Ex parte Weaver

• Decision Date: 13 October 2000
• Citation: 781 So.2d 944
• Parties: Ex parte David Michael WEAVER. (Re David Michael Weaver v. Pentair, Inc., et al.)
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

781 So.2d 944

Ex parte David Michael WEAVER.

(Re David Michael Weaver v. Pentair, Inc., et al.)

1990217.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

October 13, 2000.

Patrick J. Ballard of Tipler Law Offices, Birmingham, for petitioner.

Craig A. Alexander of Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, L.L.P., Birmingham, for respondent Delta International Machinery Corporation. BROWN, Justice.

As a result of an on-the-job injury, David Michael Weaver sued Delta International Machinery Corporation ("Delta Machinery"), the manufacturer of the saw he was using at the time of his injury; he also sued Pentair, Inc., Delta Machinery's parent company; Southern Risk Services, Inc., the workers' compensation carrier for Weaver's employer, Southern Energy Homes, Inc.; and a number of managers and/or supervisors at the Southern Energy Homes plant where Weaver worked. Weaver's action is pending in the Jefferson Circuit Court. He petitions for a writ of mandamus directing that court to vacate its order of February 2, 1999, wherein it limited Weaver's discovery concerning injuries resulting from accidents involving other sizes and models of Delta table saws and table-saw blade guards and further advised the parties that, at that time, it was inclined to exclude on retrial evidence of subsequent similar incidents. Weaver asks this Court to direct the circuit court to allow a broader range of discovery regarding injuries resulting from accidents involving other sizes and models of Delta table saws and table-saw blade guards. Finally, Weaver requests that this Court review the trial court's pretrial ruling that evidence of subsequent similar accidents will be inadmissible and that it direct the trial court to set that ruling aside. We deny the writ.

Weaver worked at a Southern Energy Homes plant in Addison. On September 15, 1993, Weaver had an accident while he was cutting plasterboard, using a table saw and replacement blade guard that had been manufactured by Delta Machinery; he was injured and lost three fingers. Weaver sued Delta Machinery and the other defendants mentioned above on September 14, 1995. In the lawsuit, Weaver asserted products-liability claims and related claims against Delta Machinery, the manufacturer of the table saw. The table saw involved in Weaver's accident was a 12-inch tilting arbor saw manufactured in 1955. The saw was produced by Rockwell Manufacturing Company, a company eventually acquired by Delta Machinery, and it was sold with a metal blade guard. In later years, the manufacture of the metal blade guard was discontinued, and that guard was replaced by a plastic blade guard. At the time of his accident, the table saw Weaver was using had a plastic blade guard that he said "had tape all over it." Evidence indicated that a vacuum hose had been added to the table saw in such a way as to pull the blade guard away from its proper position.

Weaver propounded discovery requests for information about other injuries that had occurred during the use of Delta table saws. Delta Machinery failed to respond to Weaver's discovery requests, and Weaver moved to compel that discovery. On April 21, 1998, the trial court granted Weaver's motion to compel, but limited the scope of Delta Machinery's required response to incidents involving the same 12-inch-model table saw that Weaver was operating when he was injured.

Weaver maintains that, according to his mechanical-engineering expert, virtually all models of Delta Machinery's table saws and the replacement blade-guard attachments are substantially similar and function in the same way. He further maintains that the replacement guard at issue in this case is used for more than one model of table saw. According to Weaver, when his case first came to trial, Delta Machinery had not yet responded to his discovery request, but he says that on the second day of trial counsel for Delta Machinery produced a short list of other incidents. The first trial of Weaver's case ended in a mistrial, on October 23, 1998, when, Weaver represents, the trial judge "became angry with Weaver's counsel for trying to lay the predicate for introducing evidence of other injuries occurring on Delta table saws." After the mistrial was declared, Weaver moved the trial court to "reconsider" its ruling limiting discovery concerning similar incidents, and on February 2, 1999, the trial court entered an order granting the motion to reconsider "to the extent that defendant [Delta Machinery] should respond to discovery requests as to the model of the saw with attachments as it was on the day of the accident, but may limit its discovery as to that saw as it existed that day." The order continued: "The court has advised counsel that it will limit evidence to accidents arising on or before the date of the accident in this case." On November 5, 1999, Weaver filed this petition for the writ of mandamus.¹

I.

Rule 26, Ala.R.Civ.P., governs the discovery of information in civil actions. When a dispute arises over discovery matters, the resolution of the dispute is left to the sound discretion of the trial court. "Discovery matters are within the trial court's sound discretion, and its ruling on those matters will not be reversed absent a showing of abuse of discretion and substantial harm to the appellant." Wolff v. Colonial Bank, 612 So.2d 1146, 1146 (Ala.1992) (citations omitted). See also Justice Maddox's dissent in Ex parte Hicks, 727 So.2d 23, 33 (Ala.1998); the holding in the majority opinion in Hicks was overruled by Ex parte Henry, 770 So.2d 76, 79 (Ala.2000).

Petitioning for the writ of mandamus is the proper method for determining whether a trial judge has abused his discretion in limiting discovery. Ex parte Allstate Ins. Co., 401 So.2d 749, 751 (Ala. 1981). The writ of mandamus is a drastic and extraordinary remedy, to be issued only when there is (1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) properly invoked jurisdiction of the court. Ex parte Horton, 711 So.2d 979, 983 (Ala.1998) (citing Ex parte United Serv. Stations, Inc., 628 So.2d 501 (Ala. 1993)); Ex parte Alfab, Inc., 586 So.2d 889, 891 (Ala.1991) (citing Martin v. Loeb & Co., 349 So.2d 9 (Ala.1977)). Moreover, this Court will not issue a writ of mandamus compelling a trial judge to alter a discovery order unless this Court "determines, based on all the facts that were before the trial court, that the trial court clearly abused its discretion." Ex parte Horton, 711 So.2d at 983. Moreover, "`[t]he right sought to be enforced by mandamus must be clear and certain with no reasonable basis for controversy about the right to relief,'" and "`[t]he writ will not issue where the right in question is doubtful.'" Ex parte Bozeman, 420 So.2d 89, 91 (Ala. 1982) (quoting Ex parte Dorsey Trailers, Inc., 397 So.2d 98, 102 (Ala.1981)). Weaver claims that he suffered an on-the-job injury while using a 12-inch Delta table saw to cut plasterboard. On January 15, 1998, Weaver filed a broad discovery request, seeking information concerning previous claims and/or lawsuits:

"3. Please list all lawsuits filed against Rockwell Manufacturing Company (hereinafter Rockwell Mfg.), Rockwell International Corporation (hereinafter Rockwell International) and/or Delta claiming physical injuries and/or damage due to any defective condition, defect in, and/or problems regarding table saws, circular saws, band saws and/or other woodworking machinery manufactured by Rockwell Mfg., Rockwell International and/or Delta, giving the style, jurisdiction, names of all parties, names and addresses of all attorneys, date of filing, if resolved, the disposition and date of disposition and the type, model number and date of manufacture of the machine involved. Included in your response should be all lawsuits alleging that inadequate warnings regarding potential dangers in the use of the machine and/or inadequate instructions in the proper use of the machine were provided.

"4.

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