Opinion ID: 774906
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negligence/Imputation of Negligence

Text: 15 We conclude that the district court erred in determining that Rannals failed to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether her injuries were caused, in whole or part, by Diamond Jo or its agents' failure to cure or eliminate an unreasonably dangerous condition about which Diamond Jo or its agents knew or should have known. Specifically, we conclude that the district court erred by holding that any negligence on the part of the training center could not be imputed to Diamond Jo and by applying the defense of natural accumulation to defeat Rannals's claim. 16 Under the FELA and the Jones Act, an employer has a duty to provide a safe workplace for its employees. To recover for injuries caused by the alleged negligence of an employer under the Jones Act, a plaintiff must show that her employer failed to provide a safe workplace by neglecting to cure or eliminate obvious dangers of which the employer or its agents knew or should have known and that such failure caused the plaintiff's injuries and damages. Perkins, 246 F.3d at 599 (It is a fundamental principle that, under the Jones Act, an employer 'musthave notice and the opportunity to correct an unsafe condition before liability will attach.') (quoting Havens v. F/T Polar Mist, 996 F.2d 215, 218 (9th Cir. 1993)); see also Sinclair v. Long Island R.R., 985 F.2d 74, 76 (2d Cir. 1993). In so doing, the plaintiff must show actual or constructive notice to the employer of the defective condition that caused the injury. Sinclair, 985 F.2d at 77; see also Perkins, 246 F.3d at 599. 17 We believe that Rannals has submitted evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Diamond Jo was negligent in failing to cure the conditions that caused her injuries. At the outset, we note that Rannals has successfully created a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether any negligence by the training center in failing to cure the conditions that caused Rannals's injuries may be imputed to Diamond Jo. As the Supreme Court and this circuit have recognized, a third party's negligence in providing a safe workplace for an employer's workers may be imputed to the employer where that third party has a contractual relationship with the employer and the employee is acting in the course of her employment on the third party's premises. Hopson, 383 U.S. at 264; Sinkler v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Co., 356 U.S. 326, 331-32 (1958); Epling, 435 F.2d at 736; Payne, 309 F.2d at 549. 18 In this case, we believe that Diamond Jo had a contractual relationship with the training center, which resulted in making the training center an agent of Diamond Jo and, in turn, exposed Diamond Jo to liability under the Jones Act for any potential negligence by the training center in failing to provide a safe workplace for Diamond Jo's employees. See, e.g., Hopson, 383 U.S. at 264 (holding that an employer was liable for the negligence of a taxi service it hired to transport two ill seamen). In fact, we believe that Rannals's case is analogous to those negligence lawsuits brought by seamen who have suffered injuries as a result of the alleged negligence of medical providers who were selected by the seamen's employers. In those cases, federal courts, including this circuit, have consistently recognized the principle that a shipowner is liable for the negligence of an on-shore physician that it hires to treat a crewman. Olsen v. American S.S. Co., 176 F.3d 891, 895 (6th Cir. 1999) (emphasis added); see also De Centeno v. Gulf Fleet Crews, Inc., 798 F.2d 138, 140 (5th Cir. 1986); Fitzgerald v. A.L. Burbank & Co., 451 F.2d 670, 680 (2d Cir. 1971); Maritime Overseas Corp. v. United States, 433 F. Supp. 419, 421-22 (N.D. Cal. 1977), aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 608 F.2d 1260 (9th Cir. 1979). Cf. SeaRiver Maritime, Inc. v. Industrial Med. Servs., Inc., 983 F. Supp. 1287, 1298-99 (N.D. Cal. 1997). In so doing, these federal courts have treated agreements between shipowners and doctors as contracts under which the doctors were agents of the shipowners and the shipowners were exposed to possible liability for the actions of such agents. See, e.g., Fitzgerald, 451 F.2d at 680. 19 In our opinion, much like the employers in the medical providers cases, there is evidence that Diamond Jo entered into a contractual relationship with the training center when it chose the training center to teach its employees firefighting skills, made the arrangements for its employees to attend the training program, 4 and paid the training center for such services, 5 and the training center accepted such work by accepting Diamond Jo's employees into its seminar and allowing them to attend its courses. Indeed, we believe that, based upon past dealings when Diamond Jo sent twelve employees to attend the same firefighting seminar in Toledo in both 1996 and 1997, Diamond Jo and the training center had developed an understanding that Diamond Jo would send its employees to learn valuable firefighting skills at the seminar and that the training center would train and teach such employees in a safe work environment. See SeaRiver, 983 F. Supp. at 1298. Although we recognize the difficulty that Diamond Jo, a riverboat casino business operating in Iowa, faces in monitoring the safety of its employees who are attending a seminar out of state in Ohio, we do not believe that such difficulties exempt Diamond Jo from liability for the actions of its agents. Rannals and her co-workers were acting in the course of their employment while attending the training program and thus were entitled to have Diamond Jo provide a safe workplace in which they could perform their jobs, including a safe place in which to arrive at and exit from work. As we previously noted in Payne, if an employer