Ambrose v. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, LLC

105 So. 3d 180, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0489, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1360, 2012 WL 5377660
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 31, 2012
DocketNo. 2012-CA-0489
StatusPublished

This text of 105 So. 3d 180 (Ambrose v. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ambrose v. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, LLC, 105 So. 3d 180, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0489, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1360, 2012 WL 5377660 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DANIEL L. DYSART, Judge.

11Daniel Ambrose, Jr., appeals a judgment wherein the trial court adopted the verdict of a jury. The jury found in favor of the defendants, Walt Disney World Company, Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, Inc., and Lexington Insurance Company, dismissing Mr. Ambrose’s lawsuit, with prejudice. For the following reasons, we affirm.

BACKGROUND:

Mr. Ambrose claimed to have been injured on July 25, 2005, while working for GES Exposition Services, Inc. (“GES”), at the Morial Convention Center unloading trailers originally loaded by Walt Disney World Company (“Disney”) with in-line hockey rinks to be used at an event hosted by the Amateur Athletic Union (“AAU”).

The only issue to be decided on appeal is whether the jury was correct in finding that Mr. Ambrose’s injury was not caused by unloading a trailer originally loaded by Disney.

J^DISCUSSION:

In his first assignment of error, Mr. Ambrose argues that the jury verdict was clearly contrary to the law and evidence. He argues that he proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he was injured while unloading a trailer originally loaded by Disney. The trailer was improperly loaded causing him to suffer severe injuries to his shoulder and neck when something on the truck fell on him.

As this is a purely factual issue, we are bound to review the jury’s finding using the manifest error/clearly wrong standard. This Court employs a two-part test on review: 1) We must find from the record that there exists no reasonable factual basis for the finding by the trier-of-fact; and, 2) we must further determine that the record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong. Stobart v. State, Dep’t of Tramp. & Development, 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993), citing Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120, 1127 (La.1987). Although this Court might find that its own evaluations are more reasonable than the fact-finder’s, “reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review where conflict exists in the testimony.” Id.

Our review of the transcript reveals that testimony given by the witnesses at trial varied greatly as to the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ambrose’s injuries. Rather [182]*182than rely on the out-of-context excerpts quoted in Mr. Ambrose’s brief, we | ahave reviewed the testimony in its entirety and find a reasonable factual basis exists for the jury’s verdict.

It is undisputed that the subject hockey rinks were stored in 53 foot trailers in Orlando, Florida. It is also undisputed that the rinks were transferred into six 28 foot, or PUP trailers, to be transported to New Orleans for the event. What is disputed is whether Mr. Ambrose was injured while unloading one of those six trailers.

In more than one deposition given by Mr. Ambrose prior to trial, he gave conflicting testimony to that given at trial. At trial, he testified that he arrived at work at 8 a.m., but that the Disney trucks were late arriving at the dock. The first truck was unloaded by a forklift, but the second truck was poorly loaded, necessitating it being unloaded by hand. He notified Steve Sabito, his supervisor, who took pictures of the contents to document possible damage. He unloaded the fust row of cargo, and was holding up about shoulder height “something,” possibly Plexiglas, to allow a co-worker to pull cargo from underneath. He saw something in his peripheral vision falling, and was struck by a 4x4 wooden crate. On cross-examination, he said he couldn’t remember if it was a 4x4 crate or a 4x4 piece of wood. At trial, Mr. Ambrose testified that the truck he was unloading was a PUP trailer, although he was adamant in prior depositions that it was a 53 foot trailer. In depositions, he stated the doors were swing doors and had to be opened before the truck backed the trailer up to the dock. At trial, he said the doors were the roll-up type, usually found on PUP trailers.

Both Keith Noll, a volunteer working for AAU coordinating the event, and Sergio Gutierrez, a worker for the company hired by Disney to set up the displays, testified that the PUP trailers arrived at the dock before 8:30 a.m. Both men testified that the cargo in one of the PUP trailers had shifted during transport. The cargo in that trailer was the dasher boards, the perimeter of the rink into which the Plexiglas is attached. Mr. Noll explained at trial that the Disney dasher boards were on special carts that Disney had constructed to store them. The racks could be picked up by forklift. The dasher boards for the AAU rink were stacked in the trailer. However, the Plexiglas and sport floor were transported in separate trailers.

Both men testified that it took approximately two hours to unload all six of the PUP trailers, with the work being completed no later than 11:30 a.m. Mr. Gutierrez specifically recalled that all six trailers were unloaded by forklift, not by hand. Mr. Noll and Mr. Gutierrez both denied that anyone was hurt while unloading a PUP trailer.

Mr. Ambrose disputed the report from the nurse’s station where he claims to have gone immediately after his accident. The report indicated that he arrived at 1:27 p.m. He also disputed the intake form from Lindy Boggs Medical Center that indicated he arrived at 3:26 p.m. The medical record also reported that Mr. Am-brose left the emergency room, but returned at 8:05 p.m., when he was seen by a doctor and was x-rayed. He testified that he never left the hospital, but speculated that he may have “stepped out” when his name was called. As his injury was not a true emergency, he was not called again until much later.

| üSteve Sabito, Mr. Ambrose’s supervisor, testified that Mr. Ambrose called him at 12:45 p.m. to tell him he had been injured when a 4x4 platform fell on him. [183]*183He had no recollection of telling Mr. Am-brose to unload a poorly loaded truck.

The only witness who attempted to corroborate Mr. Ambrose’s trial testimony was Albert Brown, a forklift operator also employed by GES. He testified at trial that some of the trucks that day had to be off-loaded by hand, palletized and then picked up by forklift. He testified that on the day of the accident, they started working at 8 a.m. It usually takes about 25 to 30 minutes to unload a PUP trailer, but would take 2 ½ to 3 hours to unload one by hand. He initially thought they would be unloading 53 foot trailers, because PUP’s did not pull up to the dock. When asked why he testified in a previous deposition that they were unloading 53 foot trailers with swing doors on the day of the accident, he said he assumed it was 53 foot trailers because they were already backed up to the dock with the doors open. On cross-examination, he admitted that “after talking to people,” he would testify differently than he had in his 2009 deposition.

Mr. Brown also testified that the equipment in the trailer in which Mr. Ambrose was injured was loaded with hockey equipment to be used at the AAU event. However, Mr. Noll, the AAU coordinator for the event, testified that there were many exhibitors at this event, one of which had a hockey shop complete with skates and sticks, and was equipped to fix hockey equipment. There was also a mini-type rink where children could take “shots” and win prizes. He verified that | fisome exhibitors used Plexiglas in their exhibits. All of these exhibitors had their cargo delivered in 53 foot trailers.

Mr.

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105 So. 3d 180, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0489, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1360, 2012 WL 5377660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ambrose-v-walt-disney-parks-resorts-llc-lactapp-2012.