Lester D Wood v. Williams & Williams II LLC

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 2014
Docket317716
StatusUnpublished

This text of Lester D Wood v. Williams & Williams II LLC (Lester D Wood v. Williams & Williams II LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lester D Wood v. Williams & Williams II LLC, (Mich. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

LESTER D. WOOD, UNPUBLISHED December 9, 2014 Plaintiff-Appellant,

v No. 317716 Wayne Circuit Court WILLIAMS & WILLIAMS II, LLC, WILLIAMS LC No. 12-004911-NO & WILLIAMS TRUCKING, LLC,

Defendants,

and

GIPSON BROTHERS TRUCKING, INC,

Defendant-Appellee.

Before: BORRELLO, P.J., and WILDER and STEPHENS, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff appeals as of right an order of dismissal entered after the trial court granted summary disposition in favor of defendant Gipson Brothers Trucking, Inc, (Gipson Brothers) pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10). For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. FACTS

This case involves an injury that occurred during demolition work that was being performed at an industrial site in Detroit formerly owned by the Chrysler Corporation. Specifically, following Chrysler’s bankruptcy, through a series of transactions, Terry Williams obtained an ownership interest in Chrysler’s Plymouth Road Office Complex (“PROC” or “the complex”). Williams operated several limited liability companies (LLCs) including defendants Williams & Williams II, and Williams & Williams Trucking (Williams defendants).1 In 2012, Williams began demolishing parts of the complex, stripping it of scrap metals and other

1 For ease of reference, we will refer to Terry Williams as “Williams.”

-1- valuables. Williams then sold the metals to scrap yards in Detroit. In addition, Williams retrofitted part of the complex presumably for his own use, installing hydraulic car lifts in an area of the complex.

Gipson Brothers leases industrial machinery including front-end loaders, bulldozers, shearers, fork-lifts, and tractor-trailers. Herman Gipson, Sr., Sherman Gipson and Harvey Gipson were the principals of the corporation. Gipson Brothers had about 10 employees, including Kevin Gipson, Herman Gipson Jr., Martez Gipson, and Dwayne Gipson. Among other things, these employees operated the equipment that Gipson Brothers leased to its customers.

In January 2012, Gipson Brothers agreed to lease heavy equipment to Williams for the demolition project. Gipson Brothers and Williams did not enter into a formal contract, but the parties understood that their agreement would involve Gipson Brothers leasing equipment to Williams and that Gipson Brothers’ employees would operate the equipment at the PROC. Gipson Brothers charged a flat $150-per-hour rate for each piece of equipment with an operator. About four Gipson Brothers employees (the operators) would appear at the PROC on a daily basis to operate the machinery. The operators performed tasks dictated by Williams. At the end of the day, the operators had Williams sign daily work tickets and then submitted the tickets to Gipson Brothers. Gipson Brothers, in turn, compiled weekly invoices and billed Williams for the work. In return, Williams was required to submit payment to Gipson Brothers in cash on a weekly basis because “he was not trustworthy.” Gipson Brothers paid the operators and continued to provide workers compensation insurance for the operators while they worked at the PROC.

Plaintiff, a journeyman electrician, welder, and all-around handy-man worked as a sole proprietor. Plaintiff testified that Williams hired him in early 2012 to perform multiple tasks at either the PROC or buildings in and around the PROC. Among other things, plaintiff salvaged materials, ran electrical wiring, installed conduit, and worked on plumbing. Plaintiff earned $20- per-hour and was paid in cash.

At times, plaintiff’s work necessitated that he be lifted 10 to 15 feet to the ceiling. Per Williams’ instruction, plaintiff would ask Kevin Gipson to use a “SkyTrak” industrial forklift and a metal parts basket to lift him to the ceiling so he could perform work. Kevin testified at a deposition that he was the only Gipson Brothers employee that operated the SkyTrak at the PROC. According to Kevin, the SkyTrak was a diesel machine that had an operator’s cab to the left of the boom. The boom extended out in front of the forklift and could reach 15-20 feet in front of the driver’s seat. Kevin had a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), but, according to him, there was no special permit required to operate the SkyTrak. Instead, Kevin testified that it was easy to learn how to operate the machine and his father and brother showed him how. He had some previous experience using the SkyTrak, but he was not familiar with all of the “sightlines.”

