Hawkins v. MONTGOMERY INDUSTRIES INTERN., INC.

536 So. 2d 922, 1988 WL 127189
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 30, 1988
Docket86-1359
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 536 So. 2d 922 (Hawkins v. MONTGOMERY INDUSTRIES INTERN., INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawkins v. MONTGOMERY INDUSTRIES INTERN., INC., 536 So. 2d 922, 1988 WL 127189 (Ala. 1988).

Opinion

536 So.2d 922 (1988)

Rodney Edward HAWKINS and Debra Ann Hawkins
v.
MONTGOMERY INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.; and B. Case Herring

86-1359.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

September 30, 1988.
Rehearing Denied December 23, 1988.

*923 Richard D. Bounds and Andrew T. Citrin of Cunningham, Bounds, Yance, Crowder, & Brown, Mobile, for appellants.

George M. Walker and Donald F. Pierce III of Hand, Arendall, Bedsole, Greaves & Johnston, Mobile, for appellees Montgomery Industries Intern., Inc., and Case Herring.

W. Boyd Reeves of Armbrecht, Jackson, DeMouy, Crowe, Holmes & Reeves, Mobile, for appellees W. T. Neal, Jr., John S. Neal, John T. Miller, Mike Thompson, and Blaine Salter.

STEAGALL, Justice.

Plaintiffs, Rodney and Debra Hawkins, appeal from a summary judgment for defendants Montgomery Industries International, Inc. ("Montgomery Industries") and B. Case Herring on the Hawkinses' three-count complaint alleging 1) violation of the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine, 2) negligent design, manufacture, and/or sale of a "blowpipe system" and its component parts, and 3) wanton design, manufacture and/or sale of the "blowpipe system" and its component parts. In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs further alleged that the defendants failed to provide adequate warnings and/or instructions to prevent Rodney from being injured. We affirm.

Rodney was employed as a planer mill foreman at the T.R. Miller Mill Company ("T. R. Miller") in Brewton, Alabama. As planer mill foreman, Rodney was responsible for the operation of the planer mill and for the direction and supervision of approximately 18 employees. The function of the planer mill was to process rough lumber into a finished state. The rough lumber was run through a planer machine, which shaved off a certain amount of wood in order to make the wood smooth. The wood that was removed from the rough lumber was sucked from the planer machine by means of a fan mounted out in the mill. The suction that was created transferred the wood shavings into a cyclone that metered down into a high pressure blower. The blower would push the wood shavings down a small pipe, called a "blowpipe," into a receptacle, where the wood shavings could be removed from the premises by truck.

In October 1983, T.R. Miller employed Montgomery Industries to design and install a new suction system to accompany a new planer machine that was being installed. Montgomery Industries had designed and installed the previous suction system used by T.R. Miller.

Installation of the new suction system was completed in February 1984. Soon after installation was completed, the system became clogged, whereupon John Neal, production manager at T.R. Miller, contacted Montgomery Industries. Herring, a Montgomery Industries employee who designed and sold the suction system to T.R. Miller, returned to the mill to attempt to correct the problem. On at least one other occasion, a Montgomery Industries employee was called to the mill site to correct clogging problems. Both Montgomery *924 Industries and T.R. Miller management personnel were aware that suction systems of this variety were subject to periodic clogging difficulties. There is no indication from the record or the briefs of the parties that anyone authorized to work on the system other than Montgomery Industries had attempted to eradicate the clogging problems that allegedly plagued the new suction system.

On August 7, 1984, the blowpipe section of the suction system became clogged. After several attempts were made to blow the shavings out, using the systems fans, a decision was made to cut holes in the elevated blowpipe section (the blowpipe section consisted of an approximately 200-foot-long pipe elevated 18 to 20 feet off the ground) at 30-foot intervals and to insert a 3-inch fire hose in an attempt to flush the clogged system with water pressure. A similar method had been previously utilized to unclog other systems, but no evidence was presented that indicated that this particular method had been utilized on the blowpipe section of the suction system or that such a method was suggested or sanctioned by Montgomery Industries.

To work on the elevated pipe, T.R. Miller employees constructed a makeshift platform by placing lumber on a forklift and then raising the lumber to the desired height. From this platform, Rodney and Blaine Salter examined the pipe at one of the cut-out openings while other employees flushed the system with the fire hose. Between Rodney and the employees using the fire hose was a solid clog that prevented the flow of water through the pipe. After ordering the fire hose shut off, Salter used a four-foot stick to poke at one side of the shavings in an attempt to speed up the loosening process. Several employees, including Rodney, took turns reaching into the cut-out hole, removing debris and/or poking the clog with the four-foot stick. It was during this process that the T.R. Miller employees attained their goal of unclogging the blowpipe. The result, however, was that the water introduced into the system via the fire hose rushed through the hole cut out of the side of the pipe by the T.R. Miller employees, knocking those standing on the improvised platform, including Rodney, to the ground. As a result of his fall, Rodney was paralyzed from the chest down.

Rodney sued Montgomery Industries as the designer and constructor of the suction system, alleging that the system was defectively or negligently designed or constructed. He further alleged that Montgomery Industries was negligent in failing to provide adequate warnings and/or instructions in order to prevent such accidents from occurring. Also named as a defendant in the suit was Herring, as the Montgomery Industries employee responsible for the conceptualization of the suction system; seven co-employees; T.R. Miller's workman's compensation insurance carrier; and another manufacturer. Rodney Hawkins's wife, Debra, joined as a plaintiff, claiming damages for loss of consortium. After extensive discovery, Montgomery Industries and Herring filed separate motions for summary judgment. After oral argument and briefs had been filed in support of and in opposition to the motions, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Montgomery Industries and Herring. Summary judgment was made final pursuant to Rule 54(b), A.R.Civ.P. From that summary judgment and the denial of their motion to alter or amend the judgment, the Hawkinses appeal.

The trial court did not specify, in granting defendants' summary judgment motion, the underlying considerations it used in finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact; however, this is not required under Rule 56, Ala.R.Civ.P. The Hawkinses argue four errors allegedly committed by the trial court. Specifically, they argue that if the court granted summary judgment holding that the blowpipe system was not a "product" within the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine (AEMLD), this constituted reversible error; that the trial court erred if it held that the Hawkinses had not produced a scintilla of evidence that the product was defective; that the trial court erred if it decided that the defects in the blowpipe system were not, as a matter of law, a *925 proximate cause of Rodney's injuries; and that if the court below found that the defendants may not be held liable under negligence and wantonness theories, this, too, would constitute reversible error.

This Court has often stated the principles governing summary judgment:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
536 So. 2d 922, 1988 WL 127189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkins-v-montgomery-industries-intern-inc-ala-1988.