Case Title: McGregory v. LLOYD WOOD CONST. CO.

Citation: 736 So. 2d 571

Docket Number: 1971648, 1971649

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1999-04-02T00:00:00Z

Document:
736 So. 2d 571 (1999)
Kimberly McGREGORY et al.
v.
LLOYD WOOD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY et al.
Annette Savors et al.
v.
Lloyd Wood Construction Company et al.
Nos. 1971648 and 1971649.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 2, 1999.
Rehearing Denied May 21, 1999.
*572 Leila H. Watson of Cory, Watson, Crowder & DeGaris, P.C., Birmingham, for appellants.
John A. Owens, M. Bradley Almond, and Anna Northington Hutcheson of Owens & Almond, L.L.P., Tuscaloosa, for appellee Lloyd Wood Construction Company, Inc.
S. Allen Baker, Jr., R. Bruce Barze, Jr., and Charles A. Burkhart of Balch & Bingham, L.L.P., Birmingham, for appellee Alabama Power Company.
HOUSTON, Justice.
Kimberly McGregory and Brittany McGregory, minor dependents of Jesse Gibbs, suing by and through their mother, Geneva McGregory; and Annette Savors, as administratrix of the estate of Eugene Bush, and Scarla Savors, a minor dependent of Eugene Bush, suing by and through her mother, Annette Savors, appeal from judgments in two wrongfuldeath actions. These two actions were tried together. Both actions were based, in part, on allegations of negligence and wantonness on the part of Lloyd Wood Construction Company, Inc. ("Lloyd Wood"), and Alabama Power Company ("APCo").[1] We affirm.
Eugene Bush and Jesse Gibbs were killed at a construction site on Watermelon Road in Tuscaloosa County when they came in contact with electricity passing through an uninsulated high-voltage power line owned by APCo. Lloyd Wood was the general contractor for the construction project; Bush and Gibbs were employees of a subcontractor, Harpole Steel Buildings, Inc. ("Harpole"), which had been hired to erect a building on the site.
The building was situated approximately six feet from the northern property line of the site. APCo's power line ran along the length of that property line, approximately 28 feet above the ground. The accident occurred when a steel cable attached to a crane contacted the power line; Harpole owned the crane and the Harpole crew had been using it to move scaffolding. Because the scaffolding was too heavy to move by hand, the crew had attached the crane's cable to the scaffolding and had used the crane to move it from point to point around the building as needed. The cable had been left attached to the scaffolding between the moves. Contact with the power line occurred when the crew was working close to the power line and the boom on the crane "leaked down" (i.e., lowered) because of a problem in the crane's hydraulic system. The Harpole crew had been aware of the problem in the boom for two to three years before the accident. Gibbs, who was standing on the scaffolding when the steel cable contacted the power line, was electrocuted immediately. Bush was electrocuted when he came to aid Gibbs and touched him while he was still in contact with the scaffolding. APCo had not been notified that a crane would be used in close proximity to the line, and it had not been asked to insulate *573 or de-energize the line or to take any steps to protect the Harpole crew.
The plaintiffs' complaints were based, in part, on allegations that Lloyd Wood had breached a duty to maintain a safe workplace for the employees of its subcontractors. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Lloyd Wood had failed to adequately warn Bush and Gibbs of the danger posed by the power line or to protect them from that danger. The trial court entered a partial summary judgment for Lloyd Wood, stating:
The case proceeded to trial on the "theories of liability predicated on the duties and obligations which might legally be deemed to arise out of the `Projects Northport, Alabama Area Accident Prevention & Safety Plan'" ("the safety plan") promulgated by Lloyd Wood. The jury was instructed to determine whether Lloyd Wood was liable for negligence (the trial court had dismissed the wantonness claim) in its performance of a duty assumed under the safety plan. The jury was also instructed to determine whether negligence on Gibbs's part had contributed to his death. The jury returned a verdict for Lloyd Wood; the trial court entered a judgment on that verdict.
