Opinion ID: 1295082
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Liability of A-Line

Text: A-Line argues that the jury should have decided the issue of its liability and that the trial court erred in holding it liable, as a matter of law. Ordinarily, issues of negligence and proximate cause are for the jury. Brown v. Koulizakis, 229 Va. 524, 531, 331 S.E.2d 440, 445 (1985). But where reasonable men may not disagree on the facts and the inferences to be drawn from the facts, those issues become questions of law for the court to decide. Jordan v. Jordan, 220 Va. 160, 162, 257 S.E.2d 761, 762 (1979); Mitchell v. Lee and Jones, 213 Va. 629, 631, 194 S.E.2d 737, 739 (1973). In our opinion, the evidence established, as a matter of law, that A-Line was negligent and its negligence was a proximate cause of the injuries and damages alleged. Weiss told Kachur the chamber was not ready for use with toxic chemicals. Moreover, Weiss stated that the chamber needed a self-contained manifold system to test the samples drained from it. Kachur not only failed to develop any such system, he elected to test run his unproven chamber on two cylinders containing a supertoxic chemical and 13 other cylinders containing unknown chemicals. All witnesses familiar with the disposal of chemicals testified that the unknown contents of the cylinders should have been handled as if they were the most dangerous chemicals imaginable. Kachur drained some of the unknown contents of pressurized cylinder # 12 into an open beaker without wearing a self-contained breathing device. Although the two survivors at the scene smelled a distinctive odor after Kachur partially filled the beaker, he carried the open beaker into ELI's laboratory for testing, where the continued evaporation of the chemical eventually killed him and seriously injured ELI's laboratory technician. Kachur had no safety plan to protect other persons from the release of deadly gases during his work, nor did he post any warning signs. Consequently, innocent bystanders suffered injury, and rescue squad members were injured while responding to Anderson's calls for help. Certainly Kachur never intended to injure himself or others, but his gross ignorance or carelessness in releasing a deadly chemical compound into the atmosphere establishes liability upon his employer, A-Line, as a matter of law. The trial court correctly struck A-Line's evidence and instructed the jury to return a verdict against A-Line.