Case Title: Bacon v. DIXIE BRONZE CO., INC.

Citation: 475 So. 2d 1177

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1985-06-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
475 So. 2d 1177 (1985)
William BACON and Mrs. William Bacon
v.
DIXIE BRONZE COMPANY, INC., a corporation.
Gordon Elmer TUGGLE III
v.
DIXIE BRONZE COMPANY, INC., a corporation.
84-158, 84-611.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 28, 1985.
Rehearing Denied August 23, 1985.
E. Ray Large and Hub Harrington and William W. Smith of Hogan, Smith, Alspaugh, Samples & Pratt, Birmingham, for appellants.
Stanley A. Cash and M. Keith Gann of Huie, Fernambucq and Stewart, Birmingham, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of a building owner sued by two injured employees of an independent contractor who was modifying the building. The learned trial judge entered the following order granting summary judgment. We affirm that judgment and adopt the trial court's order as the opinion of this Court:
"A. Motion by Dixie for Summary judgment.
"Bacon and Tuggle make claim for the injuries and damages they sustained on December 2, 1980, while they were working *1178 on the roof of a building then owned by Dixie which was located in an industrial park area near Oneonta, Alabama, in Blount County.
"Dixie had contracted with Irondale Fabricators, an independent contractor, for the installation of a sand storage work on the roof of the Dixie building. Bacon and Tuggle were employees of Irondale Fabricators and were engaged in cutting a rectangular opening in the roof approximately eight feet by six feet, one side of which was to be located approximately eight inches from the edge of the roof.
"The roof itself was supported by channel beams, two of which crossed the area where the opening was to be made by Bacon and Tuggle. Using a cutting torch, Bacon began cutting through the channel beams or "purlins" that were supporting the section of the roof being removed. The two channel beams had already been cut in three places and Bacon was beginning to make the final cut. He testified as follows:
"Both Bacon and Tuggle were located over a part of the channel beam or purlin a short distance from the point where it was provided support. Bacon was engaged in cutting through the channel beam while Tuggle was going to hold the part of the beam which would have been freed by the cut so as to prevent it from falling. After the cut in the beam had been made, that portion of the channel beam immediately under Bacon and Tuggle collapsed so that both of them fell to the ground causing the injuries for which they now make claim.
"In opposition to Dixie's motion for summary judgment, Bacon and Tuggle argue that the collapse of the channel beam at the point of its support was the result of a defective weld made to connect the channel beam at the point of its support and that at least a scintilla of evidence has been presented to establish Dixie's liability to Bacon and Tuggle for the injuries resulting from the collapse of the channel beam.
"Tuggle has submitted the affidavit of Bruce Monical, a person having expert knowledge concerning the safe erection of steel membered buildings. Having inspected the entire building, Monical stated under oath the following regarding the area where the cut in the roof was made and Bacon and Tuggle fell:
"For purposes of Dixie's motion for summary judgment, this Court will consider that the condition of the collapsing channel beam was defective due to a defective weld at its point of support within a few feet of where Bacon and Tuggle were standing and making a cut in the beam. There remains the question whether liability can be imposed upon Dixie for this defective condition.
"In support of its motion for summary judgment, Dixie has submitted the affidavit of Clyde C. Turner, its assistant general manager, who states:
"In another affidavit, Alfred H. Turner, Vice President and General Manager of Dixie, states under oath:
"In Chrysler Corporation v. Wells, 358 So. 2d 426 (Ala.1978), Wells, a welder employed by Engineering Maintenance Services, an independent contractor, was engaged in work for his employer at the Chrysler plant in Huntsville, Alabama. Although there were ladders available for Wells to use, Wells instead attempted to climb to the work area approximately thirty feet above floor level by climbing up a storage bin. He supported his weight by holding on to wire baskets placed in the storage bins to contain products belonging to Chrysler. When two of the baskets broke loose from the metal bins under his weight, he fell approximately twenty feet to the floor.
"Wells then made claim for his injuries against Chrysler. His theory of liability was that as an employee of an independent contractor, he was an invitee on Chrysler's premises and that Chrysler negligently failed to provide him with a safe place to work. Reversing the verdict and judgment rendered in favor of Wells, the Supreme Court of Alabama concluded that under the evidence Wells had failed to establish by the evidence a breach of any duty by Chrysler to him. The Court defined the duty owed by the owner of premises to an independent contractor as follows:
"In Quillen v. Quillen, 388 So. 2d 985 (Ala.1980), the Court quoted with approval from its earlier opinion in Lamsom [Lamson] & Sessions Bolt Company v. McCarty, 234 Ala. 60, 173 So. 388 (1937), as follows:
"Speaking further to the same issue, the Supreme Court stated:
"Also see, e.g., Crawford Johnson & Co. v. Duffner, 279 Ala. 678, 189 So. 2d 474 (1966); Evans v. Kendred, 362 So. 2d 206 (Ala.1978); Veal v. Phillips, 285 Ala. 655, 235 So. 2d 799 (1970).
