Cochran v. Gehrke, Inc.
| Decision Date | 03 March 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. C 02-0108-MWB.,No. C 01-161-MWB.,C 01-161-MWB.,C 02-0108-MWB. |
| Citation | 305 F.Supp.2d 1045 |
| Parties | Shawn COCHRAN, Plaintiff, v. GEHRKE, INC., and National Tank Corporation, Defendants, and Gehrke, Inc., Cross-Claim Plaintiff, v. National Tank Corporation, Cross-Claim Defendant, Patricia C. Wegener and Larry N. Wegener, as Administrators of the Estate of Allan Jeffrey Wegener, and Larry N. Wegener, Patricia C. Wegener, Amy Powers, and Abby Wegener, individually, Plaintiffs, v. Gehrke, Inc., Eagle Grove Crane Service, Inc., and Terracon, Inc., Defendants, and Gehrke, Inc., Third-Party Plaintiff, v. National Tank Corporation, Third-Party Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Donald J. Pavelka, Jr., Thomas M. Braddy, Thomas M. Locher, Locher, Cellilli, Pavelka & Dostal, LLC, Omaha, NE, Marc Thomas Beltrame, Megan M. Antenucci, Des Moines, IA, John A. Templer, Jr., Whitfield & Eddy, PLC, Frank A Comito, Kent Alan Gummert, Gaudineer & Comito, LLP, West Des Moines, IA, for Defendants.
Marc S. Harding, Marc S. Harding PC, Dwight W. James, Jennifer Gerrish-Lampe, The James Law Firm, PC Des Moines, IA, for Plaintiffs.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANT GEHRKE'S FIRST AND SECOND MOTIONS FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................ 1046
A. Factual Background ............................................... 1046
B. Procedural Background ............................................ 1047
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS ...................................................... 1048
A. Standards For Summary Judgment ................................... 1048
B. Gehrke's Indemnity Claim In The Wegener Case ..................... 1049
C. Gehrke's Duty To Protect Subcontractors' Employees ............... 1050
1. Arguments of the parties ...................................... 1051
2. Applicable law ................................................ 1053
a. The general rule and exceptions ............................ 1053
b. The applicable exception ................................... 1053
3. Analysis ...................................................... 1054
a. The nominated contractual provision ........................ 1054
b. Interpretation and construction of contractual provisions .. 1055
i. Applicable rules ........................................ 1055
ii. Application of the rules ............................... 1056
III. CONCLUSION .......................................................... 1058
These separate actions arise from one construction accident in which two workers, employed by different subcontractors, were critically injured or killed. The general contractor on the construction project, a defendant in both actions, has filed essentially identical motions for partial summary judgment in both actions asserting that, as a matter of law, it was under no duty to protect the subcontractors' employees from injury on the job site. In addition, the general contractor has filed a motion for partial summary judgment in one of the actions on an issue already addressed in the other action, which is the general contractor's contention that its indemnity agreement with one of its subcontractors is valid, enforceable, and applicable to the claims in these cases. These actions have thus far been consolidated only for the purposes of discovery. However, in light of the interrelationship of the issues raised in the general contractor's dispositive motions in both actions, the court finds that judicial economy dictates a consolidated ruling on those motions.
The court has surveyed in various prior rulings the factual background in these two cases that is essential to put in context the parties' disputes. See, e.g., Cochran v Gehrke, Inc., 293 F.Supp.2d 986, 988-90 (N.D.Iowa 2003) (Cochran II); Cochran v. Gehrke Constr., Inc., 235 F.Supp.2d 991, 994 (N.D.Iowa 2002) (Cochran I); Wegener v. Gehrke, Inc., slip op. at 2, No. C 02-0108-MWB (N.D.Iowa Jan. 10, 2003) (). The parties do not appear to take issue with the court's prior factual synopses, so the court will reprise them here.
As indicated above, the claims among the parties arise from a construction accident on July 20, 2000, during the erection and refurbishing of a water tower in New Providence, Iowa. The City of New Providence had hired Gehrke, Inc., as the general contractor for the project. Gehrke performed "the dirt work" itself, but subcontracted with National Tank Corporation to perform some of the construction work. National Tank, in turn, hired Eagle Grove Crane Service to set up and operate the crane used in connection with the water tower project.