Three issues are presented in regard to the claims against Lloyd Wood:
With respect to the first issue, we note that the duty generally owed by a general contractor to warn a subcontractor of dangers in the workplace was discussed in Breeden v. Hardy Corp., 562 So. 2d 159 (Ala.1990):
562 So. 2d  at 160, quoting Heath v. Sims Bros. Constr. Co., 529 So. 2d 994, 995 (Ala. 1988).
In Armstrong v. Georgia Marble Co., 575 So. 2d 1051, 1053 (Ala.1991), this Court stated:
After carefully examining the record and the briefs, we conclude that Lloyd Wood had no duty to warn either Gibbs or Bush about the danger posed by the power line. The undisputed evidence indicates that the power line constituted an open and obvious danger and that the Harpole crew, including the crew's on-site supervisor, Joseph Howard, was aware of, and appreciated, that danger. Howard testified:
*577 Another member of the Harpole crew, Carson Payne, also testified with respect to the crew's knowledge of the danger posed by the power line:
Although there is evidence indicating that Howard and his crew believed they were using the crane a safe distance from the power line, there is no evidence from which a jury could find that Howard was unaware of, or did not appreciate, the danger posed by the power line. Therefore, based on established caselaw, we hold that the trial court properly entered the partial summary judgment for Lloyd Wood. See Ex parte Brislin, 719 So. 2d 185 (Ala.1998) (a summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law).
As to the second issue, we note that a Batson challenge to the composition of the jury is untimely if it is made after the venire has been dismissed. See K.S. v. Carr, 618 So. 2d 707 (Ala.1993); McGruder v. State, 560 So. 2d 1137 (Ala.Crim.App. 1989); White v. State, 549 So. 2d 524 (Ala. Crim.App.1989); Brooks v. Winn-Dixie of Montgomery, Inc., 716 So. 2d 1203 (Ala. Civ.App.1997), citing United States v. Erwin, 793 F.2d 656 (5th Cir.1986). The record contains the following colloquy between the trial court and the plaintiffs' attorney:
The trial court did not err in denying, as untimely, the plaintiffs' Batson objection to the composition of the jury.[2]
With respect to the third issue, the trial court, immediately after instructing the jury on the law of contributory negligence, instructed the jury as follows:
A party is entitled to have the jury correctly instructed on the law, provided the requested instruction is relevant to the case and is not confusing or misleading. Volkswagen of America, Inc. v. Marinelli, 628 So. 2d 378 (Ala.1993); American National Fire Ins. Co. v. Hughes, 624 So. 2d 1362 (Ala.1993). Because the trial court read § 37-8-52 to the jury, there is no question that the jury was correctly instructed on the law. Instead, the plaintiffs objected to the instruction on the ground that it was confusing to the jury because, the plaintiffs said, there was no "evidence material and relevant to that law." However, after examining the instruction as a whole, we find no error. Lloyd Wood alleged that in regard to the accident that caused his death Gibbs had been contributorily negligent, and the jury was instructed on the affirmative defense of contributory negligence. The plaintiffs do not argue that the trial court erred in instructing the jury on contributory negligence. In Murray v. Alabama Power Co., 413 So. 2d 1109, 1114 (Ala.1982), this Court stated:
Although the trial court could have elaborated on the applicability of § 37-8-52, we think the jury could have reasonably understood that it was to consider that aspect of the law declared by that statute to be one of a number of factors it should consider in determining whether Gibbs had been negligent and, if so, whether his negligence had contributed to cause his death. See, also, Sparks v. Alabama Power Co., 679 So. 2d 678 (Ala.1996).
The plaintiffs' claims against APCo were based on allegations that APCo should have foreseen that Gibbs and Bush would be working dangerously close to the power line and, therefore, should have taken steps to insulate or de-energize the line or to otherwise make the line safer through the use of a fuse or a breaker. APCo argues on appeal, as it did in the trial court, that it had had no knowledge that Gibbs or Bush would be working so close to the power line with a crane; therefore, APCo contends, it could not have reasonably anticipated that they could come in contact with the line and thus it had no duty to insulate or otherwise make the line safer.
The duty of an electric utility to protect persons from dangerous power lines is well settled:
Cherokee Electric Cooperative v. Cochran, 706 So. 2d 1188, 1192 (Ala.1997).
The trial court entered a summary judgment for APCo, stating:
The plaintiffs cite nothing in the record that would contradict the trial court's finding that Terry Fair, the APCo engineer on whose presence at the construction site the plaintiffs rely to establish the requisite knowledge on APCo's part, was not on the construction site while the Harpole crew was using the crane in close proximity to the power line. The plaintiffs argue, however, that during his deposition Fair admitted to being on Watermelon Road at various unspecified times while the Harpole crew was on the construction site; Fair testified that he was supervising the relocation of power poles and lines on that road. According to the plaintiffs, a jury could reasonably infer that if Fair was involved in a project on that road, then he must have seen the Harpole crew using the crane within close proximity to the power line. We cannot agree.
