Opinion ID: 1377
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: United Rental’s Alterations

Text: There is no evidence the lift was incorrectly wired or otherwise defective when JLG sold the lift to United Rentals.11 In January 2005, United Rentals (then the owner) determined the lift was malfunctioning. Specifically, its high-speed functions were operating when the work platform was raised above 22 feet. Eric Ramos, a mechanic/technician employed by United Rentals, attempted to repair the malfunction. Ramos had never worked or been trained as an electrician and was never instructed on how to make electrical repairs to the lift. According to his testimony, when he opened the platform control console, he did not believe the wiring looked like the wiring diagram provided in the service manual. During 19 hours of work on the lift’s wiring system, he tried to reconstruct the wiring as he saw it on the JLG diagram but did not recall exactly what he did. In fact, Ramos made significant alterations to the lift’s wiring system which substantially differed from the wiring diagram in JLG’s manual. Relying on expert testimony, the district court described Ramos’s alterations: [T]he wiring in the ground terminal was cut and spliced to make Terminal 10 Appellants emphasized this testimony in their claims against United Rentals but minimize it now. 11 The date JLG sold the lift to United Rentals is not identified in the record. -8- No. 24 “hot” or energized any time the ignition was on. Then a pin was added to the platform control box at Location W, and a brown wire with blue markings was added to connect this modified pin with the nowenergized Terminal No. 24. Finally, the wiring inside the platform control box was modified so as to connect the newly spliced pin at Location W with the toggle switches that controlled the leveling jacks. The inspection of the scissor lift involved in the accident also revealed other anomalous modifications. For example, the cable connectors running from the ground terminal also were altered so as to have two female connectors attached to two male connectors at the platform control box, rather than one male and one female as originally designed. In addition, a green light on the platform control box that is designed to switch on when the leveling jacks are set was disconnected. (Appellants’ Appx. at 391-392 (record citations omitted).) Ramos’s rewiring made the high-speed functions of the lift’s engine cut out when the work platform was raised above 6 inches. But, critical to the issue here, his rewiring also inadvertently disabled the cut out switch connection between the leveling jack toggle switches and the DSCOS. He created a new power source for the leveling jack toggle switches which continued to provide power to the jacks even when the work platform was raised above 6 inches. His alterations allowed the switches to extend and retract the leveling jacks regardless of the work platform’s elevation. They had other unfortunate consequences; his alterations compromised the warnings contained on the equipment and in the operator and service manuals. Normally the cut out of high-speed functions when the work platform was raised over 6 inches would result in lower engine noise. Lower noise would also indicate the DSCOS had cut power to the leveling jack toggle switches. Wiring around the connection between the DSCOS and the leveling jack switches eliminated this audible warning. Nevertheless, the daily checks would reveal the -9- problem, particularly those requiring the operator to “CHECK ALL FUNCTIONS . . . TO BE SURE THERE ARE NO MALFUNCTIONS” and the operator’s manual telling users to perform “[a] functional check of all systems” and warning, “TO AVOID INJURY DO NOT OPERATE A MACHINE UNTIL ALL MALFUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN CORRECTED . . .” (Id. at 236, 75 (emphasis added).) Because Ramos mistakenly believed “everything [was] functioning the way it should be . . . above [a] height of 22 feet,” the lift was placed back into service.12 (Id. at 154.) More than a year later, on February 20, 2006, Ramos performed an inspection of the lift. His inspection reported the lift was working properly and had not been modified without authorization. 13 United Rentals rented the lift to Yearout Mechanical on March 1, 2006. See United Rentals Nw., Inc. v. Yearout Mech., Inc., 573 F.3d 997, 999 (10th Cir. 2009). On April 1, 2006, Camerino Ramirez and Anthony and James Magoffe were using the lift to install ductwork in an airport hangar approximately fifty feet above the ground. While lowering the work platform, but still approximately 46 feet above the ground, the right rear stabilizing jack retracted and the lift tipped over, injuring James and killing Anthony and Camerino.