Opinion ID: 2101530
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: UE & C's Appeal

Text: We first consider UE & C's claim that the evidence was insufficient to establish that UE & C was negligent. Since UE & C appeals from the denial of a motion for judgment n.o.v., we must view all of the evidence, together with all of the reasonable inferences therefrom, in the light most favorable to appellees as verdict winners. Tua v. Brentwood Motor Coach Company, 371 Pa. 570, 572, 92 A.2d 209, 210 (1952); Olson v. Dietz, 347 Pa.Super. 1, 6-8, 500 A.2d 125, 129 (1985). We find that UE & C cannot be held legally responsible for the accident at the Eddystone Plant. The facts relating to the collapse of the catwalk are as follows. In 1972, PECO entered into a contract with UE & C for the construction of waste water facilities on the premises of the Eddystone Plant. Pursuant to the contract, UE & C was required to design, construct and install a catwalk which would encircle a waste water holding tank at an elevation of twenty-five feet. Both PECO and UE & C were aware that the catwalk would block an access door on the side of the tank which needed to be opened once every few years so that the tank could be cleaned. In order to address this problem, UE & C selected a structural design which would enable PECO to dismantle the portion of the catwalk closest to the access door. UE & C erected a catwalk which consisted of metal grates that were tackwelded to underlying structural supports. This design permitted PECO to gain entrance to the tank by burning through the tackwelds and lifting off the metal grates. PECO approved the design, and never notified UE & C of any problem with how the catwalk was constructed. In 1978, PECO ordered its employees to remove three grates immediately adjacent to the side of the tank and raise the access door. A welder, with the assistance of a machinist, riggers, and helpers, used an oxygen acetylene torch to melt all of the tackwelds on the grating. William MacGregor, the former head of PECO's maintenance department, testified at trial that the workers were never instructed to reweld the grates to the supports after the tank had been serviced. MacGregor said that he had simply assumed that the workers would properly reassemble the catwalk. In 1980, the same process was repeated. PECO employees were directed to open the access door, but the maintenance department did not instruct anyone to restore the welds. The maintenance department also failed to conduct any subsequent inspection to ensure that the structure was in good condition. On May 5, 1981, the three grates adjacent to the side of the tank slipped out from beneath John Mathis causing him to fall and injure his back. William Mustard, an accident investigator employed by PECO, arrived on the scene and determined that the displaced grates had never been rewelded. Mustard testified that after the welds were removed, the position of the grates had shifted until they no longer rested on their structural supports. Mustard described the condition created by the removal of the welds as an obvious hazard, but he noted that the hazard was apparently not recognized by the PECO craftsmen who left the grates unwelded. PECO had a safety education program for the work force but did not include in this program any instruction on proper catwalk maintenance. Under these circumstances, there can be little doubt that PECO's negligent maintenance of the catwalk was the direct cause of John Mathis' injury. The question on appeal, however, is not whether PECO was negligent but whether UE & C was negligent. Appellees' theory at trial was that UE & C breached a duty of care owed to workers at the Eddystone Plant by designing a catwalk which could become unstable if PECO did not take necessary safety precautions. [1] In support of this position, appellees called as an expert witness George Rago, a construction safety specialist. Rago testified that UE & C could have avoided the accident by installing hinged grates that would swing open whenever workers needed to enter the tank's access door. Appellees therefore assert that by securing the grates with tackwelds rather than hinges, UE & C created an unreasonable risk that PECO would remove the tackwelds and would never replace them. UE & C argued that hinged grates are more dangerous than welded grates because a worker may fall through a catwalk if a hinged grate is inadvertently left open. However, we need not determine whether hinged grates or welded grates are the optimum catwalk design. The central issue in this case is not whether UE & C built the safest possible catwalk but whether UE & C negligently constructed