Squires v. General Motors Corp.

427 N.W.2d 630, 170 Mich. App. 395
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 1, 1988
DocketDocket No. 88998
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 427 N.W.2d 630 (Squires v. General Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Squires v. General Motors Corp., 427 N.W.2d 630, 170 Mich. App. 395 (Mich. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

RL. Tahvonen, J.

Plaintiffs appeal as of right from a trial court order granting defendant General Motors Corporation’s motion for summary disposition, MCR 2.116(C)(8). We reverse.

Plaintiffs are employees of Checker Motors who claim to have suffered injuries to their hands, wrists and arms while welding automobile frames. The frames were being welded for General Motors which had outsourced production to Checker. According to plaintiffs, General Motors convinced Checker to install a merry-go-round production system in which each frame was placed on a carousel-like device and rotated through twelve [397]*397welding stations to completion. As part of the production system, General Motors also convinced Checker to utilize continuous wire-fed welding guns rather than stick welding using individual welding rods. With a welding gun, plaintiffs pulled a trigger mechanism to feed the welding material to the welder. Over time, all plaintiffs developed debilitating pain to the index finger used to depress the trigger mechanism and also to the middle and index fingers of the other hand used to support the gun. Plaintiffs alleged they each eventually developed tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome in their dominant hand and wrist.

On June 27, 1985, plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint. In the count alleging negligence against General Motors, plaintiffs stated:

38. That this defendant knew or should have known that the combination of the wire fed mig gun with the merry-go-round created potential and real danger to the welders involved.
39. That this defendant had actual knowledge prior to engaging in activities with Checker Motor that gmc’s employees were having hand problems and that said employees were welders.
40. That this defendant actively engaged through its employees on numerous occasions in setting up the production activities at Checker.
41. That this defendant supplied the trunnions on the merry-go-round so that the system would be operational.
42. That this defendant was on actual notice that problems were occurring with users of the equipment and still this defendant continued to push Checker to use the equipment and to produce frames for defendant gmc. Further said defendant, in the face of actual knowledge, requested increased daily production from Checker.
43. That this defendant, through its employees, was negligent in its advice and counsel to Checker [398]*398and was negligent in requesting increased production from Checker in light of the injuries that were occurring, of which injuries said defendant was well informed.

In granting General Motors’ motion for summary disposition, the trial judge relied on White v Chrysler Corp, 421 Mich 192, 204; 364 NW2d 619 (1984), in which the Supreme Court stated:

The common law and the Legislature impose responsibility for job safety on the contractor, not on the employer of the contractor. However, because of the bar of the exclusive remedy provision of the workers’ compensation act, there generally is no tort liability for failure to provide workplace safety. The proposed theory of liability would evolve a special rule for the benefit only of employees of a contractor injured as a result of the use of chattels in production pursuant to an outsource contract. A common-law cause of action should not be evolved solely or primarily to avoid a statutory limitation. We are not persuaded that such a special rule for the benefit only of a discrete class of seriously injured workers is justified.

The trial judge here concluded:

Assuming that there was an agreement between gm and Checker and that gm would help Checker establish the merry-go-round system and establish the method of producing these parts, [and] I’m not making that finding, I’m just assuming for the purpose of testing this motion that is correct, [and] I believe that’s the best statement that can be made for the plaintiffs claim [sic]. I believe that even under that assumption, White is controlled [sic], and these injured employees do not have a claim against General Motors.
So General Motor’s motion for summary disposition is granted.

[399]*399A motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8) tests the legal sufficiency of the claim as pled, determined from an examination of the pleadings alone. The trial and appellate courts must accept as true all well-pled allegations together with any inferences which may be fairly drawn from those allegations. The motion should be granted only where the claim is so clearly unenforceable as a matter of law that no factual development can possibly justify a right to recovery. Attard v Adamczyk, 141 Mich App 246, 248-249; 367 NW2d 75 (1985).

Assuming the truth of plaintiffs’ allegations, the issue becomes whether the trial court correctly determined that General Motors owed no duty to plaintiffs for breach of which General Motors may be found liable.

We hold that White, supra, is not dispositive and that plaintiffs have pled facts which, if true, would justify a finding that General Motors is liable to these plaintiffs.

In White, supra, the plaintiffs suffered serious injuries to their hands while operating power presses for outsource contractors employed to produce automobile parts for the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation. After collecting workers’ compensation benefits, the plaintiffs sought recovery from Ford and Chrysler on theories that those defendants "(i) negligently entrusted the die sets in the power presses to the component parts manufacturers, and (ii) negligently supplied them with chattels (the die sets) dangerous for the intended use.” White, supra, p 197.

The Supreme Court rejected both theories. As to negligent entrustment, the Court held that neither Ford nor Chrysler entrusted or supplied the dies, id., p 201, and that the dies were never dangerous [400]*400to the person to whom they were entrusted, id., p 202. As to the theory of negligently supplying a dangerous chattel, the Court held that the automobile companies had no duty to place guards on the die sets or to warn the component manufacturers of hazards involved in their use. There was no such duty, reasoned the Court, because the component manufacturer is legally responsible to its employees for workplace safety and the automobile companies cannot be deemed to foresee that the dies would be used in an unguarded, unsafe press, id., p 198.

In short, White holds that manufacturers are not liable to employees of outsource contractors for injuries caused by unguarded presses using dies supplied by the manufacturers. The rationale for the holding is that the obligation to provide a safe workplace belongs to the outsource contractor and the manufacturer has no reason to foresee a breach of that obligation. Since there is no foreseeable risk of harm associated with merely supplying dies, there is no duty of care imposed upon the manufacturers for breach of which the employees can recover.

General Motors’ alleged involvement in Checker’s operations and claimed knowledge of the risk of injury here goes far beyond the claims against Ford and Chrysler in White.

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Bluebook (online)
427 N.W.2d 630, 170 Mich. App. 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/squires-v-general-motors-corp-michctapp-1988.