Patterson Enterprises, Inc. v. Johnson

2012 MT 43, 272 P.3d 93, 364 Mont. 197, 2012 Mont. LEXIS 45
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 24, 2012
DocketDA 11-0049
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2012 MT 43 (Patterson Enterprises, Inc. v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson Enterprises, Inc. v. Johnson, 2012 MT 43, 272 P.3d 93, 364 Mont. 197, 2012 Mont. LEXIS 45 (Mo. 2012).

Opinions

JUSTICE NELSON

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Patterson Enterprises, Inc. (Patterson) appeals the judgment of the District Court for the Fourth Judicial District, Missoula County, denying Patterson’s motion for summaryjudgment on its strict liability claim. We affirm.

¶2 Patterson raises two issues on appeal:

¶3 1. Whether the District Court erred when it permitted the defense of assumption of the risk to go to the jury.

¶4 2. If this Court determines it was proper to instruct the jury regarding assumption of the risk, whether the District Court abused its discretion in failing to instruct the jury regarding the subjective knowledge requirement set forth in Lutz v. National Crane Corp., 267 Mont. 368, 884 P.2d 455 (1994).

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶5 In the fall of 2006, Patterson was hired by Doug Ferraro and Dan Vanderzwaag to construct a road on property owned by Ferraro and Vanderzwaag located approximately 20 miles west of Missoula. Because the road was to be constructed in mountainous terrain, it was determined that a significant amount of blasting would be required. Patterson did not have any personnel trained or knowledgeable in blasting techniques, so he hired Archie Johnson Contracting (AJC) to perform all necessary blasting on the project.

¶6 On January 2, 2007, Patterson and AJC entered into an [199]*199agreement for the blasting on the project which they referred to as the Nine Mile Project. This agreement required AJC to drill and blast various small rock outcroppings as well as a main cliff section which was approximately 400 feet in length. Adam Pummill was the project superintendent for Patterson as well as the excavator operator. His job was to work with AJC’s crews to remove blasted material as the project progressed. Despite his experience building roads and performing general excavation work, Pummill did not have any background in drilling, blasting or geology. Thus, AJC was in charge of the blasting while Patterson was in charge of the excavating.

¶7 Testimony at trial indicated the following standard sequence of events during the project. Patterson would use its equipment to clear or build a flat pad for AJC’s drilling equipment to sit on. AJC would then place its drilling equipment on the pad, drill a series of holes in the rock, and fill the holes with explosives. Before detonating the explosives, AJC would clear the area of personnel and equipment. The explosion was intended to fracture the rock sufficiently for Patterson to use its excavators to remove the blasted material. AJC and Patterson repeated this basic process numerous times as they worked to construct the road.

¶8 On February 26,2007, AJC detonated 503 pounds of explosives in 46 holes along 500 yards of rock. This blast created a rock overhang that caused both Patterson’s and AJC’s crews to be concerned. On the evening of February 28, 2007, Archie Johnson and the owners of the project met on site to discuss how to deal with the overhang. One idea was for AJC’s crews to come in from above using ropes and drills so that they could safely get to the overhang and bring it down without having to be underneath it. Since this would take several days, the owners were opposed to the idea.

¶9 Trial testimony differed on whether AJC continued blasting in the area of the overhang to try to bring it down. However, Pummill testified that when he arrived for work on the morning of March 1, 2007, it was apparent to him that the overhang had been altered. Pummill moved his excavator into an area near the overhang and began excavating the blasted rock. AJC’s crew arrived sometime later and checked on Pummill’s progress. Henry Bentley, AJC’s driller, did not advise or warn Pummill that the overhang was still dangerous because, according to Bentley, Pummill already knew that it was dangerous. When Bentley stopped by the area again more than an hour later, he noticed that Pummill was working directly below the overhang, so he signaled for Pummill to exit the excavator. Almost immediately after Pummill exited the excavator, an entire section of [200]*200rock above the excavator collapsed crushing it. Pummill was not injured.

¶10 AJC denied liability for the accident, consequently Patterson filed suit on September 11, 2007. In its second amended complaint, Patterson asserted claims of negligence, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and strict liability. AJC denied all of the allegations and asserted various affirmative defenses including contributory negligence and assumption of the risk. AJC also asserted a counterclaim for breach of contract for money still owed to AJC for the work AJC performed on the project.

¶ 11 Patterson filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on November 25, 2008, arguing that blasting constitutes an abnormally dangerous activity thereby subjecting AJC to strict liability for Patterson’s damages. Thereafter, AJC filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment on the grounds that (1) the case should not be governed by strict liability because the damages claimed by Patterson did not occur until days after any blasting done by AJC and after Patterson’s operator had excavated under the overhang, (2) if the court found that the case was governed by negligence, then Patterson was contributorily negligent as a matter of law, and (3) if the court found that the case was governed by strict liability, then Patterson assumed the risk as a matter of law.

¶12 The District Court entered an Opinion and Order on October 5, 2009, finding that blasting is inherently an abnormally dangerous activity subjecting it to strict liability. However, the court pointed out that, in this case, the damage to the excavator occurred more than 24 hours after the blasting process had occurred and after Pummill spent at least three hours removing rock from underneath the overhang. The court stated that “someone who engages in an abnormally dangerous activity does not have the legal duty to in essence ‘insure’ damages for any and all harm that may result at some time in the future following the performance of the abnormally dangerous activity ....’’Thus, the court determined that when AJC’s strict liability started and stopped were factual questions for the jury’s determination.

¶13 The court further noted that this case is primarily an ordinary negligence action and that there was “plenty of evidence upon which the jury could find the parties contributorally [sic] negligent at trial.” In addition, the court stated that “the causal question under [Patterson’s] claim of strict liability under the abnormally dangerous activity legal theory is a question for the jury to determine because of the intervening work of the excavator more than 24 hours after the blasting activities occurred.” Based on these findings, the court denied [201]*201Patterson’s motion for summary judgment. The court also denied AJC’s motion for partial summary judgment stating that there were questions of fact regarding AJC’s affirmative defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk.

¶14 Trial of this case began on December 13, 2010. During trial, Patterson filed a supplemental trial brief arguing that the assumption of risk defense should not be submitted to the jury as a defense to Patterson’s strict liability claims. Patterson argued in its brief that AJC failed to satisfy the elements of the defense as enunciated in

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Patterson Enterprises, Inc. v. Johnson
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Bluebook (online)
2012 MT 43, 272 P.3d 93, 364 Mont. 197, 2012 Mont. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-enterprises-inc-v-johnson-mont-2012.