delegate[s] and relies upon the services of its agent to carry out its own duty, it may not shift its liability from itself to said agent when an employee seeks to hold it directly liable. Payne, 309 F.2d at 549. That it was the training center, and not Diamond Jo directly, that was negligent in failing to cure dangerous icy conditions at the program does not remove liability from Diamond Jo; Diamond Jo is still responsible for the negligence of its agent, in this case, the training center. The duty to provide a safe workplace is non-delegable and exists despite the fact that [the employer] may not own, control or be under a primary obligation to maintain the premises on which [the] employee is injured. Id.; see also Ribitzki v. Canmar Reading & Bates, Ltd. Partnership, 111 F.3d 658, 662 (9th Cir. 1997) (The duty to provide a safe workplace extends to providing a safe place to work on the ship of a third party over whom the employer has no control, if that is where the seaman's employer sends him to work.). Therefore, we conclude that Rannals has successfully established a genuine issue of material fact whether the training center's negligence, if found, may be imputed to Diamond Jo. 20 Second, we believe that Rannals has created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the training center had constructive notice of the dangerous icy conditions in its driveways and should have cured or eliminated such conditions to reduce the possibility of harm to program attendees on site. In her deposition, Rannals testified that, on Wednesday, January 14, 1998, the day before her accident, it was icy outside and kind of drizzling, and the temperature was chilly. J.A. at 138. She further asserted that, on the morning of Thursday, January 15, 1998, when she and her co-workers were preparing to drive to the training center, it was icy, and some of her co-workers had to scrape the windows of their rental car. J.A. at 139. Additionally, according to Rannals, when she and her co-workers arrived at the training center at approximately 8:30 a.m., it was kind of icy on the driveway of thetraining center and the surrounding grassy areas, and the icy conditions at the center remained the same throughout the day until around 4:00 p.m. J.A. at 81. Furthermore, climatological records for January 15, 1998 showed that there was no freezing rain or trace precipitation after 9:00 a.m., giving the training center more than seven hours to cure or eliminate the dangerous conditions without disruption. Lastly, Rannals testified that when class ended at approximately 4:00 p.m. on January 15, 1998, [i]t was chilly and a little icy outside yet. J.A. at 141. We believe that all of this evidence is sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the training center had constructive notice of the dangerous icy conditions and should have cured or eliminated such conditions to reduce the possibility of harm to program attendees on site. 21 Third, we believe that Rannals has created a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether the training center's alleged negligence caused her injuries and damages. During her deposition, Rannals testified that she remembered seeing a thin layer [of ice] . . . where [she] fell. J.A. at 92. Additionally, when asked if it [was] fair to say that . . . . the only reason [she] fell [was] because [she] slipped on ice, Rannals answered Yes. J.A. at 96. In sum, in light of Rannals's testimony and the weather conditions on the day of the accident, we also believe that Rannals has created a question as to whether the icy conditions caused her injuries and damages and conclude that Rannals has successfully created a genuine issue of material fact regarding Diamond Jo's liability for the injuries she sustained at the training center on January 15, 1998. 22 Diamond Jo argues, however, that the district court was correct in concluding that Rannals's negligence claim was barred by the Ohio common-law defense of natural accumulation, which provides that a private party has no common-law duty to remove or make less hazardous a natural accumulation of ice and snow on private sidewalks or walkways . . . or to warn those who enter upon [its] premises of the inherent dangers presented by natural accumulations of ice and snow. Brinkman v. Ross, 623 N.E.2d 1175, 1178 (Ohio 1993). We do not believe that the Ohio common-law defense of natural accumulation can bar a seaman's Jones Act claim. Indeed, we believe that Rannals's case is extremely similar to Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., in which this court held that the question of whether an employer was negligent in failing to illuminate and salt a pathway to its ship that was often snowy and icy during the winter was a proper question for the jury. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 243 F.2d at 808-10. In so doing, this court in Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. rejected an argument by the employer that is analogous to the natural accumulation doctrine, stating [w]e find without merit the contention of the employer . . . that the employer owed no duty to keep the entire ninety acres free of snow and ice because it would be impossible to do that. Id. at 808. Moreover, as the Supreme Court has long acknowledged due to the remedial purpose of the Jones Act and its expansive breadth of protections, employers are generally stripped of their common-law defenses in Jones Act cases. Rogers, 352 U.S. at 507-08 (The employer is stripped of his common-law defenses and usually there is a only single question whether negligence of the employer played any part, however small, in the injury.). We find no reason to make an exception for the defense of natural accumulation under Ohio law and thusbar Rannals's negligence claim. 6 In sum, we believe that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on Rannals's negligence claim under the Jones Act.