Mathie v. Montana Power Co.

Montana Supreme Court·Decided June 12, 1975·No. 12922·Published

Opinion

No. 12922

I N T E SUPREME C U T O T E STATE O M N A A H OR F H F OTN

V I R G I N I A MATHIE,

P l a i n t i f f and A p p e l l a n t ,

-vs - THE M N A A P W R C M A Y e t a l . , OTN O E O PN

Defendants and Respondents,

Appeal from: D i s t r i c t Court o f t h e S i x t h J u d i c i a l D i s t r i c t , Honorable J a c k D. Shanstrom, Judge p r e s i d i n g .

Counsel o f Record:

For ~ ~ ~ e i l: a n t

McKeon and Skakles , Anaconda, Montana Gregory J. Skakles argued, Anaconda, Montana

F o r Respondent :

C o r e t t e , Smith and Dean, B u t t e , Montana Kendrick Smith argued, B u t t e , Montana

Submitted: May 5, 1975

Decided: dub 1 2 $!#I Filed: Ji'nW 1.2 1973 Mr. J u s t i c e John Conway H a r r i s o n d e l i v e r e d t h e Opinion of t h e Court . T h i s i s a n a p p e a l by p l a i n t i f f V i r g i n i a Mathie from a n o r d e r of t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t , Park County, t h e Hon. J a c k Shanstrom,

judge p r e s i d i n g , g r a n t i n g summary judgment i n a p e r s o n a l i n j u r y

a c t i o n t o d e f e n d a n t Montana Power Company.

P l a i n t i f f i s t h e mother o f one Ronnie C h a r l e s H a r r i s who

w a s f a t a l l y i n j u r e d on J u n e 2 1 , 1973, w h i l e employed by t h e Brogan Sand and G r a v e l Company. The amended c o m p l a i n t a l l e g e d t h e d e a t h

was c a u s e d by t h e n e g l i g e n c e o f d e f e n d a n t Montana Power Company

and d e f e n d a n t s A , B , and C , (never i d e n t i f i e d ) . Several allega-

t i o n s of n e g l i g e n c e were a l l e g e d a s t o t h e Power Company: (1) I t n e g l i g e n t l y a d v i s e d t h e owner of t h e Sand and

G r a v e l Company a s t o t h e p r o p e r method of grounding and w i r i n g

t h e c r u s h e r , on which d e c e d e n t was working on o r a t .

(2) I t was n e g l i g e n t i n s u p p l y i n g e l e c t r i c i t y t o t h e

c r u s h e r when i t knew, o r s h o u l d have known, t h a t t h e c r u s h e r was

i m p r o p e r l y w i r e d and grounded and w a s d a n g e r o u s t o t h o s e who came

i n contact with it.

(3) That d e f e n d a n t Power Company f a i l e d t o p r o p e r l y i n -

s p e c t t h e w i r i n g , grounding and t h e e l e c t r i c a l equipment of t h e

Brogan Sand and G r a v e l Company and was n e g l i g e n t i n s u p p l y i n g e l e c t r i c i t y w i t h o u t p r o p e r i n s p e c t i o n of t h e e l e c t r i c a l g r o u n d i n g s ,

w i r i n g s and a p p l i a n c e s .

(4) That i f t h e Power Company d i d i n s p e c t t h e g r o u n d i n g s ,

w i r i n g and e l e c t r i c a l a p p l i a n c e s , it knew o r s h o u l d have known of t h e dangerous c o n d i t i o n s p r e s e n t e d t o Ronnie Harris and i t was t h e r e f o r e n e g l i g e n t i n s u p p l y i n g e l e c t r i c i t y , i n view of t h e d e - f e c t i v e c o n d i t i o n of t h e g r o u n d i n g , w i r i n g and a p p l i a n c e s . (5) That t h e Power Company's n e g l i g e n c e w a s t h e p r o x i m a t e c a u s e of t h e d e a t h o f H a r r i s . --- - *_ The o n l y t e s t i m o n y i n t h e r e c o r d i s t h e d e p o s i t i o n of - r'

i- Welch Brogan, owner of t h e g r a v e l p i t , f o r whom H a r r i s w a s working. P l a i n t i f f t o o k t h e d e p o s i t i o n and p l a i n t i f f t a k e s no i s s u e w i t h B r o g a n ' s t e s t i m o n y .

