Reed v. Malone's Mechanical, Inc.

912 F. Supp. 2d 765, 2012 WL 6554024, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177414
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Reed v. Malone's Mechanical, Inc.. Read the opinion of the Court — 854 F. Supp. 2d 636
District Court, W.D. Arkansas·Decided December 14, 2012·No. Case No. 2:11-CV-02135·Published

Opinion

ORDER

P.K. HOLMES, III, Chief Judge.

Currently pending before the Court is Plaintiff Michael Reed’s Motion for New [768]*768Trial (Doc. 64) and brief in support (Doc. 65) and Defendant Malone’s Mechanical Inc.’s (“Malone’s”) Response (Doc.- 68). For the reasons set forth below, the Court finds that Plaintiffs Motion should be DENIED as to all issues raised.

I. Standard of Review

“The court may, on motion, grant a new trial on all or some of the issues ... after a jury trial, for any reason for which a'new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court ...” Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a)(1)(A). “Under Rule 59, the decision to grant a new trial lies within the sound discretion of the trial court.” Haigh v. Gelita USA Inc., 632 F.3d 464, 471 (8th Cir.2011). “The key question in determining whether a new trial is warranted is whether it is necessary to prevent a miscarriage of justice.” Id. The Court will address each of the grounds raised by Plaintiff as warranting a new trial in turn.

II. Discussion

A. Failure to Give Instruction Pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451

The Court “has wide discretion in formulating instructions for the jury.” Hose v. Chicago Northwestern Transp. Co., 70 F.3d 968, 977 (8th Cir.1995) (internal quotation omitted). In reviewing jury instructions, the Court must consider “whether the instructions, when taken as a whole and viewed in light of the evidence and applicable law, fairly and adequately present the issues in the case to the jury.” Id. (internal quotation omitted). The primary issue presented by the evidence, in this case was whether Malone’s was negligent when its employees were working from a scissor lift and a pipe saddle fell from a pipe outside the scissor lift and hit Mr. Reed, who was working below.

Plaintiff argues that the Court erred in declining to give an instruction, proffered by Plaintiff, on OSHA regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451, regarding safety measures to be taken when “there is a danger of tools, materials, or equipment falling from a scaffold and striking employees below.” In its Motion for New Trial, Plaintiffs counsel represents that “[t]he Court declined to give the instruction, apparently believing that a scissor lift was not a scaffold.” (Doc. 65, p. 2). The Motion further draws the Court’s attention to Exhibits B and C, “OSHA interpretations indicating OSHA’s interpretation that a scissor lift is a ‘scaffold’ for purposes of the OSHA regulations before the Court.” Id. at p. 3. The representations contained in Plaintiffs Motion are completely at odds with the Court’s actual findings regarding instructing the jury on OSHA regulations. The Court discussed, at length, its reasoning regarding instructing the jury on particular OSHA regulations, as reflected in the transcript 1:

Let me go first to the, to the regulation about the duty to have fall protection. And you all have discussed with me throughout the trial in some of these side bar conferences about different regulations and so forth. The regulation that we are using for fall protection ... what I call the general regulations regarding fall protection — there are also some specific regulations involving scaffolding, and under scaffolding there are ... some additional regulations that apply to mobile scaffolds, which I will discuss in a moment.
We did not use the regulation under general scaffolding simply because it [769]*769doesn’t seem like it applies because it really applies to employees on the scaffold and their protection and, number two, objects that are falling from the scaffold itself. There is— there are some , additional provisions under what’s called mobile scaffolds.
One thing that we found — and I know, Mr. Emerson ... you have referred to the regulation involving aerial lifts. There is a letter from the Administrator of OSHA ... in response to a question in particular about scissor lifts. And here’s what it says about scissor lifts. I mean, the question that was presented here was what OSHA standards — and it says aerial lift standards or the mobile scaffold standards — apply to standard vertical man lifts such as scissor lifts or “Genie lifts”?2 ... And what it says here, because scissor lifts do not fall within any of these categories,3 scissor lifts are not addressed by the aerial lift provisions of subpart L. There are no OSHA provisions that specifically address scissor lifts, but since scissor lifts do meet the definition of a scaffold under 1926.451, employers must comply with the other applicable provisions of sub-part L when using scissor lifts.
Since scissor lifts are mobile, the specific requirements for mobile scaffolds and the scaffold standard must be met. But when you go to look at the specific additional protections under subpart F for mobile scaffolds, there’s nothing about fall protection in there at all.
So for that reason, we made the decision to use the general regulation in regard to the duty to have fall protection. And even there there are some questions about its application to the facts of this case ...

(Doc. 67, pp. 5-7) (emphasis added).

As evidenced by the Court’s statements, and contrary to-the representations contained in Plaintiffs Motion, the Court was well aware that scaffolding regulations apply to scissor lifts. In fact,' it was the Court that first researched OSHA interpretations regarding which regulations apply to scissor lifts and presented those findings to counsel for the parties. The Court engaged in such research after hearing argument back and forth during sidebars about which regulations might apply in this case, and after viewing the proposed instructions given to the Court by the parties. Despite the fact that this case has a lengthy history of litigation and motion practice, at no time prior to the instant Motion for a New Trial did counsel for the parties direct the Court’s attention to, cite to, or base any arguments on OSHA interpretations ' of fall-protection regulations in regard to scissor lifts. Rather, it was the Court that conducted that research in an effort to correctly instruct the jury, and it was the Court that brought the 'OSHA interpretations to the [770]*770attention of counsel. Therefore, the Court finds nothing in Plaintiffs Exhibits B and C to indicate that the Court’s previous ruling, based on OSHA interpretations, was incorrect.

' The Court notes further that the OSHA interpretations attached as exhibits to Plaintiffs Motion serve to bolster the Court’s decision not to instruct the jury on the regulation regarding fall protection under the general scaffolding regulation. Both question 1 and question 2 in Exhibit B relate to requirements for safely stacking material on a scissor lift. (Doc., 64-2).

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

Reed v. Malone's Mechanical, Inc., 912 F. Supp. 2d 765, 2012 WL 6554024, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177414 (W.D. Ark. 2012).

912 F. Supp. 2d 765 (Reed v. Malone's Mechanical, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Quercia v. United States
289 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 1933)
Haigh v. Gelita USA, Inc.
632 F.3d 464 (Eighth Circuit, 2011)
Tom Don Franano v. United States
310 F.2d 533 (Eighth Circuit, 1962)
Loyd Carl Ray v. United States
367 F.2d 258 (Eighth Circuit, 1966)
United States v. Robert Bolivar Depugh
434 F.2d 548 (Eighth Circuit, 1970)
United States v. Earl Thomas Cole
453 F.2d 902 (Eighth Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Smith F. Brandom, Jr.
479 F.2d 830 (Eighth Circuit, 1973)
Ransom Gant v. United States
506 F.2d 518 (Eighth Circuit, 1975)
United States v. Steven Earl Neumann
887 F.2d 880 (Eighth Circuit, 1989)
Maxfield v. Cintas Corp. No. 2
563 F.3d 691 (Eighth Circuit, 2009)
Solis v. Summit Contractors, Inc.
558 F.3d 815 (Eighth Circuit, 2009)
Johnson v. Rockwell Automation, Inc.
2009 Ark. 241 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2009)