Hoskinson v. High Gear Repair, Inc.

982 F. Supp. 2d 1210, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160806, 2013 WL 6000007
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedNovember 12, 2013
DocketCase No. 11-1190-JTM
StatusPublished

This text of 982 F. Supp. 2d 1210 (Hoskinson v. High Gear Repair, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoskinson v. High Gear Repair, Inc., 982 F. Supp. 2d 1210, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160806, 2013 WL 6000007 (D. Kan. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

J. THOMAS MARTEN, District Judge.

While unloading his employer’s anhydrous ammonia tanker trailer, Ronald Hoskinson suffered serious injuries leading to his death when he came in contact with the power take-off (PTO) shaft extending from his truck to a pump on the tanker. His surviving spouse, Betty Hoskinson, brings the present action against a small Oklahoma company, High Gear Repair, Inc., which had performed work on the tanker ten months before the accident. Because this work was entirely unrelated to the PTO shaft and pump, the court grants High Gear’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

Summary judgment is proper where the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court must examine all evidence in a light most favorable to the opposing party. McKenzie v. Mercy Hospital, 854 F.2d 365, 367 (10th Cir.1988). The party moving for summary judgment must demonstrate its entitlement to summary judgment beyond a reasonable doubt. Ellis v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 754 F.2d 884, 885 (10th Cir.1985). The moving party need not disprove plaintiffs claim; it need only establish that the factual allegations have no legal significance. Dayton Hudson Corp. v. Macerich Real Estate Co., 812 F.2d 1319, 1323 (10th Cir.1987).

In resisting a motion for summary judgment, the opposing party may not rely upon mere allegations or denials contained in its pleadings or briefs. Rather, the nonmoving party must come forward with specific facts showing the presence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial and significant probative evidence supporting the allegation. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Once the moving party has carried its burden under Rule 56(c), the party opposing summary judgment must do more than simply show there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts. “In the language of the Rule, the nonmoving party must come forward with ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (quoting Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e)) (emphasis in Matsushita). One of the principal purposes of the summary judgment rule is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses, and the rule should be interpreted in a way that allows it to accomplish this purpose. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

Findings of Fact

SKC Leasing, Dodge City Express, and Sallee, Inc. are Kansas entities which have facilities in Dodge City and Garden City, Kansas. Martin Keim is the CEO of each of these companies. SKC owns trucks and trailers, which it leases to Dodge City Express and Sallee. As of January 2013, Dodge City Express and Sallee operated 75 trucks (60 of which are owned by SKC and 15 are leased from owner-operators) and 301 trailers.

Dodge City Express hauls mostly general commodities using refrigerated trailers and dry van trailers.

[1213]*1213As of January 2013, Sallee used 13 cargo tankers to haul liquefied gas. Sallee does business in 42 states, and has repair shops in Dodge City and Garden City. There are approximately 15 shop employees. Since 2005, Brent D. Woods has been the safety director for Sallee.

Ronald Hoskinson was hired by Sallee on January 27, 2010. He participated in a one day orientation at Sallee’s Garden City office. Typically, Sallee’s “oldest driver,” Dave Collins, would take new hires on deliveries of anhydrous ammonia and provide on-the-job training on “all the process, safety procedures, safe unloading practices, safe loading practices, safety equipment.” Woods understood from Hoskinson that Hoskinson had “between 30 and 40 years of handling that material, anhydrous ammonia, so basically he could have trained all of us how to handle it.”

According to Keim, Hoskinson did not receive on-the-job training from Sallee’s oldest driver. Keim believed that given Hoskinson’s “experience doing the job” delivering anhydrous ammonia, Hoskinson “could have taught me. He could have taught my trainer.”

At one time, for approximately two years, Hoskinson had his own auto repair shop where he performed general mechanical work on cars and trucks and rebuilt engines. Hoskinson had also worked for 7 or 8 years as a mechanic for the Renick & Reynolds farm on tractors, combines, planters and “all kinds of equipment.” All of the tractors he worked on had a power take-off. Before Hoskinson was employed by Sallee, the trailers he had used to haul liquefied gas had power take-offs.

On February 19, 2009, Mark Dorris Equipment and Leasing sold to SKC a cargo tanker, Serial No. 4144454, used to transport liquefied gas. The tanker had been manufactured in 1977 by Trinity Industries of Fort Worth, Texas for Enderby-Anderson Co. of Gainesville, Texas. Sallee referred to the tanker as trailer # 58 or # 58A1 (hereafter “Trailer 58”). “A” is used with the trailer number when the trailer is set up to haul anhydrous ammonia.

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[1214]*1214Figure 1 shows the front of the trailer from the operator’s perspective.

The United States Department of Transportation (“DOT”) classifies ammonia as a hazardous material and requires ammonia as a liquefied gas to be transported in containers that meet DOT specifications. The design and construction standards for tankers that haul liquefied ammonia gas are found at 49 C.F.R. 178.337, Specification MC 331.

DOT requires an annual inspection for MC 331 cargo tankers, and Trailer 58 underwent an external visual inspection and leakage test in February 2009.

All liquid and vapor inlet (openings that allow the product to flow only into the tank) and outlet (openings that allow the product to flow either into or out of the tank) connections to a standard MC 331 tank are located along the centerline of the tank bottom.

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Bluebook (online)
982 F. Supp. 2d 1210, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160806, 2013 WL 6000007, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoskinson-v-high-gear-repair-inc-ksd-2013.