Opinion ID: 1136285
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the trial court erred in ordering a directed verdict in favor of southern company services and in instructing the jury regarding the duty of care owed to sumrall by mississippi power company.

Text: Because Sumrall raises two unrelated issues under this assignment of error, we shall discuss the issues separately below.
Sumrall asserts that the trial court erred in ordering a directed verdict in favor of Southern Company Services. However, Sumrall neither argues why the trial court erred in this regard nor offers any authority in support thereof, instead confining his argument exclusively to the duty of care owed by Mississippi Power. Because the appellant bears the burden of persuasion on appeal, this Court will not consider issues on appeal for which the appellant cites no supporting authority. Century 21 Deep South Properties, Ltd. v. Corson, 612 So.2d 359, 370 (Miss. 1992); R.C. Petroleum, Inc. v. Hernandez, 555 So.2d 1017, 1023 (Miss. 1990). Because Sumrall neither argues this issue nor cites any authority in support thereof, we decline to consider this issue on appeal. We therefore affirm the directed verdict in favor of Southern Company Services.
Sumrall argues that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury regarding the theory of liability set forth by this Court in Whatley v. Delta Brokerage and Warehouse Co., 248 Miss. 416, 159 So.2d 634 (1964). That case involved a negligence action by an employee of an independent contractor to recover damages for injuries sustained when a grain bin constructed by the contractor collapsed. Whatley, 248 Miss. at 420-22, 159 So.2d at 635-36. Affirming as to the liability of the owner of the premises, the Court held: [A]n owner is liable for failure to furnish his contractor's employee a reasonably safe place to work when such employee is injured by the collapse of an elaborate or complicated structure because the owner failed to use reasonable care to have an architect or other competent person design the structure and supervise its construction. Id. at 424, 159 So.2d at 637. Sumrall contends the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury regarding this duty of care owed to Sumrall by Mississippi Power. In order for a jury instruction to be properly given, there must be a sufficient evidentiary basis for it. Tharp v. Bunge Corp., 641 So.2d 20, 26 (Miss. 1994); DeLaughter v. Lawrence County Hosp., 601 So.2d 818, 824 (Miss. 1992). A party to an action is entitled to have the jury instructed regarding a genuine issue of material fact so long as there is credible evidence in the record which would support the instruction. Copeland v. City of Jackson, 548 So.2d 970, 973 (Miss. 1989) (quoting Hill v. Dunaway, 487 So.2d 807, 809 (Miss. 1986)). We find there was not a sufficient evidentiary basis in the record to support an instruction regarding the Whatley duty of care. There was no proof that the excavation was a complicated structure which required an architect or other competent person to design and construct, nor was there evidence that, even if the excavation was a complicated structure, W.C. Fore was not qualified to perform the excavation. Sumrall points out the testimony of one of his experts, T.E. Daughdrill, that industry standards require that before excavations deeper than five feet are begun, proper planning would include analysis of the soil, water content and vibration from any nearby source that might affect the stability of the slopes. However, Mr. Daughdrill admitted that his testimony was not based on any experience in planning or designing excavations and that he had no experience with fly ash. In fact, the trial judge did not allow Mr. Daughdrill to testify about Jackson County ordinances regarding excavations due to his lack of qualification in that area. We believe the above testimony is not the sort of sufficient credible evidence required to support a jury instruction regarding the Whatley duty of care. Furthermore, Sumrall's other expert witness, Lawrence Rumsey, testified that he could not give an opinion about fly ash or the subject excavation and that he had no opinion regarding the work done by W.C. Fore. Sumrall contends that had he been allowed to introduce evidence regarding subsequent remedial measures taken by Mississippi Power after the accident, there would be evidence that the assistance of engineers was necessary to safely complete the project, which evidence would be sufficient to support the jury instruction at issue. However, even if such evidence had been admitted, it clearly could not be used to show negligence or culpable conduct in connection with the accident in question under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 407. Because Sumrall failed to offer sufficient credible evidence either of the complexity of the excavation or of the under-qualification of W.C. Fore to perform the excavation, the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury regarding the Whatley theory of liability. Sumrall also argues that the trial court erred in granting certain Defendant's Instructions, primarily Instruction DI-8, which reads: The Court instructs the jury that, as a matter of law, the owner of property has no liability for injuries to the employees of an independent contractor, where those injuries occurred because of or were connected with the work being done by the independent contractor for the property owner. The Court further instructs the jury that if you find that the Plaintiff was injured, and that his injuries occurred because of, or were connected with, the excavation work being done by W.C. Fore Company for Mississippi Power Company, then you must return a verdict for the Defendant, Mississippi Power Company. Sumrall contends this instruction amounted to a peremptory instruction which took from the jury the right to determine whether Mississippi Power retained or exercised the right to control the manner and method of the excavation, effectively removing from the jury's consideration all theories of liability under which the jury could find for Sumrall. When viewing the propriety of a jury instruction, this Court will view the questioned instruction in light of all other instructions which were given to determine whether the jury was correctly instructed. Munford, Inc. v. Fleming, 597 So.2d 1282, 1286 (Miss. 1992). So long as all the instructions read together adequately and properly instruct the jury on the issues, an individual instruction given to the jury will not constitute reversible error. Detroit Marine Engineering v. McRee, 510 So.2d 462, 467 (Miss. 1987). Instruction DI-8 merely states the general rule that a premises owner is not liable for injuries sustained by an independent contractor's employees whose injuries arose out of or were connected with the independent contractor's work. Although when read alone this instruction might seem to mandate a jury verdict in favor of Mississippi Power, the trial court also granted Plaintiff's Instructions P-2 to P-4 which set forth the rule's corollary, stated in Magee v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, 551 So.2d 182, 185-86 (Miss. 1989), that the premises owner may be liable for the negligence of its independent contractor if the owner retained or exercised control or had the right to control the manner and method of the contractor's work. When he granted Instruction DI-8, the trial judge expressed some concern about the peremptory nature of the instruction, but determined that by the time we get all the Jury instructions in we'll have something to offset that. We believe the trial judge was correct, and that when read together, the instructions adequately and fairly instructed the jury on the theory of liability by which the jury could return a verdict in favor of Sumrall. We therefore find this assignment of error to be without merit.