O'Neal v. Steinhage

949 S.W.2d 274, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1377, 1997 WL 420223
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 29, 1997
DocketNo. 71043
StatusPublished

This text of 949 S.W.2d 274 (O'Neal v. Steinhage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neal v. Steinhage, 949 S.W.2d 274, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1377, 1997 WL 420223 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

GERALD M. SMITH, Presiding Judge.

Employee (plaintiff) and his wife appeal from a summary judgment rendered in favor of his employer, and the owner of the land leased by the employer, in an action brought after plaintiff was injured in a fall on the employer’s leased premises. We affirm as to the owner of the land and reverse and remand as to the employer.

Plaintiff was a farm laborer. His employer, Karl and Lacretia Steinhage, operated as a partnership and leased land from the Wilfred Magee Trust. On that land was a barn in which employer stored hay. The front of the barn contained a large sliding door. Because of problems with wind and the cattle attempting entry to the barn, the sliding door was latched from the inside. In order to unlatch the door it was necessary to enter from a side door which contained a gate which had to be climbed over or through. Once inside the barn it was then necessary to cross a horse stall, climb a cattle panel to five or six feet above floor level. Upon reaching that height it was then necessary to walk or crawl thirty-five to forty feet over hay bales to the front of the barn and thenslide or climb down from the bales to the floor. At that point the door could be unlatched. When work inside the barn was completed it was necessary to reverse the process to exit the barn.

The cattle panel consisted of three wooden boards paralleling each other with wire between them and with large boards attached at the ends. The large boards were attached at the top to the framework of the barn. [276]*276The barn was not lighted, but there were skylights to let in some outside light. Employee had unlatched the door on at least two occasions prior to the date of his fall. At the time of his fall he was returning to the side entrance after having latched the door following removal of hay from the barn. As he was climbing down the cattle panel a portion of it fell forward causing plaintiff to strike the floor with the back of his neck and resulting in the injuries for which he brought suit. At the time of the occurrence there was snow on the skylights reducing the light in the barn.

In their original petition plaintiffs asserted:

4. On that day, the farm equipment in the barn was not in good order and repair or in a safe condition:

(a) A cattle panel was not adequately secured to its post in the barn.
(b) The barn was filled with trash and garbage that prevented the users of the barn from using passageways and forcing him to climb over stacked hay.

In the motion for summary judgment employer alleged that plaintiff had acknowledged in his deposition that employer had the same level of knowledge concerning the condition of the cattle panel as did plaintiff, and that plaintiff was unaware of any defect in the panel prior to the accident. Employer premised his entitlement to summary judgment on the proposition that in view of these acknowledgments employer and employee had equal lack of knowledge of any defect and liability could not be imposed upon employer under those circumstances.

The landlord sought summary judgment on the basis that he exercised no control over the barn, was not responsible for making repairs to the leased property, and had no knowledge of any dangerous condition on the property not discoverable by the tenant.

After the filing of the motion for summary judgment the plaintiffs filed an amended petition. In that the plaintiffs alleged:

4. On that date, the farm and barn were not in good order and repair or in safe condition and the defendant Steinhage did not provide a safe place to work in the following respects, to-wit:
(a) A cattle panel, which was used as a ladder, was not adequately secured to its post in the barn;
(b) The barn door to gain entry to the barn was locked from the inside. This required the users to enter the barn on the side, climb over a gate which was fastened to the side entryway, then climb over the cattle panel against which was stacked 5 to 8 feet of hay, walk over the haystack, climb down the stack and unlock the door. To resecure the barn after the hay was loaded, the process had to be repeated in reverse. This condition was dangerous and unnecessary as the barn could have been secured from the outside.
(c) There had been no inspection to determine the safety and security of the barn posts and the cattle panel which was used in farm operations.
(d) The hay was stacked in the baim so that the only access to enter the barn was from the side and over the hay in the method described in 4(a).

The first amended petition was filed by consent on the day of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. The parties agreed that “All motions for summary judgment are taken as directed to the first amended petition.”

The duty of an employer to his employee is set out in considerable depth in Hightower v. Edwards, 445 S.W.2d 273 (Mo. banc 1969). We quote from that case at some length:

The parties agree that an employer is not liable to his employee for injuries sustained in the course of his employment unless the employer was negligent, and that such negligence was the direct and proximate cause of the injury. To establish negligence, as such, it must be shown that the employer has breached some duty which he owed the employee. That duty demands the use of all ordinary care: ‘To see that the place of work is reasonably safe; to see that suitable instrumentalities are provided; and to see that those instru-mentalities are safely used.’ ... (Citation [277]*277omitted) ... As a corollary — the employer is not an insurer of the employee’s safety. Nor must he provide appliances which are absolutely safe. Id. at [1,2]
This argument [that plaintiff failed to make a submissible case] is based primarily on the ground that the danger ... was patent and as obvious to plaintiff as to the employer. From this premise, it is asserted that an employee cannot have a cause of action unless ‘there (be) some amount of superior knowledge on the part of the employer.’ With this broad conclusion we cannot agree, other than as it might pertain to the lack of necessity for a warning by the employer, if the facts show the employee not only knew of the danger but also appreciated the significance of it. The two cases [relied upon by defendant] ... do not hold that an employer’s ignorance of or lack of an effort to ascertain a potential danger (regardless of the employee’s knowledge) meet the demands placed on him by the law of master and servant. [One of the cases] did make a similar declaration when the servant’s knowledge of the danger exceeded that of the master relating to duties ‘depending solely upon the care and manner with which they were performed, and not upon any danger connected with or incident to the place in which they were performed ... ’ (Emphasis added by court quoted herein) Id. at [3,4].

Appellate review of the grant of summary judgment is essentially de novo. ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371 (Mo.banc 1993)[4-6].

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Becker v. Setien
904 S.W.2d 338 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)
ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp.
854 S.W.2d 371 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1993)
Lawrence v. Bainbridge Apartments
919 S.W.2d 566 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)
Hightower v. Edwards
445 S.W.2d 273 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1969)
Hill v. Wainwright Industries, Inc.
522 S.W.2d 131 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
949 S.W.2d 274, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1377, 1997 WL 420223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneal-v-steinhage-moctapp-1997.