Opinion ID: 1584710
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: original complaint of tharp against bunge

Text: As early as 1972, Bunge owned and operated a grain storage facility in Greenville, Mississippi. Bunge received grain from farmers at this facility and then shipped it by truck and by barge on the Mississippi River. Extending from the grain storage facility was a long conveyor, surrounded by a catwalk, which extends from the building outward, over a levee, to Bunge's barge loading facility on Lake Ferguson, which eventually connected to the Mississippi River. A door, which provided access to the floor of the catwalk, was located along the conveyor just as it cleared the levee. The door had a metal plate mounted at the bottom of the opening between the west and east frame of the gate to the catwalk. The top edge of this plate was four inches above the floor of the catwalk. The door was kept locked by Bunge, with access restricted to only a few people, among whom were grain samplers who inspected the grain in the conveyor. No steps or ladders were provided to assist the grain samplers in getting from the ground surface of the levee into or out of the door to the catwalk. The levee beneath the conveyor sloped sharply; the distance from the surface of the levee to the east frame of the door was 29 inches and the distance from the surface of the levee to the west frame of the door was 39 inches. Therefore, when one exited the door onto the sloping ground beneath, there was a step-off from 29 to 39 inches. At the time of the accident, Tharp was 5'8 tall and weighed 165 pounds. His stride was measured in the courtroom at approximately 30 inches. Tony Tharp, while working for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture, used the door to enter the conveyor to sample grain that was being shipped out by Bunge, since it was necessary to have an independent entity sample or grade the grain to be shipped in order to certify the quality of the grain to a buyer. At some point prior to the accident in question, Bunge began placing a tarpaulin under the catwalk to catch soybeans that were scattered by a rapidly moving conveyor belt. The arrangement of the tarpaulin varied from day to day. This tarpaulin was ordinarily put in place each morning by Bunge employees and had to be emptied periodically during the day as grain collected in it. The height from which the tarpaulin was suspended on the day of the accident was a fact in dispute at trial. On September 17, 1984, Tharp arrived at the conveyor site to relieve fellow inspector, Aubra Moody, who was taking his lunch break. Tharp climbed through the door, and Moody stepped down. After approximately one hour, Moody returned to the catwalk to relieve Tharp. As Tharp was exiting, he chose to jump from the doorway, instead of stepping down. When he did so, he apparently didn't lift his foot high enough to clear the tarpaulin and caught his foot in the tarpaulin, causing him to fall and suffer a knee injury.
Tharp sued Bunge and one of its employees, Poole Chapman, in the Circuit Court of Washington County on June 11, 1985, alleging that Bunge was negligent in failing to provide a ladder or steps to get from the slope of the Mississippi River levee onto Bunge's catwalk and was negligent in putting a tarpaulin across the door. Bunge answered and filed a counterclaim against Tharp alleging conversion and fraud which had arisen under an unrelated set of facts. After it had paid $39,758.20 in medical benefits, Tharp's workers' compensation carrier, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (hereinafter U.S.F. & G.) intervened. Tharp filed a motion to separate the original claim and the counterclaim, and on July 12, 1986, the trial judge ordered separate trials for each claim. Tharp's complaint went to trial on November 30, 1987, and following Tharp's proof at trial, the trial court directed a verdict in Bunge's favor. Tharp immediately filed a motion for reconsideration and on October 26, 1989, the trial court granted his motion. The case was retried on May 14, 1990, and proceeded to jury verdict in favor of Tharp in the amount of $113,828.00. Bunge then filed a Motion for JNOV or, in the alternative, a Motion for New Trial. On June 21, 1990, while the motion was pending, this Court decided McGovern v. Scarborough, 566 So.2d 1225 (Miss. 1990). Citing McGovern, the trial court, on September 6, 1990, granted Bunge's Motion for JNOV, stating that, in retrospect, its earlier ruling granting a directed verdict had been correct. This ruling was formalized by Order on September 24, 1990, and Tharp perfected this appeal.