Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 14, 2013
DocketB241440
StatusUnpublished

This text of Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7 (Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 11/14/13 Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

JOSE HERRERA, B241440

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KC060484) v.

UNISTAR FOOD PROCESSING, INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Robert A. Dukes, Judge. Affirmed. Mancini & Associates, Marcus A. Mancini, Timothy J. Gonzales, Michael R. Fostakowsky; Benedon & Serlin, Gerald M. Serlin and Wendy S. Albers for Plaintiff and Appellant. Koeller, Nebeker, Carlson & Haluck, Gary L. Hoffman and Tracy L. Hughes for Defendant and Respondent.

_______________________ INTRODUCTION

After a serious industrial accident involving a commercial meat grinder, plaintiff Jose Herrera sued his employer, defendant Unistar Food Processing, Inc. (Unistar), pursuant to Labor Code section 4558 (section 4558), the power press exception to the exclusivity provision of the worker’s compensation law. Unistar successfully moved for summary judgment on the ground that the meat grinder was not a power press within the meaning of section 4558. Herrera appeals from the judgment. We conclude the trial court properly granted the motion and affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Accident Herrera worked at Unistar’s facility in Pomona using a Butcher Boy meat grinder to grind cubes of frozen raw pork. The meat grinder Herrera used consisted of a metal box with a rectangular pan at the top. The pan had a hole that acted as a hopper or a chute into which a Unistar employee fed the meat 10.5 inches down towards a metal screw or worm. The metal screw or worm was housed in a steel tube all the way to where a metal plate was installed. The meat moved past a knife, located 14 inches from the center of the hopper,1 through a metal plate with multiple holes and was deposited into a plastic bag. Herrera’s job at Unistar was to grind cubes of frozen pork by placing them onto the plate of the meat grinder and then push them into the hopper. Because the cubes of pork were frozen, they would bounce around on the rotating worm screw, and he had to use his hand to feed the worm. Herrera would place his right fist into the vertical hopper and push the frozen meat against the rotating worm housed within the horizontal chute

1 Herrera referred to this knife as a “spinner,” although he did not know the function of the spinner. He believed that the worm ground the meat.

2 until the worm grabbed onto the meat.2 The meat would then travel toward a perforated plate through which the ground meat would “pour out” and fall directly into a plastic bag that Herrera held with his left hand. When Herrera thought the required amount of meat had fallen into the bag, he would turn off the machine and weigh the bag. Once the bag had achieved the desired weight, Herrera would tie the bag and put it on a pallet, which Unistar distributed to buyers. Unistar did not shape the meat or do anything else with it before shipping it. There never was any type of guard over the opening to the rotating worm during the entire time Herrera used the meat grinder. Herrera knew of a guard “that was hanging,” but he did not know if it was the guard for the meat grinder and he never made any inquiries about it. On February 4, 2009 Herrera was pushing the cubed pork down the machine’s vertical chute using his gloved right fist, as he had been trained. The accident occurred when his fist became stuck to the frozen pork and the machine drew his right hand and arm into the machine’s rotating screw. At the time of the accident, the meat grinder was not equipped with its protective guard. As a result of this accident, a portion of Herrera’s right arm had to be amputated.

B. Herrera Sues Unistar and Unistar Moves for Summary Judgment On June 22, 2011 Herrera filed his first amended complaint, alleging a cause of action against Unistar for a violation of section 4558.3 Herrera alleged that the meat grinder was a power press within the meaning of section 4558 and that Unistar had failed

2 On those occasions when the frozen pork stuck to his glove, Herrera often feared that his hand or arm would be pulled into the horizontal chute housing the rotating worm screw. He did not voice his concerns to anyone, however, because he was just doing what he had been taught to do. 3 Herrera also named American Meat Equipment LLC and Unistar Food, Inc. as defendants. At Herrera’s request, the trial court dismissed them from the action with prejudice.

3 to install or had removed the point of operation guard supplied by the manufacturer of the machine. Unistar filed a motion for summary judgment. Unistar argued that Herrera could not “establish sufficient facts to invoke the power press exception to the workers’ compensation exclusive remedy” set forth in section 4558. Unistar argued that the meat grinder did not include a die that created a mirror image product and that the meat grinder did not produce material used to manufacture another product. In support of its motion for summary judgment Unistar submitted the declaration of Michael Fourney, a mechanical engineer, along with excerpts of Herrera’s deposition testimony. Unistar also submitted pictures of the meat grinder and its various parts, as well as excerpts from the Parts List and Instruction Manual for the Butcher Boy meat grinder. In his brief declaration Fourney stated as follows: “l. I am a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer and have been qualified as an expert on numerous occasions. “2. On December 15, 2011, I inspected the subject Butcher Boy Meat Grinder Model A56H.P. Serial Number 949 at Unistar Foods Processing Facility in Pomona, California. “3. As part of my inspection, I took photographs and measurements of the various aspects of the machine. “4. The meat grinder consists of a metal box with a rectangular pan at the top. “5. In the rectangular pan is a hole that acts as a hopper or a chute where the meat is fed down towards a metal screw or worm. “6. The rotating metal screw moves the meat towards a 4-bladed knife. “7. The meat is then moved past the knife through a metal plate with multiple holes. “8. The measurement between the bottom of the metal rectangular pan down the hopper to the metal screw is 10.5 inches. . . .

4 “9. The measurement from the center of the hopper to the 4-bladed knife is 14 inches. . . .”

C. Herrera’s Opposition In opposition to Unistar’s motion for summary judgment, Herrera submitted the declaration of Richard Chandler, a mechanical engineer. After inspecting the meat grinder and the operating manual and parts list, Chandler declared as follows: “The subject meat grinder is designed to be manually supplied with solid pieces of meat that have been pre-cut to an approximate size of 2-inch cubes. Further, the operator is to use a tool or ‘stomper’ through a guard to push the cubed meat into a vertical throat that connects to a horizontal feed screw that is turned by a 7.5 horsepower motor. . . . The feed screw pushes the meat cubes forward toward a perforated plate (or die) with substantial force. . . . The feed screw forces the meat against the internal face of a perforated plate (or die), and at the face of the perforated plate (or die), the meat is cut into finely sized pieces by a rotating four blade knife (‘spinner’) that is attached to the end of the feed screw.

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Herrera v. Unistar Food Processing CA2/7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herrera-v-unistar-food-processing-ca27-calctapp-2013.