Broyles v. Kasper Machine Co.

865 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44508, 2012 WL 1085577
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 30, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:09-cv-152
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 865 F. Supp. 2d 887 (Broyles v. Kasper Machine Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Broyles v. Kasper Machine Co., 865 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44508, 2012 WL 1085577 (S.D. Ohio 2012).

Opinion

ENTRY AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OF DEFENDANT IAC SIDNEY, LLC, DOC. 56 AND GRANTING DEFENDANT IMS DELTAMATIC GROUP’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, DOC. 82, AND TERMINATING CASE.

THOMAS M. ROSE, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are two motions for summary judgment, one by Plaintiff Richard Broyles’s former employer, IAC Sydney, LLC, doc. 56, and one by IMS Deltamatie Group, the manufacturer of the machine upon which Broyles was working when he suffered injuries that have left him an incomplete quadriplegic. Doc. 82. Because there is no evidence that IAC Sydney intended harm to Broyles, its motion will be granted. Because there is no evidence that IMS Deltamatie Group failed to properly warn Plaintiff of the dangers he chose to encounter and because he intentionally circumvented the safety features designed to protect him from inju[889]*889ry, IMS Deltamatic Group’s motion will be granted.

I. Background

The instant case arises from a serious injury to Plaintiff Richard Broyles. Broyles worked for Defendant IAC Sidney, LLC,1 which manufactures components for automobile interiors at a plant located in Sidney, Ohio. (Rister Aff., ¶ 4.) Broyles was a supervisor for IAC Sydney whose responsibilities included a production machine in Bay 26.

Defendant IMS Deltamatic SPA,2 an Italian Company sold an automated molding line to the owners of the factory prior to IAC Sydney’s acquisition of it. The automated molding line occupies Bay 26.

Bay 26 was a “turnkey job,” meaning that IMS Deltamatic installed it in the facility from start to finish. (Suhy depo. at 76.) Bay 26 molds carpet to plastic for vehicle floors. (Deposition of Jeffrey Hughes at 15.) Bay 26 is shaped like a capital P. (Suhy depo. at 34-35; Deposition of Jon Emert at 19; for a diagram, see Defendant’s Deposition Ex. 23.) The carpet and plastic are molded together in the shape of the vehicle floor as they move up a line (the leg of the “P”). (Emert depo. at 19.) The molded floor piece is then grabbed by clamps and dropped onto an automated carousel (the circle of the “P”). (See Schematic at Defendant’s Deposition Exhibit 24.) The top of the carousel is approximately 2-3 feet off the floor. (Deposition of Margie Gepfrey at 74.)

The automated carousel rotates the molded parts to 3 workstations. At station 1, the molded carpet is dropped from the line onto the carousel. (Gepfrey depo. at 15.) At station 2, three robotic water-jet cutters trim the excess carpet and plastic from the molded part. Id At station 3, the operators enter through a light curtain, remove the molded part, and continue processing it. Id

When Bay 26 is operating smoothly, the carousel rotates to the next work station (1/3 of a complete turn) about every 60 seconds. (Broyles Depo. at 182.) The carousel rotates only after both of the following occur: 1) an operator presses a reset button outside of the light curtain area; and 2) the water-jet cutters at Station 2 return to the home position. (Deposition of Deborah Groff at 77-79.)

When IMS Deltamatic installed Bay 26, they also installed certain guarding and safety mechanisms. The carousel was surrounded by a wire fence or cage. (Deposition of Rick Parsons at 26.) The fence contained two interlocking doors which, if opened, caused the carousel to stop. (Hughes depo. at 24-27.) There was an opening in the fence at the front of the carousel (the bottom of the circle of the “P”) where the operators removed the molded part from Station 3. The floor in [890]*890this area was painted yellow, and was guarded by an automated sensory device known as a “SICK eye” and a light curtain. (Parsons depo. at 23-24.) The SICK eye gave an alarm if a person approached the yellow area and the light curtain stopped the carousel if its light beam was broken. Id. After the light curtain was broken, the carousel would not rotate until a reset button was pressed. (Parsons depo. at 24-25, 28-29.) In this opening and unloading area, there were also two warning signs that read:

NOTICE NO EMPLOYEES BEYOND THIS POINT.

and

WARNING Do Not Climb On Carousel While Machine is Running

(Doc. 82-10).

While all safety devices that were installed with Bay 26 were present and functioning on the date of the accident, (Broyles Depo. at 83; Emmert Depo. at 26-27.), there was a space between the carousel and the fencing in the unloading area. (See Defendants’ Deposition Exhibits 2 and 8; Plaintiffs Deposition Exhibits B and G.) The space was large enough that a person could fit between the fence and carousel or step over the carousel to gain access to the fenced-in area. (Hughes depo. at 47; Broyles depo. at 96.) Once a person was beyond the fence, there was room to stand between the fence and the carousel (or the back wall and the carousel) without coming in contact with the carousel. (Hughes depo. at 48; Gepfrey depo. at 29-30, 74; Broyles depo. at 104; see also Defendant’s Deposition Exhibit 24.)

Broyles had worked at the Sidney facility under prior owners since 1988 and had been a supervisor, and member of management since 2000. (Broyles depo. at 41-42, 49-50.) Broyles continued as a supervisor for IAC Sidney after its 2007 purchase of the Sidney facility and held that position at the time of his accident. (Broyles depo. at 49-50.)

As part of his responsibilities, Broyles supervised the half of the Sidney plant that included Bay 26. (Broyles depo. at 52, 60.) As the supervisor of Bay 26, Broyles had the authority to order the operators of Bay 26 to halt production at any time. (Broyles depo. at 183.) He also played a roll in enforcing safety procedures for Bay 26, including limiting access to the fenced-in area. (Broyles depo. at 180.) Broyles did not, however, perform maintenance on Bay 26. (Broyles depo. at 69-70.) Instead, he was responsible for calling the maintenance department, who would then repair the line if it broke down. (Broyles depo. at 54-55,133-134.)

On February 19, 2008, Jeff Hughes was the automated mold line operator. Among other things, the automated mold line operator runs the controls of the machine and makes sure it is supplied with material. (Hughes depo. at 11-17.) This is a different position from the operators of Bay 26, who removed finished parts from the unloading area at Station 3 for Bay 26. (Hughes depo. at 11, 44.) Margie Gepfrey, Deb Weigman, Deb Groff, and Ross Whittington were the operators working in the opening and unloading area. (Gepfrey depo. at 11; Deposition of Deb Weigman at 35; Groff depo. at 11; Deposition of Ross Whittington at 8.)

On that day, Hughes told Broyles that Bay 26 was having problems with misfeeding carpet. (Broyles depo. at 97.) Broyles believed the problem stemmed from the way a clamp was releasing the [891]*891molded carpet at station 1, a problem they had experienced before. (Broyles depo. at 97-98.)

Broyles called the maintenance department about the problem. (Broyles depo. at 98-99, 133-134.) Before maintenance arrived, though, Broyles decided to enter the carousel area by squeezing between the carousel and the fence to the right of the carousel. (Broyles depo. at 95, 108, 133-134.)

Broyles and the operators agree that Broyles had the authority to stop production before he went through the light curtain. (Broyles depo. at 183; Gepfrey depo. at 73; Weigman depo. at 81; Groff depo.

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Related

Richard Broyles v. Kasper Machine Co.
517 F. App'x 345 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
865 F. Supp. 2d 887, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44508, 2012 WL 1085577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/broyles-v-kasper-machine-co-ohsd-2012.