Pridgett v. Jackson Iron & Metal Company

253 So. 2d 837, 53 A.L.R. 3d 327
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 25, 1971
Docket46325
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 253 So. 2d 837 (Pridgett v. Jackson Iron & Metal Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pridgett v. Jackson Iron & Metal Company, 253 So. 2d 837, 53 A.L.R. 3d 327 (Mich. 1971).

Opinion

253 So.2d 837 (1971)

Roscoe J. PRIDGETT
v.
JACKSON IRON & METAL COMPANY, Inc. and Magna American Corporation.

No. 46325.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October 25, 1971.

*838 Charles A. Brewer, James B. Tucker, Jackson, for appellant.

Daniel, Coker, Horton, Bell & Dukes, Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, Lawrence J. Franck, Jackson, for appellees.

BRADY, Justice:

This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, wherein the trial court granted a directed verdict in favor of the appellees, Magna American Corporation and Jackson Iron & Metal Company, Inc. From that judgment this appeal is prosecuted by the appellant, Roscoe J. Pridgett.

Roscoe J. Pridgett, appellant, was an employee of Mosaic Tile Company of Hinds County. The testimony in the record shows that Mr. George Buford, the immediate supervisor of the appellant, had personally ordered from Jackson Iron & Metal Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Jackson Iron, some metal drums. In ordering the drums Mr. Buford specifically requested that the drums were not to be rusty and that they were to look good and have both ends in them. Mr. Buford testified that he was not concerned with what had previously been in these drums and that the drums which he received conformed to the requirements that he had specified to Mr. Clarence Earl Hawk of Jackson Iron.

The record shows that the appellant, Pridgett, was engaged in cutting a metal fifty-five gallon drum into two sections with an acetylene torch. When the torch flame penetrated the drum there was an explosion which caused personal injury to the appellant. The appellant, as an employee of Mosaic Tile Company, hereinafter designated as Mosaic, received proper compensation benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Act. Subsequently the appellant filed a declaration charging that Magna American Corporation, hereinafter called Magna, and Jackson Iron were liable for his personal injuries under the doctrine of strict liability in tort as adopted in Mississippi *839 and set forth in State Stove Manufacturing Company v. Hodges, 189 So.2d 113 (Miss. 1966). The record and testimony prove that Magna is a manufacturer of small garden tools and that in the manufacture thereof they use paint, which is delivered to Magna in fifty-five gallon drums. As Magna empties the paint from the drums, it places them outside until twenty-five to a hundred drums have been accumulated. Magna also sells other scrap metal. Their practice was to then notify Jackson Iron, a known dealer in scrap metal, that the drums were available. Magna has never manufactured any drums, nor are they in the business of selling drums. Jackson Iron normally sells their scrap metal to steel mills for reprocessing. However, Jackson Iron does occasionally accommodate some of its customers by selling them scrap drums for use as industrial trash cans.

Mr. Hawk, who previously worked for Mosaic but who is now with Jackson Iron, testified that he was aware that Mr. Buford wanted drums to make them into trash receptacles and that Mosaic had used such drums when he had been employed by it. However, he stated that Mosaic had used a chisel in order to cut the ends out of the barrels.

The appellant's expert witnesses, Dr. John Legg and Mr. Logan, both testified that there was nothing unusual or "wrong with the drum" prior to the explosion. It is undisputed that the drums which Mr. Buford ordered met his requirements and specifications. The drum in question was not any different from the others prior to the explosion.

Appellant Pridgett testified that on the previous day he had cut in half six or seven drums with an acetylene torch. He testified that he was a welder and that he used the acetylene torch, but that prior thereto he had never cut drums with one. On the morning of the accident appellant had already cut one drum in half and had just started on the second when it exploded.

Mr. Buford testified that he had told all employees, including the appellant, that before they cut any of the drums they were to remove the bungs or plugs from them. Only two employees had been directed to cut the drums in half, one being Emanuel Lewis who had this task as a regular duty but who had quit that day because he had to take his daughter to the hospital. The appellant was then assigned this duty.

When the appellant rested his case, motions were made to exclude the evidence and to grant peremptory instructions and judgments were entered in favor of appellees. From these judgments this appeal is taken.

Appellant assigns three errors, the first of which is as follows: The lower court erred in refusing to allow the appellant to develop testimony as to instructions given appellant by his immediate supervisor, Mr. Buford, or anyone else as to the procedures and dangers present in cutting a steel drum with an acetylene torch.

The record clearly reveals that Mr. Buford specifically instructed all of his employees, including the appellant, that the bungs should be removed from the drums before cutting them. He stated that he knew from his own experience without being told that the drums must be ventilated before cutting. Mr. Buford further testified that the appellant was present and was so instructed by him; that this was a standing rule at Mosaic. Mr. Buford, when being interrogated as appellant's witness by appellant's attorney, testified that he had so instructed the employees because he knew that it was dangerous to cut a closed drum with an acetylene torch. Appellant did not plead surprise or make any complaint or showing that the witness was changing his testimony. Subsequently, however, appellant testified that he had not received the instructions. Objection was raised by counsel for Jackson Iron that the appellant was trying to impeach his own witness, but the court ruled that appellant would be permitted to testify on *840 this point. Thereupon objection was vigorously urged by counsel for Magna and at this point counsel for the appellant withdrew the question. Subsequently when appellant's counsel once more propounded the question, it was objected to by appellee's counsel and the court sustained the objection. Appellant wholly failed at this point to make a record as to what the offered testimony would have shown as is required under the law in this jurisdiction. Leggett v. Graham, 218 So.2d 892 (Miss. 1969); Casey v. Valentour, 218 So.2d 863 (Miss. 1969); Manning v. Hammond, 234 Miss. 299, 106 So.2d 51 (1958). Thus from the foregoing we hold there is no merit in appellant's first assignment of error.

The next error which appellant assigns is that the trial court erred in directing a verdict in favor of appellee Magna. Appellant contends that they had established a prima facie case of negligence under the theory of strict liability in tort against Magna. However, the record reveals that Magna is not in the business of manufacturing nor in the business of selling fifty-five gallon drums and that they could not fall under the classification of manufacturers. Their sole connection with the drums was that they had received paint in them. After they had used the paint they stored the drums outside until they had accumulated twenty-five to one hundred drums, which along with other scrap metal was sold to Jackson Iron. Jackson Iron was a reprocessor of scrap metal, whose chief function was to sell such reprocessed metal to steel mills.

Under the doctrine of strict liability in tort adopted and announced in State Stove Mfg. Co. v. Hodges, supra,

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

Related

Davis v. Avondale Industries, Inc.
975 F.2d 169 (Fifth Circuit, 1992)
Little v. Liquid Air Corp.
952 F.2d 841 (Fifth Circuit, 1992)
Little v. Liquid Air Corporation
939 F.2d 1293 (Fifth Circuit, 1991)
Nelson v. Nelson Hardware, Inc.
467 N.W.2d 518 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1991)
Holifield v. Pitts Swabbing Co.
533 So. 2d 1112 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1988)
Alley v. Praschak MacH. Co.
366 So. 2d 661 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1979)
R. Clinton Construction Co. v. Bryant & Reaves, Inc.
442 F. Supp. 838 (N.D. Mississippi, 1977)
Hovenden v. Tenbush
529 S.W.2d 302 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
253 So. 2d 837, 53 A.L.R. 3d 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pridgett-v-jackson-iron-metal-company-miss-1971.