Initially, per Williams’ instruction, Kevin hoisted people up into the air using a table with two rails at either end or a skid. Plaintiff apparently objected to work platforms that did not “capture the forks” of the SkyTrak—i.e. the platform protruded over the ends of the forks. Plaintiff and Kevin eventually chained a metal parts basket to the forks of the SkyTrak so that plaintiff could stand inside the metal basket while he was lifted up to 15-feet in the air to work

-2- near the ceiling. Kevin would move plaintiff around according to where plaintiff needed to be positioned. Although it was difficult to hear over the sound of the diesel engine, Kevin adjusted the boom according to plaintiff’s verbal instructions. Plaintiff was about 5’-7” and the basket was approximately three-feet high. Plaintiff put his tools inside the basket when he was lifted in the air and there was not enough room to sit in the basket. Plaintiff was not restrained when he stood inside the basket, but Kevin testified that he ensured the basket was chained to the SkyTrak so it would not slide off during operation.

On March 24, 2012, plaintiff was running electrical wiring through conduit on the ceiling at the complex to provide electricity to two hydraulic car lifts that Williams installed. Plaintiff completed work on one area and then asked Kevin to move him to another area. Kevin complied, lowered plaintiff to the ground, and then moved the SkyTrak to the second area where plaintiff had to work. Kevin testified that the area was crowded with obstacles and that there were steel trusses that ran parallel in the ceiling near where plaintiff was working. Kevin lifted plaintiff up into the air. Plaintiff explained that the basket on the boom was extended about 15 to 20 feet away from Kevin. Plaintiff began to work on the wiring, but he needed to be repositioned, so he asked Kevin to go up “two inches.” Kevin agreed, and started the SkyTrak’s diesel engine. Plaintiff testified that the machine then “lurched” upwards about four or five feet instead of two inches. He explained that Kevin “took me up so far” that part of the boom “grabbed a hold of” a steel truss. Plaintiff explained that when the boom, or “backstop” on the forklift, came off the truss, the basket “bounced” and “it’s getting real rough riding” and “I’m yelling to tell him to stop.” Plaintiff testified about what happened next as follows:

After it left - - this backstop left the bottom of the beam - - it was going so far that it caught on it, and then it was riding and pushing it over, and it slipped off there and came down between the basket from here- - the basket where I was holding onto it. And I don’t know if it was from jumping around that I put my hand down to hold on so I didn’t get flung out, and the bottom of the beam came down on my hand. Now it’s stuck in there, and I’m panicking, man, I know that it’s bad, I can see it you know. I can see Kevin in the thing, and I could see my hand, and I’m trying to get it out, and it’s not going to come out. But he had stopped so far beyond that two inches it was unreal. I panicked, I grabbed a hold of that beam, and I’m . . . trying to get it off . . . because I didn’t want to use his hi-lo you know, figuring it’s going to rub my hand off, you know.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Loweke v. Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition Co, LLC
809 N.W.2d 553 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2011)
Zsigo v. Hurley Medical Center
716 N.W.2d 220 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2006)
Cox v. Flint Board of Hospital Managers
651 N.W.2d 356 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2002)
Rogers v. J B Hunt Transport, Inc
649 N.W.2d 23 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2002)
Spiek v. Department of Transportation
572 N.W.2d 201 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1998)
Nichol v. Billot
279 N.W.2d 761 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1979)
Noble v. Roadway Express, Inc
394 N.W.2d 128 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1986)
May v. Harper Hospital
462 N.W.2d 754 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1990)
Bennett v. Detroit Police Chief
732 N.W.2d 164 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2007)
Janik v. Ford Motor Co.
147 N.W. 510 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1914)
Cuddington v. United Health Services, Inc.
826 N.W.2d 519 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Lester D Wood v. Williams & Williams II LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lester-d-wood-v-williams-williams-ii-llc-michctapp-2014.