Rose v. Isenhour Brick & Tile Co., Inc.

461 S.E.2d 782, 120 N.C. App. 235, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 741
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 19, 1995
DocketCOA94-1118
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 461 S.E.2d 782 (Rose v. Isenhour Brick & Tile Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rose v. Isenhour Brick & Tile Co., Inc., 461 S.E.2d 782, 120 N.C. App. 235, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 741 (N.C. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

EAGLES, Judge.

I.

Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is proper when “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” G.S. 1A-1, Rule 56(c). “All inferences of fact must be drawn against the movant and in favor of the non-movant.” Roumillat v. Simplistic Enterprises, Inc., 331 N.C. 57, 63, 414 S.E.2d 339, 342 (1992)

[238]*238Traditionally, the Workers’ Compensation Act has provided the sole remedy for an employee who was injured on the job as a result of an accident. See Regan v. Amerimark Bldg. Products, Inc., 118 N.C. App. 328, 330, 454 S.E.2d 849, 851, review denied, 340 N.C. 359, 458 S.E.2d 189 (1995); Mickles v. Duke Power Co., 115 N.C. App. 624, 627, 446 S.E.2d 369, 371, review allowed, 338 N.C. 311, 450 S.E.2d 488 (1994). However, in Woodson v. Rowland, 329 N.C. 330, 340-41, 407 S.E.2d 222, 228 (1991) (emphasis added), our Supreme Court held:

[W]hen an employer intentionally engages in misconduct knowing it is substantially certain to cause serious injury or death to employees and an employee is injured or killed by that misconduct, that employee, or the personal representative of the estate in case of death, may pursue a civil action against the employer. Such misconduct is tantamount to an intentional tort, and civil actions based thereon are not barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Act.

Here, the trial court indicated in its order that it based its decision to grant summary judgment in part on our decision in Powell v. S & G Prestress Co., 114 N.C. App. 319, 442 S.E.2d 143, review denied on additional issues, 338 N.C. 520, 452 S.E.2d 815 (1994). There, an employee caught his foot under the wheel of a moving crane and died after the crane traveled the length of his body and crushed him. Powell, 114 N.C. App. at 322, 442 S.E.2d at 145. In Powell, the court provided an example of the type of misconduct which satisfies the substantial certainty standard:

A throws a bomb into B’s office for the purpose of killing B. A knows that C, B’s stenographer, is in the office. A has no desire to injure C, but knows that this act is substantially certain to do so. C is injured by the explosion. A is subject to liability to C for an intentional tort.

Powell, 114 N.C. App. at 325, 442 S.E.2d at 147, citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 8A illus. 1 (1965). We stated that “[substantial certainty requires more than a mere possibility or substantial probability of serious injury or death.” Powell, 114 N.C. App. at 325, 442 S.E.2d at 147.

Applying that standard in Powell, we noted that there was no specific requirement for tire guards on cranes used by the employer. Powell, 114 N.C. App. at 326, 442 S.E.2d at 147. While the Department of Labor had cited the employer for previous crane violations, none [239]*239of the violations concerned the hazard of operating a crane in close proximity to employees and none of the employer’s workers had been struck by a crane in the past. Id. Accordingly, we concluded that the plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment.

We are bound by Powell’s articulation of the substantial certainty standard. Matter Of Appeal From Civil Penalty, 324 N.C. 373, 384, 379 S.E.2d 30, 37 (1989) (stating that a panel of the Court of Appeals is bound by a prior panel). After carefully reviewing the record, we conclude that plaintiffs case cannot withstand scrutiny under the Powell standard. Like the employer in Powell that had never been cited for a violation relating to the operation of a crane in close proximity to workers, defendant here had never been cited for a violation relating to the carriage head on machine number three or for its use of weights and wires. Furthermore, before this accident, no employees of defendant had been injured by the carriage head on machine number three and there were no specific regulations that required defendant to equip the carriage head on machine number three with safety guards. Plaintiffs forecast of evidence failed to establish that' safety guards for this type of machine were utilized by other brick manufacturers in the industry. Similarly, nothing of record indicates that before the accident defendant knew or should have known of plaintiffs expert witness’s estimate of statistical probabilities of death or serious injury in an accident involving machine number three. Accordingly, applying the Powell standard, we conclude that plaintiff’s forecast of evidence is not sufficient to show the existence of a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether defendant engaged in misconduct knowing it was substantially certain to cause serious injury or death.

II.

Plaintiff also argues that the trial court erred in denying plaintiff’s motions for discovery sanctions. Plaintiff’s original motion and two supplemental motions allege numerous discovery abuses. There are two primary areas of dispute. First, plaintiff asserts that defendant failed to disclose all prior injuries on brick setting machines in response to plaintiff’s interrogatories. In defendant’s answer to plaintiff’s interrogatories concerning prior injuries, defendant responded that it knew of no prior injuries other than those contained in the OSHA materials which defendant had already supplied to plaintiff. Plaintiff later discovered through depositions the prior occurrence of injuries similar to decedent’s injury detailed in several Industrial [240]*240Commission Form 19s. Defendant did not mention the Form 19s in its response to the interrogatories. Plaintiff argues that defendant’s failure to produce the Form 19s detailing prior injuries is an abuse of the discovery process. Defendant argues that one reason it did not produce the Form 19s was its concern for the privacy rights of its employees. Defendant maintains that “every single injury that the Plaintiff claims to have been withheld from her is listed on the OSHA 200 logs that were provided to the Plaintiff.”

Second, plaintiff alleges that defendant’s failure to produce loss prevention documents, which outline safety recommendations of its insurer based on inspections of the premises, was an abuse of discovery supporting the imposition of sanctions.

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Rose v. Isenhour Brick & Tile Co., Inc.
461 S.E.2d 782 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
461 S.E.2d 782, 120 N.C. App. 235, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rose-v-isenhour-brick-tile-co-inc-ncctapp-1995.