an unreasonably dangerous catwalk. This in turn depends upon whether UE & C should have been expected to anticipate that PECO would leave the grates unwelded. A company which manufactures and erects a structure owes a duty of care to people who must work in the vicinity of that structure. Foley v. Pittsburgh-Des Moines Co., 363 Pa. 1, 68 A.2d 517 (1949). This duty includes an obligation to design the structure in such a way that it will not be rendered unsafe because of the foreseeable actions of a third party. Smith v. Hobart Manufacturing Company, 302 F.2d 570, 573 (3rd Cir. 1962). See generally Restatement (Second) of Torts § 302 (1965) (negligent act or omission may involve an unreasonable risk of harm to another through the foreseeable action of a third person.) However, the wrongful actions of a third party are not deemed to be foreseeable simply because the defendant could have speculated that they might conceivably occur. Want of ordinary care consists in failure to anticipate what is reasonably probable  not what is remotely possible. Tua v. Brentwood Motor Coach Company, 371 Pa. at 575, 92 A.2d at 211 (1952). See, e.g., Kronk v. West Penn Power Co., 422 Pa. 458, 462, 222 A.2d 720, 721-22 (1966); Jowett v. Pa. Power Co., 383 Pa. 330, 335, 118 A.2d 452, 455 (1955); Scurfield v. Federal Lab., Inc., 335 Pa. 145, 150, 6 A.2d 559, 561 (1939); Jamison v. City of Philadelphia, 355 Pa.Super. 376, 380-82, 513 A.2d 479, 481 (1986). Although we are not aware of any Pennsylvania court decision which concerns a negligence suit against a manufacturer for failing to prevent the removal of a safety devise, the Third Circuit addressed this issue in Smith v. Hobart Manufacturing Company, supra . In Smith, the plaintiff mangled his hand when he slipped while feeding meat into an electrically powered grinding machine. The machine had been delivered to plaintiff's employer with a hand guard blocking the revolving blade, but a supervisor removed the guard so that larger pieces of meat could be cut and production thereby increased. Plaintiff argued that the manufacturer had a duty to secure the guard so that it would have been more difficult for the supervisor to detach. In a decision applying Pennsylvania law, the Third Circuit concluded that the manufacturer could not foresee that the grinder would be operated without a guard, and that plaintiff's theory of liability should not have been submitted to the jury. In the instant case, appellees claim that the accident was foreseeable because UE & C knew that PECO would someday remove the tackwelds. We find, however, UE & C was not on notice that the welds would be removed and then never replaced. Appellees did not present evidence that UE & C was aware or should have been aware of any history of safety violations on PECO's part. Nor did appellees present evidence that UE & C or any other manufacturer had ever constructed a catwalk which later had been disassembled and not rewelded. Compare Lambert v. PBI Industries, 244 Pa.Super. 118, 366 A.2d 944 (1976) (manufacturer should anticipate uses of product which are usual and customary in the industry). The accident was the result of exceptionally careless acts which occurred many years after UE & C had relinquished control of the catwalk to PECO. The supervisor of PECO's maintenance department ordered a team of craftsmen to remove the welds but never bothered to make arrangements for the grates to be rewelded. PECO employees then stacked the unwelded grates on top of their structural supports creating an obvious hazard. Finally, PECO failed to conduct any subsequent safety inspection for a period of months or perhaps years. Under all of the circumstances, we conclude as a matter of law that UE & C was not negligent for failing to anticipate PECO's misconduct. In reaching this conclusion, we also bear in mind that weld removal was not a routine part of the maintenance of the waste water tank. At trial, the engineer who designed the catwalk testified that he had been told that the tank would be cleaned only once every two years or less often. The evidence of record shows only that the tank was cleaned twice  once in 1978 and once in 1980. Appellees' position would be stronger if they had been able to demonstrate that UE & C had reason to expect that PECO would remove the catwalk grates once a week or once a month. As it was, the frequency of the tank cleaning program was not sufficient to indicate that sooner or later the welds might not be restored. The evidence presented at trial was insufficient to prove that UE & C created a foreseeable danger by designing a tackwelded catwalk. [2] Accordingly, we grant judgment n.o.v. in favor of UE & C.