Merritt v. Carr

621 S.W.2d 740, 1980 Tenn. App. LEXIS 418
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 6, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 621 S.W.2d 740 (Merritt v. Carr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Merritt v. Carr, 621 S.W.2d 740, 1980 Tenn. App. LEXIS 418 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION

SANDERS, Judge.

The Plaintiffs have appealed from a directed verdict in favor of the Defendants, notwithstanding a jury verdict in favor of the Plaintiffs.

The Plaintiff-Appellant, James Robert Merritt, filed suit for personal injuries in the circuit court against the Defendants-Appellees, Hanson Carr and R. J. Crumley, d/b/a Big Springs Farms. The complaint alleges Defendants Carr and Crumley were engaged in a dairy farming operation in Meigs County in 1977. The Plaintiff was employed by the Defendants in the dairy operation when he was injured by virtue of a cow falling on him. It is alleged the Defendants were negligent in not furnishing the Plaintiff a safe place to work and failure to furnish him needed assistance to carry out his work. The Plaintiff-Appellant, Emma Lou Merritt, joined in the complaint seeking damages for loss of consortium.

The Defendants, Carr and Crumley, filed separate answers. They both denied any acts of negligence resulting in the Plaintiff’s injuries. Defendant Carr also denied the Plaintiff was employed by him but said the Plaintiff was the employee of the Defendant, Crumley. Both Defendants also relied upon contributory negligence and assumption of the risk.

The case was tried before a jury which found the issues in favor of the Plaintiffs. They fixed the damages of Mr. Merritt at $70,000 and the damages of Mrs. Merritt at $5,000.

The Defendants each filed a motion for a directed verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial. The court granted the motions for a directed verdict as to both Defendants on the grounds of assumption of the risk. Plaintiffs have appealed, presenting the action of the court as the issue for review.

Although the proof is not without dispute, when we consider it in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs, as we are required to do in this case, it shows Mr. Carr owned a dairy farm known as Big Springs [742]*742Farms in Meigs County. He owned all of the improvements, dairy equipment, cattle, etc., used in connection with the operation of the dairy. Mr. Carr and Mr. Crumley had an agreement that Mr. Crumley would furnish all of the labor for operating the dairy and they would divide the income produced from the sale of milk.

Before coming to the Big Springs Farms Dairy some three to four months prior to the accident, the Plaintiffs had been employed by Mr. Crumley in his dairy operations at Woodbury, Tennessee. When they came to Big Springs Farms their job was to milk the dairy herd and keep the dairy barn and holding pens clean. They were milking between 185 and 200 head of cows. At milking time they would bring the herd in from the pasture and put them in a large holding pen. They would then put 45 to 50 head into a smaller holding pen and from there they would put individual cows into milking parlors. They milked 16 head at the same time.

A short time before the accident happened a number of young cows, or heifers, with their first calves were added to the herd. The young cows were more difficult to handle than the old cows and it apparently required a great deal more effort to get them from the holding pen into the milking parlor.

On the morning of the accident when Plaintiffs had completed milking most of the herd, Mr. Merritt transferred the last 40 or 45 cows from the large holding pen into the small holding pen, which was about 20 by 20 feet square. Most of these cows were the young heifers. Immediately following the transfer of these cattle the accident occurred. Mr. Merritt described the occurrence of the accident as follows: “I went out to the big holding pen, opened the gate back, drove them into the little holding pen. I turned around and fastened the gate behind me. When I turned back around, there was a post standing there, it’s a brace post, I walked over to the post, they were coming around the wall. Their heads, they were pushing into each other, coming around that wall, and there’s two drain holes; and, the front cow, they were pushing her and crowding her. Her feet went down in the hole; and, when she came back up, trying to come up out of that hole and her feet would kinda slide out from under her, and when she did, right against me she came. When I went down, she came in on top of me.”

As a result of the accident Mr. Merritt received serious injuries.

The small holding pen had two drain holes near the door leading into the milking parlor. The openings of these drains were five to six inches in circumference and were used in connection with washing down the holding pen. On one occasion prior to the accident Mr. Merritt had suggested to Mr. Crumley he should get covers for the drain holes because of the likelihood of a cow’s stepping into one of them and breaking her leg. His testimony was: “I said, while you’re at it, them drain holes in there, a cow’s gonna break her legs if she ever steps in one of them because it’s not covered up no way.”

He also testified Mr. Crumley did not indicate to him whether or not he was going to put covers on the drains.

Mr. Merritt further testified that when he first started working at the dairy he washed the holding pen down twice a day, after milking operations in the morning and again at night. Mr. Crumley told him to wash it down only once a day, after milking operations in the morning. It is the insistence of the Plaintiff that the failure of the Defendants to place drain covers on the drains caused the cow to get her foot in the drain hold and lose her balance and that failure to have the holding pen washed down after milking operations the night before resulted in the floor of the holding pen being more slippery than it otherwise would have been because of a greater accumulation of manure. As a result of this the cow could not regain her footing and fell on the Plaintiff.

The trial court filed the following memorandum opinion in connection with his directing a verdict:

[743]*743“In regard to defendants Motion for a New Trial or a Motion for a New Trial, [sic (directed verdict)] after due consideration, the Court is of the opinion a directed verdict of not guilty should have been made by the Court at the conclusion of plaintiff’s proof.
“The undisputed evidence showed that plaintiff, James Merritt, and both defendants were men of much experience on the operation of a dairy. The proof most favorable to plaintiff shows that both plaintiff and defendant knew of the missing drain cover. In fact, plaintiff says he called defendant Crumley’s attention to this defect. There is no proof by direct or circumstantial evidence. Whether or not assumption of risk or contributory negligence must be applied totally against plaintiff’s suit must rest upon the theory of the presence or absence of superior knowledge of the danger of injury to the employee (plaintiff). Taking all the evidence most favorable to plaintiff the Court finds no evidence to indicate any superior awareness on the part of the defendants.
“The Court is of the opinion the case of Draper v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 17 Tenn. App. 213, 66 S.W.2d 1003 and, to a lesser extent, Marsh v. Fowler, 207 Tenn. 377, 340 S.W.2d 881, are controlling.”

We concur with the finding of the trial court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
621 S.W.2d 740, 1980 Tenn. App. LEXIS 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merritt-v-carr-tennctapp-1980.