Hiskey v. City of Seattle

720 P.2d 867, 44 Wash. App. 110
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJune 16, 1986
Docket14249-6-I
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 720 P.2d 867 (Hiskey v. City of Seattle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hiskey v. City of Seattle, 720 P.2d 867, 44 Wash. App. 110 (Wash. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

*111 Swanson, J.

Albert Hiskey appeals the Superior Court's summary judgment order dismissing Lighting Arts, Inc./ Seattle Stage Lighting & Equipment, Inc. (Seattle Stage) as a defendant in his personal injury action for damages. Hiskey claims that summary judgment was improper because a genuine material factual issue existed as to whether Seattle Stage owed him a duty of care which was breached. We affirm.

The following facts are uncontroverted. A Rod Stewart rock concert was scheduled at the Seattle Center Coliseum on October 2, 1977. Hiskey was hired as a stagehand by the show's promoters, Avalon Attractions and Concerts West. TFA Electrasound Company, a California corporation, had been hired to handle the rigging of the lighting, scenery and sound equipment for the show.

On October 1, 1977, a TFA rigger contacted Michael McDonald, Seattle Stage's owner, to request that Seattle Stage furnish about 1,200 feet of 3/8-inch rigging cable to supplement TFA's cable for the rigging of the show's sound and lighting equipment. Seattle Stage was in the business of supplying lighting and other electronic equipment for concerts and stage productions. Seattle Stage delivered all 1,170 feet of 3/8-inch cable that it had after McDonald had inspected the cable for kinks, frays or other defects. McDonald, who was not a rigger, did not participate in the rigging and did not witness the ensuing accident although he was in the Coliseum at the time.

TFA did the rigging of the sound and lighting equipment, which was to be suspended from the ceiling above the stage. A large aluminum truss to which the equipment was attached, all of which weighed about 10 tons, was being hoisted above the stage when one of the rigging cables broke at the point where it was wrapped around the steel I-beam in the Coliseum's ceiling. As the truss fell to the stage, part of the attached equipment struck and injured Hiskey's right leg. The summary judgment motion of Seattle Stage, one of the named defendants in Hiskey's action for damages, was granted on the basis that there was *112 no genuine issue of material fact. A summary judgment order was entered upon the trial court's finding pursuant to CR 54(b) that no just reason for delay in the entry of judgment existed, and Hiskey now appeals that order.

The issue on appeal is whether summary judgment was improper because a genuine factual issue existed as to whether Seattle Stage owed Hiskey a duty of reasonable care which was breached. We conclude that summary judgment was properly granted.

When reviewing a summary judgment order, the appellate court engages in the same inquiry as the trial court. Under CR 56(c) summary judgment is proper where no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Hartley v. State, 103 Wn.2d 768, 774, 698 P.2d 77 (1985). The court must consider the facts and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and the motion should be granted only if reasonable persons could reach but one conclusion from all the evidence. Wilson v. Steinbach, 98 Wn.2d 434, 437, 656 P.2d 1030 (1982); Bozung v. Condominium Builders, Inc., 42 Wn. App. 442, 445, 711 P.2d 1090 (1985). Once the moving party has met its burden of presenting factual evidence showing that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to set forth specific facts showing that a genuine issue exists for trial. Graves v. P.J. Taggares Co., 94 Wn.2d 298, 302, 616 P.2d 1223 (1980); Sea Farms, Inc. v. Foster & Marshall Realty, Inc., 42 Wn. App. 308, 311, 711 P.2d 1049 (1985), review denied, 105 Wn.2d 1010 (1986).

The essential facts here are undisputed. Hiskey claims, however, that the allegations of expert Maurice L. Kam-barn, that Seattle Stage failed to comply with safety standards of ordinary care, created a factual dispute regarding the breach of Seattle Stage's duty to him to defeat Seattle Stage's summary judgment motion. Kambarn's affidavit states that in his opinion, Seattle Stage failed to exercise reasonable care in several specified respects and such fail *113 ure was causally related to the falling of the lighting truss that resulted in Hiskey's injury. In essence, Kambarn is giving his opinion that Seattle Stage was negligent in breaching a duty of care owed to Hiskey. See Pedroza v. Bryant, 101 Wn.2d 226, 228, 677 P.2d 166 (1984); Beeson v. ARCO, 88 Wn.2d 499, 509, 563 P.2d 822 (1977).

However, Hiskey needed to set forth specific facts, not conclusory allegations, to raise a genuine factual issue that would preclude summary judgment. CR 56(e); Sea Farms, Inc. v. Foster & Marshall Realty, Inc., supra; Patterson v. Bellevue, 37 Wn. App. 535, 538, 681 P.2d 266, review denied, 102 Wn.2d 1005 (1984). The threshold determination of whether Seattle Stage owed Hiskey a duty of care is a question of law. Pedroza v. Bryant, supra; Bernethy v. Walt Failor's, Inc., 97 Wn.2d 929, 933, 653 P.2d 280 (1982); see W. Keeton, D. Dobbs, R. Keeton & D. Owen, Prosser and Keeton on Torts § 42, at 274 (5th ed. 1984). Further, assuming that Kambarn is a qualified expert, while expert testimony is admissible even if it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact if it will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or determine a fact in issue, ER 702 and 704, experts are not to state opinions of law or mixed fact and law, such as whether X was negligent, Comment, ER 704; 5A K. Tegland, Wash. Prac., Evidence § 309, at 84 (2d ed. 1982); Orion Corp. v. State, 103 Wn.2d 441, 461, 693 P.2d 1369 (1985). An afiidavit is to be disregarded to the extent that it contains legal conclusions. Orion Corp., at 461-62; American Linen Supply Co. v. Nursing Home Bldg. Corp., 15 Wn. App. 757, 763, 551 P.2d 1038 (1976); see CR 56(e).

Where no genuine material factual issue exists, the question is whether the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Hartley v. State, supra.

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720 P.2d 867, 44 Wash. App. 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hiskey-v-city-of-seattle-washctapp-1986.