At the time of the accident, Shawn Cochran, an employee of Eagle Grove, was operating a crane lifting the refurbished water tank onto the base, and Allan Wegener, an employee of National Tank, was working on the water tower base. Cochran alleges that, while the water tank was being placed on the tower, "[t]he ground beneath the crane slowly sank, causing instability that [Cochran] was powerless to control," and "[t]he crane toppled, dropping [Cochran] approximately 140 feet to the ground below," with the result that Cochran was "critically injured." The Wegener plaintiffs allege that, when the crane operated by Cochran toppled into the water tower, it caused Allan Wegener to fall to his death from the water tower base.
Cochran's and Wegener's separate negligence actions, as well as various cross-claims and third-party claims for negligence, indemnity, and contribution, followed in the wake of the construction accident. Although various matters have come before the court in the course of the litigation of these two lawsuits, now before the court are three dispositive motions, two in the Wegener case and one in the Cochran case.
The first motion is Gehrke's December 24, 2003, Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (docket no. 40) in the Wegener case, in which Gehrke seeks summary judgment in its favor on its contention that its indemnity agreement with National Tank is valid, enforceable, and applicable to the claims in the Wegener case. National Tank resisted Gehrke's motion on indemnity issues in the Wegener case on February 6, 2004 (docket no. 51). Gehrke filed a reply brief in further support of its motion on February 12, 2004 (docket no. 54) and a reply to National Tank's statement of additional facts on February 13, 2004 (docket no. 55).
On January 12, 2004, Gehrke filed in both the Wegener case and the Cochran case essentially identical Motions For Partial Summary Judgment seeking summary judgment to the effect that Gehrke did not owe a duty to protect the subcontractors' employees from injury on the New Providence job site (Cochran docket no. 61; Wegener docket no. 44). In the Cochran case, National Tank filed its resistance to that motion on February 6, 2004 (docket no. 65), and Cochran filed a resistance on February 23, 2004 (docket no. 74).1 In the Wegener case, the Wegener plaintiffs resisted Gehrke's "no duty" motion on February 5, 2004 (docket no. 49); National Tank resisted that motion on February 6, 2004 (docket no. 50); and Eagle Grove resisted that motion on February 9, 2004 (docket no. 52). Gehrke filed a unified reply in support of its motion for partial summary judgment on the "no duty" issue in both cases on February 17, 2004 (Cochran docket no. 72; Wegener docket no. 62).
The court heard consolidated oral arguments on Gehrke's motions on February 26, 2004. At those oral arguments, plaintiff Shawn Cochran was represented by Marc S. Harding of Marc S. Harding, P.C., in Des Moines, Iowa. The Wegener plaintiffs were represented by Jennifer Gerrish-Lampe of The James Law Firm, P.C., in Des Moines, Iowa. Gehrke, Inc., was represented by Thomas M. Braddy of Locher, Cellilli, Pavelka & Dostal, L.L.C., in Omaha, Nebraska. National Tank Corporation was represented by Megan M. Antenucci and Marc T. Beltrame of Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C., in Des Moines, Iowa. Eagle Grove Crane Service, Inc., was represented by Kent Alan Gummert of Gaudineer & Comito, L.L.P., in West Des Moines, Iowa. Upon conclusion of the oral arguments, Gehrke's motions were fully submitted. The oral arguments were very spirited and of substantial assistance to the court in resolving the pending matters.
Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that either the claimant or the defending party may move for summary judgment in its favor on all or any part of a claim. See FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a) & (b). "The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c).
A case in which the issues involved are primarily questions of law, which Gehrke contends is the case here, "is particularly appropriate for summary judgment." TeamBank, N.A. v. McClure, 279 F.3d 614, 617 (8th Cir.2002) (citing Adams v. Boy Scouts of America-Chickasaw Council, 271 F.3d 769, 775 (8th Cir.2001)); Bank of Am. Nat'l Trust & Sav. Ass'n v. Shirley, 96 F.3d 1108, 1111 (8th Cir.1996) (); Aucutt v. Six Flags Over Mid-America, Inc., 85 F.3d 1311, 1315 (8th Cir.1996) (same). However, National Tank, Eagle Grove, and the plaintiffs contend that genuine...
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