McKerchie v. Wisconsin Central Ltd.

994 F. Supp. 2d 875, 2014 WL 109099, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3087
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 10, 2014
DocketNo. 2:13-cv-329
StatusPublished

This text of 994 F. Supp. 2d 875 (McKerchie v. Wisconsin Central Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKerchie v. Wisconsin Central Ltd., 994 F. Supp. 2d 875, 2014 WL 109099, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3087 (W.D. Mich. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERT HOLMES BELL, District Judge.

This is a diversity case involving personal injuries sustained by an employee of an independent contractor. Plaintiff alleges one count for relief in his complaint, citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 428, seeking to hold Defendant strictly hable for his injuries. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss and for summary judgment (Dkt. No. 5). Plaintiff filed a motion for leave to amend his complaint (Dkt. No. 8). The parties have filed corresponding responses and replies. On October 25, 2013, this case was transferred from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to this Court.

The parties’ motions present the following issues. First, whether Michigan or Wisconsin state substantive law should apply when the alleged injury took place in Wisconsin but neither party is a citizen of that state. Second, whether a federal court sitting in diversity should adopt a theory of tort liability that has not been accepted or rejected by a state’s highest court. Third, whether justice requires allowing amendment of a complaint to include a claim for which a defendant asserts no admissible evidence exists. Finally, whether loading unbanded railroad ties onto a truck is an inherently dangerous activity. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant in part and deny in part each party’s motion.

I. Background

The underlying facts, sparse as they are, are not disputed by the parties. Plaintiff, a Michigan resident (Compl., Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 2), was hired by non-party A.J.’s Railroad Contractors (“AJRC”) to transport railroad ties. (Id. ¶ 6). Defendant, an Illinois entity, employed AJRC as its contractor. (Id. ¶ 5). Plaintiff was working on Defendant’s yard located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Proposed Am. Compl., Dkt. No. 8-1 ¶ 8). The ties Plaintiff was loading were not banded together, and during loading fell upon Plaintiff and injured him in an unspecified manner. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 7).

II. Analysis

A. Arguments presented

Plaintiffs sole count for relief in his complaint is Defendant’s alleged violation [878]*878of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 4281 which states:

An individual or a corporation carrying on an activity which can be lawfully carried on only under a franchise granted by public authority and which involves an unreasonable risk of harm to others, is subject to liability for physical harm caused to such others by the negligence' of a contractor employed to do work in carrying on the activity.

Defendant argues that the complaint should be dismissed because Michigan has not recognized § 428 as a theory of tort liability. (Def.’s Mot., Dkt. No. 5 at 2). Alternatively, Defendant argues that the activity involved, loading railroad ties, is (1) not one that requires a public franchise; and (2) does not pose an unreasonable risk of harm. (Id.) Defendant also argues it is entitled to summary judgment based on:

the general rule in Michigan (that an employer of a general contractor is not liable in negligence to third parties or employees of the independent contractor) governs where WCL did not retain supervisory control, either by contract or practice, and where the subject activity is, by definition, not “inherently dangerous.”

(Id. at 8).

Plaintiff responds by noting that Michigan courts would adopt § 428, based on the adoption of other Restatement sections by Michigan courts and a nearly two-and-a-half page string citation of cases from other jurisdictions adopting § 428. (Pl.’s Resp., Dkt. No. 9 at 2-5). Plaintiff argues that loading railroad ties requires a public franchise because the Restatement uses railroad work as examples of applications of § 428. (Id. at 2). Plaintiff also argues that “handling of railroad ties in this instance being part of the maintenance of ways, is an operational activity of railroading work.” (Id. at 7). Plaintiff further argues that because there are “ ‘risks inherent in railroad work’ ” (id.) (quoting Sinkler v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 356 U.S. 326, 330, 78 S.Ct. 758, 2 L.Ed.2d 799 (1958)), that any work related to a railroad presents “an unreasonable risk of harm to others.” (PL’s Resp., Dkt. No. 9 at 8).

Plaintiff has also moved for leave to file an amended complaint. (PL’s Mot., Dkt. No. 8). Nowhere in his filings has Plaintiff identified why he should be granted leave to amend his complaint. He merely asserts that the amendments are proposed to cure “alleged allegational deficiencies in the Complaint [sic].” (Id. at 1). Plaintiff, however, adds two new counts for relief: Negligent Direction/Supervision/Control and Inherently Dangerous Work Activity. (Id. at 2-3). Defendant challenges such amendments as futile. (Def.’s Resp., Dkt. No. 13 at 4-6). Given the overlapping nature of the arguments presented, these motions can be decided together.

B. Rule 12(b)(6) Motion Standards

In reviewing a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the Court must “ ‘construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept its allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff,’ ” but “ ‘need not accept as true legal conclusions or unwarranted factual inferences.’ ” Hunter v. Sec’y of U.S. Army, 565 F.3d 986, 992 (6th Cir.2009) (quoting Jones v. City of Cincinnati, 521 F.3d 555, 559 (6th Cir.2008)). Under the federal notice pleading standards, a complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing how the [879]*879pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). The purpose of this statement is to “give the defendant fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

The complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations, but it must include more than labels, conclusions, and formulaic recitations of the elements of a cause of action. Id. “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a complaint must allege facts that “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face,” and that, if accepted as true, are sufficient to “raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

“The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
994 F. Supp. 2d 875, 2014 WL 109099, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckerchie-v-wisconsin-central-ltd-miwd-2014.