Thornton v. Carrier

311 S.W.2d 208, 43 Tenn. App. 615, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 139
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 11, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 311 S.W.2d 208 (Thornton v. Carrier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thornton v. Carrier, 311 S.W.2d 208, 43 Tenn. App. 615, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 139 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

BEJACH, J.

The plaintiff in error, James M. Thornton, who was plaintiff in the lower conrt, seeks a reversal of rulings made by the lower court in granting a motion for a directed verdict made on behalf of the City of Memphis after the opening statement of counsel for plaintiff, before any evidence had been introduced, and in striking from the record an amended declaration which made the other defendants parties to this suit a second time, after they had been previously dismissed on their plea in abatement. As stated in the brief filed on behalf of plaintiff in error:

“There are two (2) basic propositions to be determined in this cause:
“First, whether the City of Memphis can engage in the development of a private project, President’s Island, for profit and escape liability for its negligence, under the cover of ‘governmental functions’.
“In its final analysis this may develop into a question as to whether the Legislature can by its enactments, declare a non-fact to be a fact, and make it stick.
“Second, plaintiff seeks to reach the contractor’s liability insurance carrier, if any; if not, the contrac *618 tor, as a self-insurer, where they or it agree to protect the contractee, the City of Memphis, from all liability arising under the contract, with proper insurance coverage.”

For convenience, the parties will he styled, as in the lower court, plaintiff and defendant or defendants, as the case may he, or called hy their respective names.

As originally filed, this suit was against W. M. Carrier, Ruth Carrier, William P. Carrier, Jr., doing business as Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co., the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co., Inc., and the City of Memphis. Plaintiff’s declaration alleges that the three individual defendants, as a partnership, entered into a contract with the City of Memphis to construct a sewer line on President’s Island, which contract was later assumed by the corporation, the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co., Inc., after the organization of said corporation. It is alleged that in connection with the work involved in this contract, the City of Memphis was acting in its corporate or proprietary capacity and that same was not a governmental function. It is alleged that the plaintiff is an experienced drag-line operator and bulldozer operator working for the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Company in connection with the construction of said sewer line on President’s Isand, that a right of way 100 feet in width was staked off, that plaintiff was directed hy his employers to operate a bull-dozer in clearing off this right of way hy pushing hack dirt and debris toward the right of way boundary lines, that in connection with his performance of this work, an inspector of the City of Memphis ordered plaintiff to take the bull-dozer and push back farther some of the debris *619 which was on or near said right of way, and that in doing so, a large-tree was flipped over by a smaller tree so that it fell on the seat of the bull-dozer which plaintiff was operating, pinning, plaintiff down and inflicting serious and permanent injuries. The declaration alleges that the negligence of defendants which caused his injuries, consisted of violation of legal requirements and a provision of the contract between the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co. and the City of Memphis, which required that the hull-dozer be equipped with a heavy well-supported arched steel canopy. The use of said bull-dozer without such canopy was also alleged to be in violation of the Memphis Building Code, Section 3011.18, which provides: “AH equipment devices and machinery used in the erection of construction coming under the supervision of and subject to inspections by the Department of Public Service shall be of a type required by the several Bureaus of said Department and shall be so installed as to insure safety of workmen employed and protect the public welfare. ’ ’ Plaintiff sues for $50,000 damages and demands a jury to try the issues when joined.

A plea in abatement was filed on behalf of defendants, W. M. Carrier, Ruth Carrier, William P. Carrier, Jr., Carrier Excavation and Foundation Company, and Carrier Excavation Co., Inc., which sets up that said defendants were operating under the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Tennessee, that same had been fully complied ¡vith, and that plaintiff had been paid by the Bituminous Casualty Corp., the insurer for said defendants, weekly payments and medical expenses as required by said Workmen’s Compensation Law. This plea in abatement was sustained and the said defendants were dismissed from this cause.- The defendant City of Memphis filed *620 pleas of not guilty, contributory negligence, and that the acts or omissions charged against the City of Memphis were referrable to activities of a governmental character, for the consequences of which said defendant is entitled to governmental immunity. Later, the City of Memphis, having been by court order required so to do, filed special pleas which reiterate said defenses with more elaboration. By an amendment to said special pleas, the City of Memphis sets up that the work alleged and referred to in plaintiff’s declaration was carried out in accordance with a contract authorized under Chapter 500 of the Private Acts of 1947, and that in addition to all of its other defenses heretofore pleaded, said defendant relies upon Section 17 of said Chapter 500, Private Acts of 1947, which is as follows:

“Development, maintenance, etc., of harbor and port declared a public governmental function; restriction as to actions. — The development, maintenance and operation of and all matters incident to the ownership of the harbor and port provided for and authorized herein is declared a public governmental function and no action shall be brought or maintained against the Harbor and Port Commission or the City of Memphis, on account of any claim arising from or growing out of either one or all of the aforesaid provisions and/or authorizations.”

At this stage of the case, the Bituminous Casualty Corporation which carries the workmen’s compensation insurance for the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co., Inc., filed an intervening petition in which it asserts that it has paid plaintiff James M. Thornton on account of his injuries the total sum of $5,724.13, and it became a *621 party to this cause for the purpose of asserting a lien against whatever recovery, if any, plaintiff might obtain against the City of Memphis.

Thereafter, on January 2, 1957, plaintiff filed a motion for leave of court “to amend his original declaration herein so as to add as parties defendant, the Carrier Excavation and Foundation Co., Inc., and W. M. Carrier, Euth Carrier, and William P.

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Bluebook (online)
311 S.W.2d 208, 43 Tenn. App. 615, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornton-v-carrier-tennctapp-1957.