Blair v. Allied Maintenance Corp.

• Decision Date: 20 May 1988
• Parties: Riley C. BLAIR, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ALLIED MAINTENANCE CORPORATION and James Oakley, Defendants/Appellees.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 267

756 S.W.2d 267

Riley C. BLAIR, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ALLIED MAINTENANCE CORPORATION and James Oakley, Defendants/Appellees.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee Middle Section, at Nashville.

May 20, 1988.

Published in Accordance with

Tenn.Ct.App.R. 11.

Michael J. Passino, Jane P. North, Passino, DeLaney & Hildebrand, Nashville, John G. Mitchell, Murfreesboro, for plaintiff/appellant.

Todd J. Campbell, Joseph Martin, Jr., Gullett, Sanford, Robinson & Martin, Nashville, for defendants/appellees.

OPINION

KOCH, Judge.

This appeal involves a workplace altercation between an employee and his supervisor. The employee filed an action for assault, outrageous conduct, and breach of implied contract in the Circuit Court for Rutherford County against his supervisor and his employer. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, stating that the employee's suit was preempted by federal labor law and that his remedies were limited to those available under the Workers' Compensation Law or the collective bargaining agreement. The trial court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint. The employee has appealed. We have determined that the trial court properly granted the summary judgment with regard to the employer but not with regard to the supervisor.

I.

Allied Plant Maintenance Co. ("Allied") had a contract to maintain the machinery and equipment at the Bridgestone Tire and Rubber plant in LaVerne. In January, 1982, Allied hired Riley C. Blair to work as a maintenance mechanic at the Bridgestone plant. Subsequently, he became a member of Local 912 of the International Union of Operating Engineers ("Local 912"), and his wages, hours, and conditions of employment were governed by the collective bargaining agreement entered into between Allied and Local 912 in September, 1982. The labor contract contained a procedure enabling an employee to adjust "grievances arising out of his employment."

The incident giving rise to this lawsuit occurred on June 19, 1985. When Mr. Blair reported to work that day, his supervisor, James Oakley, instructed him to repair a chiller in the powerhouse. Mr. Blair inspected the chiller and discovered a broken flow switch. When he returned to the storehouse to obtain a new switch, Mr. Oakley asked him if he had "that goddamned unit running." Mr. Blair told Mr. Oakley that the unit had not been repaired. Hearing this, Mr. Oakley said: "I'm tired of you screwing off on me ... I want it running." Mr. Blair responded "If you know so much then, you go back there and show me."

Mr. Blair claims that at this point Mr. Oakley grabbed him by the arm and neck and shook him, saying: "Goddamn you, you will listen at me." Mr. Blair "snatched away" from Mr. Oakley, and the two men walked back to the broken chiller without further incident.

Mr. Blair and Mr. Oakley had another altercation later in the day just before quitting time. While they were looking for the superintendent of the "tuber department," Mr. Oakley told Mr. Blair to keep his mouth shut about the problems with the chiller unit. Mr. Blair called Mr. Oakley "a piece of shit" and told Mr. Oakley that he had pictures of Mr. Oakley and his girl friend and that he would show them to Mr. Oakley's wife. Mr. Oakley asked Mr. Blair if that was a threat, and Mr. Blair responded: "Hell, no, I'm promising you."

Mr. Blair worked on June 20 and 21 without incident. Even though he was scheduled to work on June 24, Mr. Oakley and his other superiors permitted him to "swap" his days off so he could attend his wife's uncle's funeral.

When Mr. Blair returned to work on June 25, Mr. Oakley instructed him to install a seventy-pound compressor component in an air conditioner located on the roof of the plant. Mr. Blair remembers that Mr. Oakley said: "Get the hell up there and get A/C 4 going." This instruction angered Mr. Blair, but he decided not to ask for help or to say anything because he thought Mr. Oakley was angry too.

Mr. Blair believed he was "being singled out by [Mr.] Oakley in an effort to be 'accidentally' injured". As soon as Mr. Oakley turned his back, Mr. Blair went to the main office of the Bridgestone plant and announced to the Bridgestone officials that he quit. He did not file a grievance with Local 912 or make any complaint to Allied about Mr. Oakley's conduct until he filed this lawsuit against Allied and Mr. Oakley eight months later.

II. Summary Judgment

The defendants' motion for summary judgment was based on several grounds. Unfortunately, the trial court's order granting the summary judgment does not specify the basis for its decision. The better practice is for trial courts to specify the grounds upon which their decisions to grant summary judgments are based. When they fail to do so, this Court must assume that they relied on all the grounds contained in the motion and, therefore, must address the merits of each ground.

