Rivers v. Central Illinois Arena Management, Inc.

129 F. Supp. 3d 643, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121806, 2015 WL 5332226
District Court, C.D. Illinois·Decided September 14, 2015·No. Case No. 14-cv-1146·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ORDER & OPINION

JOE BILLY McDADE, United States Senior District Judge

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Johnston Contractors, Inc.’s Mo[646]*646tion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 72) against the Plaintiff, Jusmon Rivers.- The motion has been fully briefed and is ready for disposition. Also pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion For Leave To Amend Complaint Against Johnston Contractors, Inc. (Doc. 83); For the reasons stated below, the Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 72) is GRANTED and the Motion For Leave To Amend Complaint Against Johnston Contractors, Inc. (Doc. 83) is denied;

Legal Standards

“The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed,R.Civ.P. 56(a). A genuine issue of material fact exists if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The movant may demonstrate the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact by citing to admissible evidence, or by showing that the nonmovant cannot produce admissible evidence to support a genuine dispute of material fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1). Upon such a showing by the movant, the nonmovant may not simply rest on his or her allegations in the complaint. “The nonmovant may not rest upon mere allegations in the pleadings or upon conclusory statements in affidavits; it must go beyond the pleadings and support its contentions with proper documentary evidence.” Warsco v. Preferred Technical Grp., 258 F.3d 557, 563 (7th Cir.2001) (internal quotations and citation omitted); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1). Typically, all inferences drawn from the facts must be construed in favor of the nonmovant, but the court is not required to draw every conceivable inference from the record. Smith v. Hope School, 560 F.3d 694, 699 (7th Cir.2009). At the summary judgment stage, however, the court may not resolve issues of fact; disputed material facts must be left for resolution at trial. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

Facts1

On May 17, 2013, Plaintiff was playing professional football in U.S. Cellular Coliseum (“the Coliseum”), a sports venue owned by the City of Bloomington, Illinois (“the City”). At some point during the game, Plaintiff collided with and fell through a gate built into dasher boards surrounding the football field. According to the Plaintiff, the latch mechanism on the gate failed to keep the gate secure. Plaintiff suffered injuries from the collision and subsequent fall.

Plaintiff filed a four count complaint against four separate defendants: the City, Central Illinois Arena Management, Inc. (“CIAM”),’ Johnston Contractors, Inc. (“Johnston”), and Sport Systems Unlimited Corp. (“Sport Systems”). Count I charged the City with willful and wanton negligence in owning, operating, managing, and maintaining the Coliseum. Count II charged CIAM with general negligence in operating; managing, and maintaining the Coliseum on behalf of the City. Count III charged Johnston with general negligence in constructing the Coliseum and installing the dasher boards. Finally, Count IV charged Sport Systems with strict liability in designing and manufacturing the dasher boards in a defective manner. (Doc. 1 at 7). The City has since been dismissed from this suit as the complaint was found to lack allegations sufficient to constitute willful and wanton negligence necessary to overcome the City’s municipal tort immunity. (Doc. 46). Sport Systems later filed a 'third-party complaint against De-Sta[647]*647Co, whom Sport Systems believes is responsible for the manufacture of the purportedly defective part that led the dasher board gate to fail. ■ (Doc. 65). Plaintiff also amended his complaint adding DeSta-Co as a defendant. (Doc. 64).

Johnston-, was engaged .by the City to serve as the construction manager for the construction of the Coliseum. It entered into several agreements with the City, one of which contains language relevant to the disposition of this summary judgment motion. The contract provides in relevant part:

2.1.6 SUBCONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIES
The Construction Manager shall seek to develop subcontractor interest in the Project and shall furnish to the Owner and Architect for their information a list of possible subcontractors ...
2.3.2 ADMINISTRATION
The Construction Manager shall obtain bids from sub-contractors and from suppliers of materials or equipment fabricated to special design for the work and after analyzing such bids shall' deliver such bids to the Owner and Architect. The Owner shall then determine, with the advice of the Construction Manager, and subject to the reasonable objection of the Architect, which bids will- be accepted. The Owner will enter into contracts with the subcontractors with' contracts acceptable to the Construction Manager.
2.3.2.8
The Owner shall designate Construction Manager as owner’s representative on all subcontracts for construction work to be performed by third parties (subcontractors).

(Doc. 72-8).

Sport Systems agreed to supply, deliver and install the arena’s dasher board system for the Coliseum. Sport Systems entered into an agreement with CIMCO refrigeration on March 15, 2005, regarding the supply, delivery and installation of the dasher' board system. 'Sport Systems entered into a written contract with Mid-Central Illinois Regional Council of Carpenters Local 63 on November 10, 2005, to provide carpenters to assist in installation of the dasher board system. CIAM contracted with the City to manage, supervise and maintain the Coliseum, including the dasher board system. 'CIAM inspected the dasher board system after every sporting event. CIAM has replaced the latch that secured the gate/door to the dasher board system twice since 2012.

Johnston contends that no employees of Johnston participated in the procurement, supply, delivery or installation' of the dasher board system. Johnston also contends that no employees of Johnston participated in replacing the latch in either instance in which it was replaced. Johnston did. not contract with any entity related to the supply, installation, delivery or maintenance of the dasher board system.2 Johnston has provided an affidavit of its President, Bill Johnston, averring to these facts. (Doc.72-3).

CIMCO regarded the dasher board system as a deviation of normal protocols [648]*648because Sport Systems utilized a mechanically fastened dasher board system as opposed to a welded dasher board system.

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Rivers v. Central Illinois Arena Management, Inc., 129 F. Supp. 3d 643, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121806, 2015 WL 5332226 (C.D. Ill. 2015).

129 F. Supp. 3d 643 (Rivers v. Central Illinois Arena Management, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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