Court Opinion

ID: 9663822
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:52:20.648269+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:57.719566
License: Public Domain

TEIGEN, Chief Justice
(concurring specially) .
I agree that the summary judgment must be reversed. I do not feel it is for us to speculate as to what the evidence may prove if a trial is held, nor is it for us to find facts in reviewing a summary judgment on appeal.
On a motion for summary judgment, the trial court shall consider the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, and shall render summary judgment only if it finds there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56, N.D.R.Civ.P. In considering the pleadings and the factual statements submitted, the opposing party shall have the benefit of that view of the evidence most favorable to him and the burden of clearly establishing there is no genuine issue of fact is upon the movant. Mondy v. Gjesdal, N.D., 123 N.W.2d 33.
On appeal from a summary judgment, this court must view the case from a standpoint most favorable to the appellant and accept his allegations of fact as true. The only question is whether the allegations of the party against whom summary judgment was rendered were sufficient to raise a material or genuine issue of fact. In this case there was submitted, in addition to the pleadings, the deposition of the plaintiff taken by the defendant and several affidavits, some in support of and some in opposition to the motion.
When I consider the factual statements, I cannot determine whether an employer-employee relationship existed between the plaintiff and the defendant and whether the clamp on the gate of the cattle squeeze was or was not defective. If the lock on the gate was defective, it is not clear to me whether the defect had any causal connection with the injury. It does not appear that the lever and ratchet lock operating the squeeze was in any way connected with or affected by the gate lock. Further, it also appears the plaintiff may have released the gate lock before the accident occurred. The factual statements indicate that the cattle-squeeze machine was owned by a brother-in-law of the parties to this action and that he brought the machine to the defendant’s farm and was present at the time the injury occurred; however, there is no fact produced which establishes his relationship, . if any, in the transaction.
The trial court found that the defendant was not negligent and the defect in the lock of the gate, if one existed, was known to the plaintiff and unknown to the defendant, and that the plaintiff assumed the risk and was contributorily *400negligent as a matter of law. The trial court entered a summary judgment for dismissal of the plaintiff’s complaint. I believe the trial court erred in so doing.