Elliott v. W. E. Clark & Sons

447 S.W.2d 129, 247 Ark. 651, 1969 Ark. LEXIS 1155
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 17, 1969
Docket5-5052
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 447 S.W.2d 129 (Elliott v. W. E. Clark & Sons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elliott v. W. E. Clark & Sons, 447 S.W.2d 129, 247 Ark. 651, 1969 Ark. LEXIS 1155 (Ark. 1969).

Opinion

J. Fred Jones, Justice.

The only question presented on this appeal is whether the trial court erred in rendering summary judgment and entering order of dismissal as to W. E'. Clark & Sons, one of the defendants in this lawsuit. We conclude that the trial court erred.

On March 2, 1966, Ralph Elliott, an ironworker employed by Bush Construction Company, fell to his death from the ninth floor of a building under construction in Pulaski County when a defective eye loop gave way on the end of a cable supporting a swinging scaffold on which Mr. Elliott stood while working. The scaffold was supported by two cables, one at each end. The upper, or hanging end of each cable had an eye loop formed by drawing the cable around a steel ring or “honda” and weaving the end of the cable back into the main body of the cable and wrapping with wire. The scaffold had an “axle” arrangement in a drum at each end of the scaffold and one cable was threaded through a hole in each axle and secured by a steel collar babbitted onto height above the scaffold. The scaffold was raised and lowered by turning the “axle” at each end of the scaffold and winding or unwinding the cable on the axle. The eye loop at the end of one of the cables gave way causing Mr. Elliott to fall to his death.

Mrs. Eloise Elliott, as administratrix of the estate of Mr. Elliott, filed suit in the Pulaski County Circuit Court against Patent Scaffolding Company, Lyons Machinery Company, Inc. and "W. E. Clark & Sons, Inc., referred to hereafter as Patent, Lyons and Clark. The complaint alleged that Patent negligently designed, constructed and sold the scaffold and cables; that the scaffold and cables belonged to Clark; that the cables on the scaffold had become damaged and that the defendants Clark and Lyons undertook to repair the cables and in doing so, had negligently spliced the cable in a defective manner and had concealed the defect with wrapping applied around the site of the defective splice. The complaint alleged that the defendant Clark was further negligent in furnishing the defective scaffolding equipment to the decedent Elliott. All the defendants filed separate answers. Patent admitted that it manufactured the scaffoid but denied the alleged negligence.

On January 6, 1969, Clark filed a motion for summary judgment supported by three affidavits and six depositions and the motion was granted on February 7, 1969. On February 11, 1969, Patent filed an amendment to its answer specifically denying that it furnished the cable which gave way and caused the accident in this case. On February 13, 1969, Mrs. Elliott filed motion to set aside the summary judgment on the grounds that the entire lawsuit was predicated on Patent’s admission in its original answer that it had manufactured the scaffold which included the specially designed eye loop cables as a part of the scaffold. As to Patent’s amendment, the motion to set aside states:

“* * * If this allegation made by Patent is true, a* * # j£ this allegation made by Patent is true, then the whole defense of a latent defect must necessarily fail since it would appear that the cable and its wrappings were provided by either W. E. Clark & Sons or someone acting for them. At any rate, they could not claim, as they have in the Motion for Summary Judgment, that there was a latent defect in the scaffold at the time they received it and that they could not therefore be held responsible for its existence. Such a defense would absolutely be untenable if they themselves or someone acting for them provided the cable and wrappings on the scaffold.”

On March 3, 1969, the trial court denied the motion to set aside by reaffirming the summary judgment under specific findings, as follows:

“* * * Specifically, the Court finds that the scaffold from which the deceased, Ralph Elliott, fell to his death on March 2, 1966, was in the exclusive possession of Bush Construction Company from October, 1965, to March 2, 1966, as the result of a gratuitous loan of the scaffold to Bush Construction Company by W. E. Clark & Sons, Inc.; that the defect which caused the scaffold to fall with Ralph Elliott on March 2, 1966, was so latent that inspection of the scaffold and cables by both Clark and Bush personnel failed to disclose any defects which may have existed at the time of the loan of the scaffold in October, 1965; that the deceased, Ralph Elliott, was a licensee with respect to his use of the scaffold owned by W. E. Clark & Sons, Inc.; that at the time of his fatal fall, the decedent, an employee of Bush Construction Company, was not using the scaffold for any benefit of W. E. Clark & Sons, Inc; and that the scaffold was equipped with a handrail at the time it fell with the deceased, Ralph Elliott.”

On appeal to this court Mrs. Elliott relies on the following points:

“The trial court was in error in holding as a matter of law that there was a gratuitous bailment of the scaffold by Clark.
The trial court was in error in holding as a matter of law that decedent was a licensee of the scaffold and not an invitee.
The trial court was in error in holding as a matter of law that the defect in the scaffold was so latent that a reasonable inspection would not have disclosed it.
It could be inferred from the pleadings, affidavits and evidence that appellee Clark was responsible for the defect in the scaffold.
The trial court’s decision was against the weight of authority.”

Both sides have presented excellent briefs and able oral arguments, but we agree with Mrs. Elliott that Clark’s motion for summary judgment should not have been granted. The record is clear that the eye loop at the end of the cable gave way causing the scaffold to fall. It is also clear that the eye loop gave way because it was negligently formed by simply bending the cable around a steel ring or eye bringing the loose end of the cable alongside the main cable and binding the loose end to the main cable by wrapping with wire instead of weaving the loose end into the main cable, then securing with babbitt and wrapping with wire as was done on the other cable furnished with the scaffold.

It seems admitted by all parties that the cables formed a part of the scaffold when manufactured. As described in the record, the cables were irremovable from the scaffold drums without cutting the cable or removing the permanent cuff from one end or the eye loop from the other. So in the light of Patent’s amendment, if Patent did not furnish the cable involved, then someone had substituted the entire cable for the one Patent had prepared and sold through Lyons as a part of the scaffold. The record is clear that the entire scaffold was sold new to the defendant, Clark, through the defendant, Lyons. Bush was the prime contractor and Elliott’s employer on the job where the accident occurred, and Clark was a subcontractor on the same job. Clark purchased the scaffold in 1954 and had owned it 11 years before loaning it to Bush in October, 1965. Bush had retained possession and control of the scaf fold and had used it regularly for the four or five months between October, 1965, and the date of the accident on March 2, 1966.

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Related

W E. Clark & Sons, Inc. v. Elliott
475 S.W.2d 514 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
447 S.W.2d 129, 247 Ark. 651, 1969 Ark. LEXIS 1155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elliott-v-w-e-clark-sons-ark-1969.