May v. Jefferson Smurfit Corp. (U.S.)

945 F. Supp. 1076, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17228, 1996 WL 670675
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 18, 1996
DocketNo. 96-70401
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 945 F. Supp. 1076 (May v. Jefferson Smurfit Corp. (U.S.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
May v. Jefferson Smurfit Corp. (U.S.), 945 F. Supp. 1076, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17228, 1996 WL 670675 (E.D. Mich. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

GILMORE, District Judge.

The present case is before the court on Defendant’s Motion for Judgment of Dismissal on the Pleadings, or Alternatively, Motion for Summary Judgment.

I.

Plaintiff Dennis May (hereinafter “Plaintiff’) was injured when his hand became caught in a paperboard winding machine while employed at a manufacturing plant owned and operated by Defendant Jefferson Smurfit Corporation (hereinafter “Defendant”). At the time of the injury, Plaintiff claims he had been forced to work a third consecutive shift by his supervisor, that he lacked formal training on the winding machine, and that he was told to continue working on the machine despite the fact that the machine’s safety guard was not properly functioning.

The safety guard was designed to protect workers from possible injury by remaining in the “down” position while the winder is running. During the threading procedure, however, the guard was to be placed in the “up”' position to allow a worker to feed the paper into a set of rollers. Another worker was then required to push a “jog” button at a remote control station in order to engage the rollers. Although evidence suggests that other workers occasionally wedged down the “jog” button at the control station, thereby overriding the normal paper-threading procedure contrary to safety warnings, it is disputed between the parties whether Plaintiff actually engaged in such a practice at the time of his injury.

Plaintiff brought this suit against Defendant seeking additional compensation for his injury under the intentional tort exception to the exclusive remedy provision of the Michigan Worker’s Disability Compensation Act, MCL § 418.101, et. seq. (hereinafter “WDCA”). Defendant now seeks dismissal or, alternatively, summary judgment on the grounds that Plaintiff has failed to set forth sufficient facts to establish a basis for recovery under the relevant statutory provision, MCL § 418.131.

II.

Defendant requests dismissal or judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 12(c), respectively, of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Both Rule 12(b) and Rule 12(c) contain the following provision:

If [on .a 12(b)(6) or 12(c) motion] matters outside the pleading[s] are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56, and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56.

Defendant also raises an alternative Motion for Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 56. Accordingly, since both parties rely on discovery materials to support their respective positions, the court shall consider the present Motion as one for summary judgment.

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment may be granted . “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.”

In assessing the parties’ claims, the court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, and must also [1078]*1078draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the same. See United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962); Bender v. Southland Corp., 749 F.2d 1205, 1210-11 (6th Cir.1984).

Finally, the moving party may discharge its burden by showing an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case. Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553-54, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Then, the non-moving party must set forth specific facts to show the existence of a genuine issue. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). If the non-moving party fails to produce admissible evidence beyond the pleadings and affidavits, summary judgment may be entered against it. See Ashbrook v. Block, 917 F.2d 918, 921 (6th Cir.1990).

III.

In determining whether Plaintiff has completely furnished the necessary elements of his claim, the court must first consider the threshold requirements for claims under the Michigan WDCA’s intentional tort exception to the exclusive remedy provision. MCL § 418.131(1) provides:

The right to the recovery of benefits as provided in this act shall be the employee’s exclusive remedy against the employer for a personal injury or occupational disease. The only exception to this exclusive remedy is an intentional tort. An intentional tort shall exist only when an employee is injured as a result of a deliberate act of an employer and the employer specifically intended the injury. An employer shall be deemed to have intended to injure if the employer had actual knowledge that an injury was certain to occur and wilfully disregarded that knowledge. The issue of whether an act was an intentional tort shall be a question of law for the Court----

Thus, unless an injured employee can show that his injury was caused by a deliberate act of his employer and the employer wilfully disregarded actual knowledge that an injury was certain to occur, the employee’s remedy is confined to the compensation otherwise set forth in the WDCA.

In a recent interpretation of the WDCA’s intentional tort exception, the Michigan Supreme Court emphasized the underlying legislative history. The current language of MCL § 418.131(1) originated as a response to the Michigan Supreme Court’s earlier decision in Beauchamp v. Dow Chemical Co., 427 Mich. 1, 398 N.W.2d 882 (1986); which first carved out an exception to the exclusive relief available under the WDCA. The statute recognized the exception created in Beauchamp, yet it sought to establish a more restrictive standard to obtain exceptional relief than that in Beauchamp. Therefore, the Michigan legislature carefully drafted MCL § 418.131(1) to limit additional recovery under the WDCA to cases where the employer’s intent was clear. Travis v. Dreis and Krump Manufacturing Co., 453 Mich. 149, 551 N.W.2d 132 (1996).

Following the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in Travis, an employer must have done something more than fail to protect an employee from an appreciable risk of harm in order to incur additional liability under the WDCA. Id. 551 N.W.2d at 145-46. In other words, a successful plaintiff must establish that his injury was indeed caused by his employer’s intent rather than mere negligence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
945 F. Supp. 1076, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17228, 1996 WL 670675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/may-v-jefferson-smurfit-corp-us-mied-1996.