the motion with respect to Harden's remaining claims against the City. The order did not provide a rationale for the trial court's judgment.

The City timely filed this mandamus petition on February 14, 2017.

II. Standard of Review

" ‘ "Subject to certain narrow exceptions, we have held that, because an ‘adequate remedy’ exists by way of an appeal, the denial of a motion to dismiss or a motion for a summary judgment is not reviewable by petition for writ of mandamus." ’ Ex parte Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., 78 So.3d 959, 966 (Ala. 2011) (quoting Ex parte Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 825 So.2d 758, 761–62 (Ala. 2002) ). One of the few ‘narrow exceptions’ we have recognized to the aforesaid general rule is a petition for a writ of mandamus complaining of the denial of a motion to dismiss grounded on a claim of immunity. Ex parte Dickson, 46 So.3d 468, 471 (Ala. 2010) (citing Ex parte Simpson, 36 So.3d 15, 22 (Ala. 2009) )."

Ex parte City of Bessemer, 142 So.3d 543, 549 (Ala. 2013).

" ‘Summary judgment is appropriate only when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Rule 56(c)(3), Ala. R. Civ. P., Young v. La Quinta Inns, Inc., 682 So.2d 402 (Ala. 1996). A court considering a motion for summary judgment will view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Hurst v. Alabama Power Co., 675 So.2d 397 (Ala. 1996), Fuqua v. Ingersoll–Rand Co., 591 So.2d 486 (Ala. 1991) ; will accord the nonmoving party all reasonable favorable inferences from the evidence, Fuqua, supra, Aldridge v. Valley Steel Constr., Inc., 603 So.2d 981 (Ala. 1992) ; and will resolve all reasonable doubts against the moving party, Hurst, supra, Ex parte Brislin, 719 So.2d 185 (Ala. 1998).

" ‘An appellate court reviewing a ruling on a motion for summary judgment will, de novo, apply these same standards applicable in the trial court. Fuqua, supra, Brislin, supra. Likewise, the appellate court will consider only that factual

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