Opinion ID: 1897018
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Gerald McLeod

Text: The plaintiff also sued Gerald McLeod, his job superintendent at the Pickens County jobsite. The plaintiff did not call McLeod as an adverse witness in his case in chief. He did secure testimony from another co-defendant, Coby Clark, that McLeod was in charge of the Pickens County jobsite. The plaintiff did cross-examine McLeod; however, we cannot find a scintilla of evidence that McLeod either had been delegated or had voluntarily assumed the employer's statutory duty, § 25-1-1. The testimony that McLeod was in charge is insufficient, because [l]iability of a co-employee must be predicated upon the breach of a personal duty owed to the injured employee and not upon general administrative responsibilities. Fireman's Fund American Ins. Co. v. Coleman, 394 So.2d 334, 347 (Ala.1980) (Jones, J., concurring in the result). We hold that the plaintiff did not sustain his burden of establishing a duty on the part of McLeod; therefore, the trial court should have granted his J.N.O.V. as well.