McSwain v. System Energy Resources, Inc.

97 So. 3d 102, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 508, 2012 WL 3289937
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 14, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-CA-00567-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 97 So. 3d 102 (McSwain v. System Energy Resources, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McSwain v. System Energy Resources, Inc., 97 So. 3d 102, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 508, 2012 WL 3289937 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

LEE, C.J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. David McSwain was injured when he fell thirty-two feet inside a nuclear power plant condenser while working at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Claiborne County, Mississippi. McSwain filed a premises-liability suit in the Claiborne County Circuit Court. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Grand Gulf, finding Grand Gulf was immune from liability. McSwain now appeals asserting the trial court erred in granting summary judgment.

FACTS

¶ 2. On October 7, 2008, McSwain was injured when he fell inside a nuclear-power-plant condenser at Grand Gulf. McSwain had been hired by Stone & Webster Construction (S & W) to perform maintenance at Grand Gulf during a scheduled power outage. S & W is a contracting-services company that provides employees to perform maintenance at nuclear power plants throughout the country. S & W was hired by Entergy Operations Inc. (EOI) to provide workers for the maintenance. EOI holds the license for nuclear-power-plant operation and is in charge of the overall operation of Grand Gulf on behalf of Grand Gulfs owners, System Energy Resources Inc. and South Mississippi Electric Power Association (SMEPA).

¶ 3. On the day of the injury, McSwain and the other crew members were doing maintenance in a nuclear condenser. All the crew members doing work that day were hired through contractors. The work in the condensers only occurs when the power plant is shut down for refueling. During a refueling outage, spent nuclear fuel is replaced, and other maintenance is performed. This process is difficult or impossible to perform while the plant is operational. These outages occurred approximately every eighteen months. This particular outage lasted from July 1, 2008, through November 30, 2008. McSwain was erecting scaffolding inside one of the nuclear condensers when he stepped backwards and fell onto the false floor thirty-two feet below. McSwain was wearing a scissor-type anchor device as part of his fall-protection equipment, but the device did not stop his fall. McSwain is an experienced journeyman carpenter familiar with nuclear-power-plant maintenance.

¶ 4. In his complaint, McSwain asserted System Energy and SMEPA failed to provide a safe work environment and were negligent in allowing him to use a defective scissors wire hook, harness, and lanyard. System Energy and SMEPA moved for summary judgment asserting they were immune from liability because McSwain was an employee of S & W, an independent contractor. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment.

¶ 5. McSwain now appeals, asserting summary judgment was inappropriate for the following reasons: (1) EOI, operating on behalf of System Energy and SMEPA, retained substantial de facto control over the premises and work to be performed by S & W; (2) EOI failed to provide a reasonably safe work environment and/or failed to warn of any danger; and (3) Mississippi Code Annotated section 11-1-66 (Supp. 2011), which gives premises owners immunity from civil liability in certain circumstances, does not apply.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6. In reviewing a trial court’s grant of summary judgment, this Court employs a de novo standard of review. Anglado v. Leaf River Forest Prods., 716 So.2d 543, 547 (¶ 13) (Miss.1998). Summary judgment “shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there [106]*106is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” M.R.C.P. 56(c). This Court will consider all of the evidence before the lower court in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Palmer v. Anderson Infirmary Benevolent Ass’n, 656 So.2d 790, 794 (Miss.1995). The party opposing the motion “may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but his response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” M.R.C.P. 56(e).

DISCUSSION

I. CONTROL OVER PREMISES AND WORK

¶ 7. McSwain asserts that, despite a contractual provision to the contrary, he was not treated as an independent contractor by EOI. He asserts he was treated as a business invitee. Thus, he argues summary judgment was inappropriate because EOI’s actions at least created a fact question for a jury to determine his employment status.

¶ 8. The contract between EOI and S & W states that, unless a specific exception applies, S & W’s employment status is as follows:

[T]he Contractor [ (S & W) ] shall maintain the status of an independent contractor with the sole authority to control and direct the performance of the details of the Work being rendered by its employees and with responsibility for determining the safety of its employees performing Work and with Entergy Operations being interested only in the results obtained.

“Under most situations, the contract language is of utmost import in this regard, but if the plaintiff can show that, notwithstanding the contract, the premises ‘owner maintained substantial de facto control over those features of the work out of which the injury arose,’ the premises owner’s duty is resurrected.” Nelson v. Sanderson Farms, Inc., 969 So.2d 45, 50 (¶ 9) (Miss.Ct.App.2006) (quoting Magee v. Transcon. Gas Pipe Line Corp., 551 So.2d 182,186 (Miss.1989)).

¶ 9. The Mississippi Supreme Court has defined an independent contractor as “a person who contracts with another to do something for him but who is not controlled by the other nor is subject to the other’s right to control with respect to his physical conduct in the performance of the undertaking.” Heirs & Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Branning ex rel. Tucker v. Hinds Cmty. Coll. Dist., 743 So.2d 311, 316 (¶ 28) (Miss.1999). The factors to consider are:

1) whether the principal master has the power to terminate the contract at will;
2) whether he has the power to fix the price in payment for the work or vitally controls the manner and time of payment;
3) whether he furnishes the means and appliances for the work;
4) whether he has control of the premises;
5) whether he furnishes the materials upon which the work is done and receives the output thereof, the contractor dealing with no other person in respect to the output;
6) whether he has the right to prescribe and furnish the details of the kind and character of the work to be done;
7) whether he has the right to supervise and inspect the work during the course of employment;
8) whether he has the right to direct the details of the manner in which the work is to be done;
[107]*1079) whether he has the right to employ and discharge the sub-employees and to fix their compensation; and
10) whether he is obliged to pay the wages of said employees.

Id. at 316-17 (¶ 29) (quoting Kisner v. Jackson, 159 Miss. 424, 428-29, 132 So. 90, 91 (1931)).

¶ 10.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
97 So. 3d 102, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 508, 2012 WL 3289937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcswain-v-system-energy-resources-inc-missctapp-2012.