Summary judgments provide an efficient means to conclude cases that can be disposed of on legal issues alone. Bellamy v. Federal Express Corp., 749 S.W.2d 31, 33 (Tenn.1988); Brookins v. The Round Table, Inc., 624 S.W.2d 547, 550 (Tenn.1981). However, they are not substitutes for a trial of disputed factual issues. Jones v. Home Indem. Ins. Co., 651 S.W.2d 213, 214 (Tenn.1983). Nor should they be used to resolve disputes concerning inferences to be drawn from the facts or to weigh the evidence. Hamrick v. Spring City Motor Co., 708 S.W.2d 383, 389 (Tenn.1986); Executone of Memphis, Inc. v. Garner, 650 S.W.2d 734, 736 (Tenn.1983).

A motion for summary judgment goes to the merits of a complaint and should not be ignored or taken lightly. Fowler v. Happy Goodman Family, 575 S.W.2d 496, 498 (Tenn.1978). Tenn.R.Civ.P. 56.05 warns that a litigant should not "rest upon the mere allegations or denials in his pleadings." Thus, when a motion for summary judgment is used defensively, the plaintiff's case may be dismissed if, after being given a reasonable opportunity to substantiate its claims, the plaintiff has failed to establish the essential elements of its case on which it will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Moman v. Walden, 719 S.W.2d 531, 533 (Tenn.Ct.App.1986).

This Court reviews a trial court's decision to grant a summary judgment by considering the pleadings and evidentiary materials in the appellate record in a light most favorable to the opponent of the motion and by drawing all reasonable inferences in the opponent's favor. Blocker v. Regional Medical Center, 722 S.W.2d 660, 660 (Tenn.1987); Poore v. Magnavox Co., 666 S.W.2d 48, 49 (Tenn.1984).

We have determined that neither the Workers' Compensation Law, nor the federal labor laws, nor Mr. Blair's failure to make use of the grievance procedure bar Mr. Blair's tort actions against Mr. Oakley. However, we have also determined that Mr. Blair failed to establish the essential elements of his outrageous conduct claim and of his derivative claim against Allied based on Mr. Oakley's assault.

III. Effect of the Workers' Compensation Law

Both Allied and Mr. Oakley argue that Mr. Blair's action should be barred by Tennessee's Workers' Compensation Law. While this may be true insofar as Allied is concerned, it is not the case with regard to Mr. Oakley.

In accordance with Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-108 (Supp.1987) ¹, the Workers' Compensation Law provides employees with their exclusive remedy against employers for work-related injuries. Employers cannot be sued at common law for an employee's injuries unless the employee shows that the employer actually intended to injure the employee. Mize v. Conagra, Inc., 734 S.W.2d 334, 336 (Tenn.Ct.App.1987); King v. Ross Coal Co., 684 S.W.2d 617, 619-20 (Tenn.Ct.App.1984); Cooper v. Queen, 586 S.W.2d 830, 833 (Tenn.Ct.App.1979). A coemployee's intentional tort will not give rise to a cause of action against the employer. Williams v. Smith, 222 Tenn. 284, 290-91, 435 S.W.2d 808, 811 (1968).

Even though the Workers' Compensation Law limits an injured employee's claims against the employer, it does not place the same limitations on claims against a fellow employee. The Tennessee Supreme Court, relying on Tenn.Code Ann. 50-6-112(a) (Supp.1987) ², has held that an employee may maintain a common law or statutory tort action against a coemployee who intentionally injures that employee. Taylor v. Linville, 656 S.W.2d 368, 370 (Tenn.1983); Williams v. Smith, 222 Tenn. 284, 292, 435 S.W.2d 808, 811 (1968).

Mr. Blair alleges that Mr. Oakley committed the torts of assault and outrageous conduct. These actions, if proven, are intentional torts. See Kite v. Hamblen, 192 Tenn. 643, 646, 241 S.W.2d 601, 603 (1951). There are no allegations or proof that Allied intended to injure Mr. Blair, and thus, Mr. Blair's action against Allied must fail.

While the proof offered by Mr. Blair with regard to his claims against Mr. Oakley is of the weakest sort, it is not our role at this stage of the proceeding to weigh the evidence or to decide whether Mr. Blair has made out a prima facie case. After reviewing the record in the light most favorable to Mr. Blair, we have determined that he has alleged two common law causes of action against Mr. Oakley that are not barred by the Workers' Compensation Law.

IV. Preemption by the Federal Labor Laws

Both Allied and Mr. Oakley claim that Mr. Blair's suit is preempted by the federal labor laws because his "claims implicate rights established by and arise under the collective bargaining agreement." While this is true with regard to Mr. Blair's breach of implied contract claim, it is not the case with his tort claims.

The states' authority over various aspects of the relationship between private employers and their employees has been largely displaced by Congress' enactment of the federal labor laws. Wisconsin Dep't of Indus. v. Gould, Inc., 475 U.S. 282, 286, ...