Court Opinion

ID: 9863722
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 05:53:22.325652+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:12.128778
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that “[t]he mere fact of a parent subsidiary relationship does not impose a duty on the parent on behalf of the subsidiary or its employees.” At 1032, 793 P.2d at 705. However, I do not agree with the majority that summary judgment was warranted on the issue of whether Parson Companies undertook a duty on behalf of Bowling, duty which by well-established case precedent it would have been obliged to perform in a non-negligent manner.
It is apparent from the record and inferences reasonably drawn therefrom that while the day-to-day responsibility for the safety of Bannock’s operations rested with Bannock, oversight of the complex matters such as compliance with OSHA requirements and with requirements imposed by Parson’s and Bannock’s liability insurer was the responsibility of Langrock, a Parson employee. Such an arrangement makes sense in the context of Parson Companies’ overall structure: It is a large company made up of at least nine smaller, wholly owned subsidiaries, all having something to do with construction or construction supplies, and doing business in at least three states, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. R. at 20-27. Most of the clerical office employees are located in Utah, where Parson Companies is headquartered. R. at 24. The President of Bannock Paving, Mike Wood, is also Bannock Paving’s CEO, and in addition he is the Executive Vice President of Parson Companies. R. at 54. Each of the smaller construction or supply companies, including Bannock Paving, is responsible for its own day-to-day operations, including maintenance and safety of equipment. R. at 55, 59. Parson Companies has not “assumed completely the duty of providing a safe work place for [Bannock Paving’s] employees.” R. at 60. However, as the parent company, Parson Companies is responsible for acquiring workers’ compensation and liability insurance for itself and all of its wholly owned subsidiaries. R. at 60, Deposition of David Langrock at 57. In order to obtain that insurance, Parson Companies must represent to the insurer that each of the subsidi*1034aries is complying with applicable safety regulations, including those imposed by OSHA. OSHA is a very complex set of statutes and regulations. Therefore, rather than requiring the safety officer of each of the subsidiaries to master those regulations, Parson Companies employs an expert, Langrock, to oversee OSHA compliance and to relay the fact of that compliance to the companies’ insurer. Deposition of David Langrock at 62. Thus, while Parson Companies, through Langrock, does not oversee the day-to-day safety operations at the subsidiaries, it is well-informed about each of the subsidiaries’ safety measures, or lack thereof. The information Parson Companies had included knowledge that several of Bannock Paving’s vehicles were being operated without audible backup signals, in direct violation of OSHA regulations. Parson Companies, through Langrock, has authority to influence safety procedures at its subsidiaries if those procedures do not comply with OSHA regulations or in some other way jeopardize the insurance which Parson Companies purchases on Bannock Paving’s behalf.
A summary judgment is not appropriate unless the facts and all inferences drawn therefrom, when reviewed in a light favorable to the non-moving party, demonstrate that there is no material question of fact which remains unresolved. Anderson v. City of Pocatello, 112 Idaho 176, 731 P.2d 171 (1986). All too frequently, it seems, the majority of this Court is willing to turn its face away from this standard when so doing suits its purposes. This is one of those occasions. If Parson Companies, as a reasonable person, should have realized that there was a risk of foreseeable harm to a person or persons, such as Carl Bowling, it became Parson Companies’ duty to do whatever a reasonable person would have done to avoid the harm. This is simply a statement of the basic rule in negligence cases. While the fact of a parent-subsidiary relationship does not create such a duty on the part of the parent, it does not necessarily negate such a duty, either. As the discussion in this opinion makes abundantly clear, the facts which were presented in this case, and reasonable inferences drawn from those facts, raise a significant question concerning whether Parson Companies had such a duty with regard to the safety of Bannock Paving’s operations which directly affected Carl Bowling’s safety. That significant question merits resolution by jury trial. The majority’s refusal to allow that trial is yet another in a seeming increase in unwarranted summary dispositions of serious tort actions which are in turn rather summarily upheld by this Court. It will be both a difficult and a sad task for counsel to explain to Mrs. Bowling just why it is the facts and circumstances of her husband’s death are not laid out for a jury’s consideration.