Turner v. Servicemaster

632 So. 2d 456, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 30, 1994 WL 12754
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 21, 1994
Docket1921843
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 632 So. 2d 456 (Turner v. Servicemaster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Servicemaster, 632 So. 2d 456, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 30, 1994 WL 12754 (Ala. 1994).

Opinion

SHORES, Justice.

The plaintiffs in this slip and fall case, Peggy J. Turner and her husband, Marvin Turner, appeal from a summary judgment for ServiceMaster Company, a limited partnership. Mrs. Turner sued for damages based on personal injuries she claims she sustained while on duty as a nurse at Huntsville Hospital. Marvin Turner claimed damages for loss of consortium.

On May 9, 1990, Mrs. Turner slipped and fell on the floor of a nurses’ station that had recently been mopped by Lily Mae Pulliam, who was also a Huntsville Hospital employee. Mrs. Turner sued Huntsville Hospital for workers’ compensation benefits. She amended her complaint on October 15, 1991, to include ServiceMaster as a defendant. At the time of Turner's fall, there was an agreement in effect between Huntsville Hospital and ServiceMaster regarding the responsibility for housekeeping services at Huntsville Hospital. The amended complaint alleged that ServiceMaster had negligently and wantonly provided improper supervision and training of a Huntsville Hospital employee, Pulliam, and that Mrs. Turner slipped and fell as a result of Pulliam’s improper supervision and training. At issue is ServiceMas-ter’s responsibility for the training and supervision of housekeeping personnel who are employees of the hospital.

On motion of Huntsville Hospital, the trial court severed the workers’ compensation claim; a trial on that claim resulted in an award for Mrs. Turner.

On January 9, 1993, Pulliam moved for a summary judgment, claiming she was immune from liability, pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 25-5-11, a section of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act limiting co-employee actions to situations involving willful conduct. On March 17, 1993, the trial court entered a summary judgment for Pulliam.

On February 25, 1993, ServiceMaster moved for a summary judgment, arguing that it was acting as the agent of Huntsville Hospital at the time of Turner’s accident and that it, too, therefore, is immune from liability, pursuant to § 25-5-11. ServiceMaster argued that the Turners had not rebutted its summary judgment motion by evidence of “willful conduct,” as defined by § 25 — 5—11(c), and that it therefore was entitled to a summary judgment. On July 21, 1993, the trial court entered a summary judgment for Ser-viceMaster. On August 31, 1993, the Turners filed an appeal; the appeal relates only to the summary judgment for ServiceMaster. We affirm.

On the day of Mrs. Turner’s fall, Pulliam mopped the floor of the nurses’ station; the mopping procedures then in effect did not require warning signs. Therefore, Pulliam erected no signs to warn that the floor had just been mopped.

The agreement between Huntsville Hospital and ServiceMaster provided in pertinent part:

“1. SERVICEMASTER agrees to perform the managing function of housekeeping services in accordance with the highest standards of cleanliness and appearance for the HOSPITAL and applicable JCAH standards, said services being described in detail in Exhibit ‘A’ attached hereto and made a part hereof. In its capacity, SER-VICEMASTER accepts responsibility for performance of the following duties:
“c. SERVICEMASTER shall train, manage and direct all such housekeeping employees of the HOSPITAL in the performance of their respective housekeeping duties, subject always to the control retained by the HOSPITAL as employer of said employees. SERVICEMASTER shall hire, discharge or discipline all such employees in accordance with HOSPITAL policy and procedures. The HOSPITAL shall pay all wages and salaries of its housekeeping employees, and shall pay all payroll and other taxes, fees, workmen’s compensation insurance and other charges or insurance levied or required by any federal, state or local statutes relating to the employment of all its employees. Certificates of insurance as evidence of proper employee insurance coverage shall be supplied to SERVICEMASTER upon request.
“12. Except for the specific duties and responsibilities described in Paragraph 1 [458]*458above, in which SERVICEMASTER is acting as HOSPITAL’S agent, SERVICE-MASTER agrees that in all other respects its relationship to the HOSPITAL will be that of an independent contractor, and that it will not act or represent that it is acting as an agent of the HOSPITAL or incur any obligation on the part of the HOSPITAL without written authority of the HOSPITAL.”

(Emphasis added.)

James Hayes, the operations manager employed by the hospital, stated in his deposition that ServiceMaster had assumed total cleaning responsibility for the hospital. He also testified that ServiceMaster was in charge of training and housekeeping procedures. However, James Edward Whitney, director of environmental services for Huntsville Hospital, a ServiceMaster employee, testified that after Mrs. Turner’s fall, Ser-viceMaster changed its procedure for mopping ancillary areas, such as nursing stations, and started using “wet floor” signs on the recommendation both of Rick Edwards, employed by the hospital as director of safety, and of the hospital safety committee.

The issue before us is whether the trial court erred in holding that ServiceMas-ter was the agent of Huntsville Hospital in the training and management of the housekeeping employees of the hospital and in entering a summary judgment for the hospital. If ServiceMaster was the agent of the hospital, then .Ala.Code -1975, § 25-5-11, would apply to the Turners’ action against ServiceMaster. The Turners presented no evidence that “willful conduct,” as defined by § 25-5-ll(c), caused Mrs. Turner’s fall; therefore, if ServiceMaster was acting as the agent of Huntsville Hospital, the summary judgment was proper.

“A summary judgment is appropriate only when the moving party shows ‘that there' is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ Rule 56(c), A.R.Civ.P. Once the moving party has made a prima facie showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the non-moving party must rebut that showing, by presenting substantial evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact, § 12-21-12, Ala.Code 1975; Hope v. Braman, 557 So.2d 1208 (Ala.1990). The evidence will be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. King v. Winn-Dixie of Montgomery, Inc., 565 So.2d 12 (Ala.1990).”

Campbell v. Valley Garden Apartments, 600 So.2d 240, 241 (Ala.1992). “[Sjubstantial evidence is evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the fact sought to be proved.” West v. Founders Life Assur. Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989).

The test for determining whether ServiceMaster’s role in its relationship with Huntsville Hospital was that of an independent contractor or that of an agent, is whether Huntsville Hospital retained a right of control over the means ServiceMaster employed to manage and train the housekeeping personnel, not whether the hospital actually exercised such control. Morrison v. Academy Life Ins. Co., 567 So.2d 1309, 1311 (Ala.1990); Calvert v. Funderburg, 284 Ala. 311, 315, 224 So.2d 664 (1969); Boyd v. Hinkle Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc., 596 So.2d 947, 949 (Ala.Civ.App.1992); Luallen v. Noojin, 545 So.2d 775, 776 (Ala.Civ.App.1989). Huntsville Hospital contends that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether ServiceMaster was the

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Bluebook (online)
632 So. 2d 456, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 30, 1994 WL 12754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-servicemaster-ala-1994.