Stout v. Morrisville Supply Corp.

61 Pa. D. & C.4th 191, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 165
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedSeptember 14, 2001
Docketno. 0653
StatusPublished

This text of 61 Pa. D. & C.4th 191 (Stout v. Morrisville Supply Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stout v. Morrisville Supply Corp., 61 Pa. D. & C.4th 191, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 165 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

DlNUBILE, J.,

This opinion arises from the denial of post-trial motions of defendant Morrisville Supply Corp. and the entry of judgment against it in a negligence action arising from a jury’s verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Leroy Stout, in the amount of $2,465,000, as well as the sum of $372,333.18 for delay damages, totaling $2,837,333.18. The jury also found in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff’s estranged wife, Carol Stout, in her claim for loss of consortium by awarding zero damages. Two other defendants, Portee Inc. and Labor Ready Inc., settled during the trial, executing a joint tort-feasor release. The liability of Portee was submitted to the jury solely for purposes of determining Morrisville’s percentage of liability in the event the jury found both defendants culpable. The liability of Ready was not submitted since the court concluded there was insufficient evidence. The liability of Portee became important in light of the jury’s findings. The jury awarded a total verdict of $2,900,000. It found Portee to be 15 percent causally liable in relation to Morrisville. Consequently, the verdict was molded against defendant Morrisville at 85 percent of $2,900,000 ($2,465,000), [194]*194reflecting the reduction of 15 percent attributable to Portee.1

This was a work site injury. Plaintiff was an employee of Pennsbury Excavating and Landscaping Co. (5/7/01, a.m. session, pp. 8-10.) He was operating a front-end loader in which he was placing pre-stressed concrete into a hydraulic screen plant through what was called a “grizzly.” The purpose of the machine was to crush the pieces of pre-stressed concrete, some of which were reinforced with steel. This material then would be removed from the site and sold by the defendant. The hydraulic screen plant carried the material on a conveyer. At some point, the machine jammed. While attempting to stop the conveyer, plaintiff left his front-end loader and was struck in the head by a piece of falling concrete. Plaintiff maintained that as a result of this head injury, he suffers from constant vertigo, imbalance, headaches, brain damage resulting in cognitive deficits, loss of memory and depression. Since age 26, when the incident occurred, he claims to have become disabled. Plaintiff asserted, through his economic expert, that his lost wages and fu[195]*195ture earning capacity loss ranged anywhere from $1.5 million to $2.9 million.

Plaintiff’s major theory against Portee, the manufacturer of the hydraulic screen plant, was in products liability. He asserted that Morrisville, as the supervisor of the work site, was negligent in either creating a dangerous condition in the machine through subsequent modification or, in the alternative, allowing it to be run in a dangerous condition which existed when defendant took control of it. Plaintiff also sued Ready on the grounds that it had supplied unskilled workers to operate the machine. The testimony at trial revealed that employees of Ready on the scene at the time of the accident were not involved in any way in its operation. At best, there had been some testimony that when the machine had jammed on prior occasions, Ready’s laborers would assist in its unclogging. As stated, Portee and Ready settled during the course of the trial. Plaintiff also had abandoned his products liability claim at that time. Therefore, the case went to the jury solely on the issue of negligence of Morrisville as well as possible negligence on the part of Portee for failure to erect shields on the conveyer belt. Since there was no evidence of any liability on the part of Ready’s supplied laborers, its negligence was not submitted to the jury. The jury also had to consider the contributory negligence of plaintiff himself since there was undisputed evidence that he was not wearing a hard hat at the time that he was stuck on the head by the pre-stressed concrete. He had maintained that he had loaned his helmet to one of the Ready workers because there were insufficient hard hats available for the employees to use. His testimony was corroborated by one [196]*196of the Ready employees who testified on plaintiff’s behalf. The jury found plaintiff to be negligent, but found no causal connection between it and the harm to him, thus absolving plaintiff of liability.

This case was contested as to all aspects, namely, negligence, causation, contributory negligence and damages. Numerous experts were called on behalf of both sides in support of their respective positions on all of these issues. Plaintiff’s principal theory of liability against Morrisville was that it was negligent as to safety concerns in the supervision of the work site. More particularly, there was a dangerous condition contained in the hydraulic screen plant, either created by Morrisville, or if the condition was created by Portee, defendant allowed it to remain. It was plaintiff’s contention, through his safety expert, William Halmstadt, that the hopper, the opening leading to the conveyor, enlarged by defendant Morrisville, caused larger pieces of concrete to get into it (conveyor) than was intended. As a result of this enlargement, some pieces of material were too big for the conveyor, resulting in the jamming of the machine and some concrete to fall. Plaintiff’s expert also opined that the lack of shields on the conveyor, to prevent the objects from falling, also made the machine unreasonably dangerous to workers as well. This latter theory of negligence was attributable to both Portee in the manufacturing without them and to Morrisville in not correcting this situation. According to plaintiff’s theory, the machine jammed because of the enlarged opening. When plaintiff went to stop the machine, a piece struck him, falling from the conveyor because there were no shields. The defense countered that the machine was safe, that [197]*197any subsequent modifications made or lack of shields on the conveyor had no bearing on any injury suffered by plaintiff.

The defendant raises several ancillary issues in post-trial motions, such as the qualifications of plaintiff’s experts, the contributory negligence issue, insufficient evidence to support the verdict, remittitur, the court’s charge as to negligence and mitigation of damages, that the jury was made aware of settlement negotiations during trial to its prejudice as well as certain evidentiary rulings made by the court. It’s principal ground, however, is that the defendant is immune from liability under the Workers’ Compensation Act pursuant to the borrowed servant doctrine. These issues raised are without merit and will be discussed seriatim.

Defense asserts immunity from liability under the Workers’ Compensation Act, 77 P.S. §1 et seq., in that it alleges at the time of the incident, Mr. Stout was a “borrowed servant” of the defendant from his employer, Pennsbury. The law governing this doctrine is well established. The rule was laid out by our Supreme Court in JFC Temps Inc., v. W.C.A.B. (Lindsay), 545 Pa. 149, 680 A.2d 862 (1996).

“The test for determining whether a servant furnished by one person to another becomes the employee of the person to whom he is loaned is whether he passes under the latter’s right of control with regard not only to the work to be done but also to the manner of performing it. Hamler v. Waldron, 445 Pa. 262, 265, 284 A.2d 725, 726 (1971); Mature v. Angelo, 373 Pa.

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Bluebook (online)
61 Pa. D. & C.4th 191, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stout-v-morrisville-supply-corp-pactcomplphilad-2001.