Court Opinion

ID: 9490132
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:33:58.393796+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:55.088671
License: Public Domain

ROBERT M. PARKER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
After considering all of the evidence, construed in favor of Mosley, I have concluded that the record supports the jury’s verdict. The majority states that “there is no evidence that [Mosley] ever worked at the job when there were less than four total workers — including himself — on the line____ [T]he record shows that Mosley only worked as a skirt puller when it was admittedly safe to do the job on the basis of the number of workers and the pace of production.” In fact, there was no direct evidence concerning how many other people worked the line when Mosley did. However, the evidence was clear that the line often had to function short handed, with one to three trained skirt pullers and that Mosley filled in when they were short handed. The jury could have reasonably concluded that Mosley worked as a skirt puller when the line was one or two or three *1016people short. It seems irrational to conclude, as the majority does, that he filled in when only one person was absent, but did not fill in on shifts when two or more people were absent. Further, Mosley testified that the chain speed was safe for four trained people, but “it was tough on me.”
The majority’s whole conclusion hangs on this faulty hook. It does not go on to address the question of foreseeability. The record contains evidence that there were high injury rates which had been reported to Excel, that Excel’s ergonomics expert recommended rest pauses and that workers were not allowed pauses, even after Mosley requested such changes. I therefore conclude that the record supports the jury’s verdict and that the district court erred in granting Excel’s motion for judgment as a matter of law.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.