"No evidence has been presented in the present case to establish that Dixie knew or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known of the defective condition of the channel beam and either taken steps to eliminate the defects or warned Irondale Fabricators or its employees, Bacon and Tuggle, of the same. Dixie has submitted evidence establishing that the portion of the building containing the defective channel beam was constructed by an independent contractor and that Dixie itself had no knowledge of the defective condition. The roof had been in use for a number of years. So far as appears from the evidence, Dixie had no reason to be concerned about or to inspect the channel beam here involved.
"Bacon and Tuggle also argue in opposition to Dixie's motion for summary judgment that Dixie as the owner of the building owed Bacon and Tuggle a nondelegable duty to provide a safe place for them to work because of the inherent or intrinsically dangerous nature of the work being performed by Bacon and Tuggle.
"In Evans v. Kendred, 362 So. 2d 206 (Ala.1978), this same argument was made by Evans. Evans was a pipe fitter whose duties included threading forty foot sections of pipe into pipe racks which were constructed by his employer, Fish Engineering and Construction Company. At the time of his injury, a crane was being used to position a section of pipe on the rack upon which Evans was standing. The crane was being operated by another Fish employee. The injury was said to have occurred because the operator of the crane `boomed' the crane boom into Evans, causing the pipe to slip and Evans to be knocked to the ground.
"Affirming the grant of summary judgment in favor of Hunt Oil Company, the owner, the Supreme Court of Alabama rejected the argument that the work being performed by Evans was inherently or intrinsically dangerous. The Supreme Court stated:
"In Scoggins v. Atlantic & Gulf Portland Cement Co., 179 Ala. 213, 60 So. 175 (1912), Scoggins as administrator of the estate of a deceased worker brought suit for the wrongful death of his intestate who was killed when the veranda of a clubhouse or boarding house fell on him. At the time, the veranda was in the process of construction and was not covered but some planks or lumber which had been placed on the veranda to be used in the construction formed a shelter from the rain. The veranda was only temporarily braced or propped. The deceased was not engaged in *1182 the work of building the veranda but was employed, as foreman of a squad of men, in building a road near the place of the accident and went there with his men only to get out of the rain.
"Affirming the action of the trial court in granting the affirmative charge in favor of the defendant, the Supreme Court of Alabama rejected the argument that the erection of the clubhouse or boarding house was an undertaking which was intrinsically or inherently dangerous. The fall of the veranda was attributed to the failure to sufficiently prop or support the structure while it was being erected. The Supreme Court stated in its opinion:
"Bacon and Tuggle have cited the decision of the Supreme Court of Alabama in Golson v. W.A. [W.F.] Covington Manufacturing Co., 205 Ala. 226, 87 So. 439 (1920), in support of their argument that the nature of the work being performed by them was inherently dangerous. However, that case involved a claim for the wrongful death of Golson's five year old son who was killed while playing in unenclosed premises owned by the defendant when the child accidentally touched a hay wire connected to a 2,000 volt line. It was there asserted that a wire carrying 2,000 volts and within the reach of children was a dangerous instrumentality. The Court concluded there that the owner had a nondelegable duty to exercise reasonable care and diligence to protect third persons, especially children, from such a dangerous instrumentality.
"The work being performed by Bacon and Tuggle in removing a section of the roof from Dixie's building would not be intrinsically or inherently dangerous if it had been performed with the exercise of reasonable care, skill and diligence. Under the circumstances presented in this case, Dixie did not, as owner, have a [non]delegable duty to provide Bacon and Tuggle with a safe place to work.
"No evidence has been presented to establish any liability of Dixie to Bacon and Tuggle.
"Accordingly, the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Dixie Bronze Company, Inc., a corporation, is hereby granted. Judgment is hereby rendered in favor of the defendant, Dixie Bronze Company, Inc., a corporation."
See, also, the opinion of this Court in Secrist v. Mark IV Constructors, Inc., 472 So. 2d 1015 (Ala.1985).
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and JONES, ALMON, SHORES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.