Court Opinion

ID: 9459083
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:09:56.521091+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:00.674215
License: Public Domain

DYER, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I concur in the affirmance of the district court’s judgment with respect to Albert Aschaffenburg and concur in vacating the judgment in favor of Lysle Aschaffenburg. I dissent with respect to the reversal of the judgment in favor of Otis Elevator Company.
The only evidence that the plaintiff could produce in an attempt to keep Otis in the case was that “[t]hey [unidentified] had men working there several times,” and that “[t]hey [unidentified] worked on the doors, trying to work them back and forth on the slide without jumping out.” The plaintiff did not identify the workers as Otis employees and could not even say that this occurred prior to the accident. The ma*248jority, instead of deciding the case on the record, set up straw men and proceeded to knock them down with negative inferences, i. e., Otis did not come forward with records that it lacked knowledge of the defective doors prior to the accident; or did not come forward with records to show that its personnel had not been on the premises before the accident; or did not come forward to show what its inspection duties were prior to the accident; or did not show that no report was made by the hotel to Otis. Manifestly, Otis had no burden to come forward to meet these straw men because the plaintiff produced no evidence to raise such factual issues. On the record before us a jury would not be entitled to infer that Otis either knew or should have known of the defect prior to the accident. In my view the district court was correct in entering summary judgment for Otis.