Casas v. SIEMENS ENERGY AND AUTOMATION, INC.

1 So. 3d 294, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 200, 2009 WL 77979
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 14, 2009
Docket3D04-742
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1 So. 3d 294 (Casas v. SIEMENS ENERGY AND AUTOMATION, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casas v. SIEMENS ENERGY AND AUTOMATION, INC., 1 So. 3d 294, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 200, 2009 WL 77979 (Fla. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

On Remand from the Supreme Court of Florida

COPE, J.

This case is before us on remand from the Supreme Court of Florida. The question is whether the defendant-appellee Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc., is entitled to workers’ compensation immunity. The trial court granted summary judgment for the employer on that issue. We conclude that there are disputed issues of material fact and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Plaintiff-appellant Rodolfo Casas was a machine set-up operator for the operation of a mechanical punch press machine which stamped metal lids. His duties included setting up the machine for operation and actually operating it.

The plaintiff had been instructed that if a metal lid became stuck in the machine, the plaintiff should remove it with a long metal rod or with a long screwdriver. While attempting to clear a stuck metal lid, the machine cycled and crushed the plaintiffs arm.

The plaintiff sued the defendant employer. The defendant claimed workers’ compensation immunity. The plaintiff countered by invoking the intentional tort exception to workers’ compensation immunity. Under that exception, “in order to prove an intentional tort, the employer [296]*296must be shown to have either ‘exhibite[d] a deliberate intent to injure or engage[d] in conduct which is substantially certain to result in injury or death.’ ” Turner v. PCR, 754 So.2d 683, 687 (Fla.2000) (citation omitted).1

The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that the circumstances of the case did not fall within the intentional tort exception to workers’ compensation immunity. The trial court agreed with the defendant and entered summary judgment.

On appeal, a divided panel affirmed. Casas v. Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc., 927 So.2d 922 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (“Casas I”). The majority opinion relied in part on The Bombay Company v. Bakerman, 891 So.2d 555 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) (“Bakerman /”), which was subsequently quashed by the Florida Supreme Court. Bakerman v. The Bombay Company, Inc., 961 So.2d 259 (Fla.2007) (“Bakerman II”).

The Supreme Court thereafter quashed this court’s opinion in Casas and remanded to this court “for reconsideration upon application of this Court’s decision in Baker-man II.” Casas v. Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc., 969 So.2d 356 (Fla.2007) (“Casas II”).

III.

The present case is similar to Lawton v. Alpine Engineered Products, Inc., 498 So.2d 879 (Fla.1986), as modified by Turner, 754 So.2d at 691 n. 8 (Fla.2000). The Lawton facts were:

Alpine Engineered Products purchased a punch press from Federal Press Company in 1972. In 1981 Carl Lawton, a punch press operator employed by Alpine, caught his hand in the press when a co-worker accidentally put the press into operation as Lawton attempted to adjust the machine. The press crushed Lawton’s hand and caused the loss of all the fingers on that hand. Following the accident, Lawton applied for and received workers’ compensation benefits from Alpine’s insurance carrier and filed suit against Federal Press Company. During the course of discovery, Lawton learned that between February 1972 and August 1980 Alpine had received numerous written communications from Federal Press informing Alpine that, for safety reasons, point of operation guards should be provided on the press and that operators should be instructed about the various dangers involved in operating the press.

498 So.2d at 880 (emphasis added). The Florida Supreme Court has stated that the foregoing facts were sufficient to support an allegation of substantial certainty of injury. Turner, 754 So.2d at 691 n. 8.

In the present case, the defendant’s plant manager, John Samilian, testified that the plaintiff was given extensive training on how to operate the press at issue here, Machine 409. Deposition of John Samilian (“Samilian Deposition”), Oct. 15, 2002, at 122. Machine 409 had a Plexiglas guard which was designed to prevent an operator from placing his hand in the working area of the machine.2 According [297]*297to the manager, the plaintiff was instructed to clear a jam by using a metal rod which could be inserted in a small opening in the Plexiglas guard. If that was not successful in clearing the jam, then the operator was to turn off the electrical power and insert a metal dowel which would prevent the press from descending. When that had been done, it was permissible for the operator to bypass the Plexiglas guard and clear the jam by hand. The defense claims that the plaintiff received one-on-one, on the job training with an experienced press operator before he was allowed to operate Machine 409 by himself.

We are obligated to read the record in the light most favorable to the plaintiff as the nonmoving party. See St. Joe Corp. v. McIver, 875 So.2d 375, 377 (Fla.2004). The plaintiff in this case denied that he had received extensive training on this machine prior to beginning to operate it. Deposition of Rodolfo Casas (“Plaintiffs Deposition”), Dec. 12, 2002, at 20-23. He stated that he had short intervals of training by a coworker. Id. He began operating the machine by himself “[pjractically since the first day.” Id. at 23. He was given no written materials, id., and simply received on the job training. While the plant manager testified about the company’s training procedures, the plant manager acknowledged that training was handled by the supervisors and group leaders and was not handled by the manager personally. Samilian Deposition at 127. For present purposes, we accept the plaintiffs version of the facts.

On the day of the accident, the Plexiglas guard was not on the machine. Under the defendant’s procedures, a set-up operator like the plaintiff was allowed to remove the Plexiglas guard. The defendant maintains that the plaintiff removed the Plexiglas guard himself, while the plaintiff apparently denies this. See R. 977.3 It is, however, immaterial who removed the Plexiglas guard.

The plaintiff testified that he had been told it was unnecessary to turn the power off before reaching into the machine to clear a jam. The plaintiff testified in part:

Q. Well, is there a way to completely shut the machine down either by turning off the electricity or turning off an on or off switch or unplugging it?
A. Yes, there is a switch that you would turn everything off completely.
Q. Where is that switch located?
A. At one side of the machine.
Q. Don’t you think it would be good, common sense to turn that switch off and turn the machine off if something got stuck in the machine and you have to fix it?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you ever do that?
A. No, because a supervisor would say that it was not necessary to turn off the machine.

Plaintiffs Deposition at 38-39 (emphasis added).

Again:

Q. But you certainly knew from common sense before this accident that you should never put your hands in the zone of danger under the ramp?
A.

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Related

Vallejos v. Lan Cargo S.A.
116 So. 3d 545 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Casas v. SIEMENS ENERGY AND AUTOMATION, INC.
1 So. 3d 294 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
1 So. 3d 294, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 200, 2009 WL 77979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casas-v-siemens-energy-and-automation-inc-fladistctapp-2009.