Opinion ID: 1945924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Wantonness Charged Against Alabama Power

Text: Alabama Power contends that it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury on wantonness, because there was no evidence to support such a charge. Alabama Power states that the view of the evidence most favorable to plaintiff would support only a finding that Alabama Power employees at the site knew of the custom and practice of leaving the downstream anchor bolts out of the side panels until the end panel was raised and knew, on the morning of the accident, that the end panel had not been raised when the carpenters were sent up to work on the side panels. This condition, says Alabama Power, was perfectly safe until Beam and his fellow carpenter removed the seam bolts and the two-by-four, and thus Alabama Power had no knowledge of an unsafe condition which would support a finding of wantonness. This argument contains the seeds of its own refutation. The very task which Beam and the other carpenters were sent to perform was the removal of the make-up bolts and the two-by-four so that Panel # 2 could be replaced. In doing the same task the day before, they had worked on a pier with all the panels at the same level. The carpenters testified that they had never before removed a side panel with an end panel at a lower pour level. Thus, Alabama Power's argument that the pier was safe until the carpenters removed the bolts cannot stand, because the safety condition on this pier was so different from any work the carpenters had previously done. Alabama Power's knowledge of the situation provides evidence from which the jury could conclude that it wantonly instructed M-W to have its carpenters replace Panel # 2 without correcting the unsafe condition that existed, i.e., without first raising the end panel or at least having the carpenters insert the downstream anchor bolt in Panel # 1. This Court recently quoted the test for wantonness as follows: Before a party can be said to be guilty of wanton conduct, it must be shown that with reckless indifference to the consequences he consciously and intentionally did some wrongful act or omitted some known duty which produced the injury. Osborne Truck Lines, Inc. v. Langston, 454 So.2d 1317, 1326 (Ala.1984), quoting Lankford v. Mong, 283 Ala. 24, 214 So.2d 301 (1968) (other citations omitted). Beam, in addressing the breach of duty issue, discusses other aspects of Alabama Power's exercise of its duty to provide a safe place to work. This evidence tends also to support a charge of wantonness on the basis of a knowing failure to comply with the safety procedures which Alabama Power accepted as appropriate to prevent likely injuries. Alabama Power, in undertaking to provide safety inspections, had the responsibility to abide by the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration providing that a safety program shall provide for frequent and regular inspection ... by competent persons. Gordon Amsler admitted that Alabama Power normally conducted safety examinations at the beginning of each shift, but none was made at the beginning of the shift when the accident occurred, which was the first time work had been done on Pier # 2 after the attempt to raise the end panel had been unsuccessful two weeks earlier. Beam's expert with extensive experience on hydroelectric dam construction sites testified that areas that have been idle for even a few days should be inspected before work is resumed. Evidence regarding other aspects of Alabama Power's safety procedures would support a finding of conscious disregard of adequate safety procedures on the construction site. Alabama Power assigned Amsler as the safety engineer for the project, even though he had no experience in safety management, and gave him only a single course of on-the-job training. Alabama Power prepared safety manuals but did not give them to anyone at the Harris dam construction site. There were no written safety checklists; the inspectors worked from memory. Alabama Power provided no lifelines for tying off safety belts nor safety nets below the worksites. Amsler and other Alabama Power employees made the decision not to provide these. Alabama Power argues that Beam could have tied his safety belt to the panel he was working on, but there was evidence that it is not good safety practice to tie safety belts below the area on which one is working. When Beam climbed to the top of the panel, there was nothing above him, as a lifeline would be, to which he could tie his belt. Furthermore, there was evidence that Alabama Power employees did not regularly use their safety belts and did not enforce the use of safety belts by contractors' employees. All of this evidence of general disregard of proper safety procedures by Alabama Power employees with that responsibility reinforces the evidence that Alabama Power wantonly disregarded the particular dangerous condition of the panels to which Beam was sent on the morning of his death. There certainly was sufficient evidence of wantonness to justify the court's charging the jury on the law of wantonness.