Court Opinion

ID: 9577472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:35:18.17929+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:39.435507
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON REHEARING
Appellees have petitioned this court for reconsideration of one issue. We have determined to grant the petition in order to correct a factual error which appeared in Bachner v. Rich.
Appellees’ theory of liability is that appellants owed Kenneth Rich a duty to exercise reasonable care in the construction of a scaffold which they supplied to Rich, and that appellants’ breach of that duty proximately caused Rich’s injuries. In the superior court, appellees emphasized certain provisions of the General Safety Code applicable to the construction of scaffolds. These provisions governed the proper cleating and bracing of such scaffolds. Relying upon principles of negligence per se, appellees argued that appellants’ failure to comply with these regulations established their negligence as a matter of law.
Review of the record, however, discloses that appellees did not rely exclusively on the alleged breach of the regulations. They further contended that the duty of due care required appellants to affix to the scaffold other safety devices not specifically required by the General Safety Code. Although relatively little evidence and argument was devoted to this aspect of ap-pellees’ case, this theory of due care was in fact raised during the course of the trial. Thus, the statement in our previous opinion in this case to the effect that “[a]t no time did appellees assert that the lack of these fixtures had contributed to Rich’s injury” is incorrect.1
One piece of evidence which was offered bearing on this contention was the testimony of appellees’ expert safety witness. That witness testified as to the desirability of guardrails and toe boards, which were not affixed to the scaffold supplied to Rich. That testimony was, of course, relevant to the contention that due care required the placement of certain safety features not expressly mandated by the code. Scant argument was presented as to the manner in which the failure to have guardrails or toe boards proximately contributed to Rich’s injuries. A borderline case is presented whether such testimony was relevant in regard to establishing such a proximate cause. Our rules, however, prescribe that in such cases “the principle which favors the reception of the evidence shall govern.” 2 Thus, we have concluded that it was not error to admit the testimony.

. At page 52 of appellants’ opening brief, the following statement is found: “At no time did plaintiffs allege that Rich fell from the scaffold because of the failure of defendants to build the scaffold with guardrails, toe boards or a ladder for egress and ingress.”

. Alaska R.Civ.P. 43(b).