A r e a d i n g of B r o g a n ' s t e s t i m o n y r e v e a l e d t h a t he had

o p e r a t e d a s a s m a l l g r a v e l company a t Corwin S p r i n g s , Montana, s i n c e 1952. He p u r c h a s e d t h e c r u s h e r i n v o l v e d i n t h e a c c i d e n t

i n e i t h e r 1956 o r 1957 and a t t h e t i m e of p u r c h a s e it was a d i e s e l

o p e r a t e d e n g i n e which he p e r s o n a l l y c o n v e r t e d t o e l e c t r i c i t y , w i t h t h e h e l p of h i s employees. Brogan d i d n o t know t h e e x a c t d a t e of c o n v e r s i o n b u t a n e x h i b i t , a c o n t r a c t w i t h t h e Montana Power

Company t o f u r n i s h e l e c t r i c s e r v i c e , was d a t e d May 7 , 1956. He

t e s t i f i e d t h a t t h e l a s t time defendant energized t h e l i n e , brought a b o u t by a highway change c a u s i n g c e r t a i n p o l e s t o be changed, o c c u r r e d i n 1968 and a t t h a t t i m e d e f e n d a n t p u t i n a s e r v i c e p o l e

on h i s p r o p e r t y and he p e r s o n a l l y grounded t h e c r u s h e r . Further,

t h a t t h e Power Company men were " p r o b a b l y " t h e r e a t t h e t i m e of t h e

grounding b u t t h a t t h e y had n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h t h e grounding of

t h e c r u s h e r n o r d i d h e a s k them how t o do i t . He t h o u g h t t h a t de-

f e n d a n t Power Company knew how t h e c r u s h e r was grounded, b u t t h a t

a l l t h e w i r i n g on t h e c r u s h e r s i d e of t h e power p o l e was h i s , and t h a t he d i d a l l t h e work.

From t h e i n t e r r o g a t o r i e s propounded by b o t h p a r t i e s and

t h e a c c i d e n t r e p o r t s of d e f e n d a n t and t h e Montana Workmen's Com-

p e n s a t i o n D i v i s i o n , t h e f a c t s of t h e a c c i d e n t a r e found. On t h e

day i n v o l v e d Ronnie Harris and a man named John A r a b i a were work- i n g i n t h e g r a v e l p i t and o p e r a t i n g t h e c r u s h e r . H a r r i s was on t h e machine and A r a b i a was o p e r a t i n g a f r o n t end l o a d e r w i t h which he was l o a d i n g g r a v e l from t h e p i t i n t o a hopper on t h e end of the crusher. A f t e r f i l l i n g t h e hopper A r a b i a c o u l d n o t s e e H a r r i s

on t h e c r u s h e r and t h i n k i n g he had wandered away from t h e s i t e ,

he g o t o f f t h e l o a d e r and went o v e r t o t h e c r u s h e r t o engage a c l u t c h t o s t a r t t h e machine. When h e s t a r t e d up a l a d d e r on t h e

c r u s h e r he g o t a shock and c a l l e d t o have t h e power t u r n e d o f f .

S h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r Harris was found l y i n g i n a s m a l l p o o l of water near t h e crusher. An a u t o p s y r e v e a l e d H a r r i s had d i e d of drowning and t h e r e were no s i g n s o f any e l e c t r i c a l b u r n s on h i s

body. On t h e b a s i s of t h e h e r e t o f o r e r e l a t e d f a c t s and p l e a d -

i n g s , Judge Shanstrom g r a n t e d summary judgment t o d e f e n d a n t Power Company.

P l a i n t i f f sets f o r t h o n l y o n e i s s u e on appeal--Did the

c o u r t err i n g r a n t i n g summary judgment?

T h i s C o u r t h a s r e p e a t e d l y u p h e l d summary judgments where

t h e r e c o r d d i s c l o s e s no g e n u i n e i s s u e a s t o any m a t e r i a l f a c t ,

h o l d i n g t h a t t h e burden i s on t h e o p p o s i n g p a r t y t o p r e s e n t e v i - d e n c e r a i s i n g t h e f a c t s of a m a t e r i a l and s u b s t a n t i a l n a t u r e . State Mont . of Montana e x r e l . C i t y Motor Co., I n c . v . D i s t . C O U ~ P~. ~ O I T

486, 32 St.Rep. 34, 36; S t a t e ex r e l . B u r l i n g t o n N o r t h e r n , I n c .

v. D i s t . C t . , 159 Mont. 295, 496 P.2d 1152; DeWinter v. Capp Homes, Inc., 162 Ivlont. 1 9 ,

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