Viewing Fair's testimony in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, as our standard of review requires us to do, see Ex parte Brislin, supra, we conclude that a jury could reasonably infer that Fair was, at certain times, working in close proximity to the construction site while the Harpole crew was present. However, Fair never testified that he saw the Harpole crew using the crane, or that he ever saw a crane on the construction site. In the absence of such testimony, or some other evidence indicating that Fair was actually at a point where he could have seen the construction site while the Harpole crew was working there in close proximity to the power line, we must conclude that the evidence was not sufficient to submit to the jury the plaintiffs' claims against APCo. See Bonner v. Electric Power Board of the City of Scottsboro, 583 So. 2d 260 (Ala.1991); see, also, Campbell v. Alabama Power Co., 378 So. 2d 718 (Ala.1979). A jury is not allowed to speculate; it must be able to make reasonable inferences based on the evidence. Western Supermarkets, Inc. v. Cox, 584 So. 2d 820 (Ala. 1991); White v. Cooper Green Hospital, 523 So. 2d 371 (Ala.1988); Wagner v. Winn-Dixie, 399 So. 2d 295 (Ala.1981).
For the foregoing reasons, the judgments are affirmed.
1971648AFFIRMED.
1971649AFFIRMED.
HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX, SEE, and BROWN, JJ., concur.
KENNEDY, COOK, LYONS, and JOHNSTONE, JJ., concur in part and dissent in part.
JOHNSTONE, Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I dissent from the holding that the plaintiffs waived their Batson objections to defendant Lloyd Wood's exercise of its peremptory strikes. This issue is constitutional. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S. Ct. 1712, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986).
No party should be required to interpose Batson objections before the petit jury is seated in the jury box, because the objections may not become completely apparent until the party has visually observed the selected and seated petit jury. The record in this case shows that the plaintiffs did interpose their Batson objections immediately after the petit jury had *582 been seated, although the trial judge had already begun to release the remainder of the venire without asking the parties whether they were satisfied with the seating of the jury or otherwise allowing the parties any opportunity whatsoever to interpose Batson objections.
Because, unbeknownst to plaintiffs' counsel, all venirepersons for the entire circuit had already been sworn elsewhere at the empaneling of the venire at the beginning of the week, the trial judge did not swear this petit jury after he seated the jurors. Thus the plaintiffs did not have the opportunity of even an announcement by the trial judge that he was going to swear the jury to trigger the plaintiffs' Batson objections before the trial judge told the remaining venirepersons to go to another judge's courtroom. The record is clear that the trial judge could have stopped the exodus of the venire and could have retrieved the veniremembers who were already on their way one floor downstairs without any substantial delay; and the trial judge owed a duty to do so. See White v. State, 549 So. 2d 524 (Ala.Crim. App.1989).
The plaintiffs preserved in the record a prima facie showing that defendant Lloyd Wood's peremptory strikes were racially motivated in that this defendant struck all four blacks from the venire without having sought or received any voir dire answers that would suggest prejudice or bias in three of them. Ex parte Bird, 594 So. 2d 676 (Ala.1991); Jackson v. State, 557 So. 2d 855 (Ala.Crim.App.1990). Likewise, the trial judge wisely instructed Lloyd Wood to preserve for itself its reasons for striking these venirepersons for reference in the event of a remand requiring a further Batson hearing before the trial judge.
Thus, I would reverse the judgment in favor of Lloyd Wood and remand, with instructions to determine whether Lloyd Wood had valid race-neutral reasons for its strikes of the four black venirepersons and, if not, to order a new trial on the claims which survived summary judgment against Lloyd Wood only. In all other respects, I concur with the majority.
KENNEDY, COOK, and LYONS, JJ., concur.
[1]  The plaintiffs sought damages from several other defendants; those defendants either settled, were dismissed on motion of the plaintiffs, or received a summary judgment. Lloyd Wood and APCo are the only defendants involved in these appeals.
[2]  The plaintiffs argue that they were not at fault in making their Batson challenge after the venire had been released, because, they say, they did not know that the members of the venire had been sworn beforehand. However, whether the members of the venire had been sworn does not determine the timeliness of a Batson challenge. See Brooks v. Winn-Dixie of Montgomery, Inc., 716 So. 2d 1203, 1206 (Ala.Civ.App.1997) (affirming the trial court's denial of a Batson challenge as untimely where the challenge was made after the unselected members of the venire had been dismissed but before the selected jurors had been sworn).