Henrich v. Lorenz, 88-699

• Decision Date: 22 November 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-699,88-699
• Citation: 448 N.W.2d 327
• Parties: Janet HENRICH, Appellee, v. Jeffrey LORENZ, Jim Schmitz, Thomas Dunlop, Bob O'Brien, Dave Andresen, and Dan Richardson, Appellants.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 327

448 N.W.2d 327

Janet HENRICH, Appellee, v. Jeffrey LORENZ, Jim Schmitz, Thomas Dunlop, Bob O'Brien, Dave Andresen, and Dan Richardson, Appellants.

No. 88-699.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 22, 1989.

Emmanuel S. Bikakis of Bikakis, Vohs, Storm & Arneson, Sioux City, and Robert G. Allbee of Ahlers, Cooney, Dorweiler Haynie, Smith & Allbee, Des Moines, for appellants.

Colin J. McCullough of McCullough Law Firm, Sac City, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

McGIVERIN, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff, Janet Henrich, was injured in the course of her employment at the Iowa Beef Processing, Inc., meat packing plant at Storm Lake (IBP Storm Lake). She received workers' compensation benefits for her injury from her corporate employer. Henrich then sued several supervisory and management employees at IBP Storm Lake, alleging that their gross negligence was a proximate cause of her injury. The case was submitted to the jury over the defendants' motion for a directed verdict. The jury returned a substantial verdict for Henrich. Defendants' posttrial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, for a new trial, was overruled. Judgment was entered on the verdict. Defendants appealed.

Although defendants raise several issues for review, we need address only two: first, the district court's subject matter jurisdiction over the case; and second, the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. We reverse on the second issue alone.

I. Background facts and proceedings. In reviewing the district court's denial of defendants' motion for a directed verdict and defendants' posttrial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, we view the record in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. From the evidence, the jury could have found the following to be true.

Henrich applied for work at IBP Storm Lake on October 20, 1983. A few days later she was interviewed by defendant Thomas Dunlop, plant personnel manager. She was subsequently hired, and began work on October 28 with a full day of group orientation. At orientation, Henrich received various handouts, including one addressing work safety. Among other people, Dunlop addressed Henrich and the other new employees who were assembled for orientation.

Henrich's first day of production work in the plant was October 31. The company provided her cotton gloves, rubber gloves, a hard hat and ear plugs. Although initially assigned to clean-up duties, on November 4 Henrich was assigned to learn to operate a butt skinner machine.

A butt skinner is used to remove a layer of fat from a cut of pork known as the shoulder butt. The machine has a tray on which the operator places the shoulder butt and a motorized tooth roller that draws the butt toward two stainless steel cutting blades. A crank adjusts the distance between the cutting blades, and a separate lever allows the operator to lift the cutting blades away from the tooth roller. At the time, the machine at IBP Storm Lake had a push button power shut-off switch located on the right side of its base, below the tray.

The butt skinner operator's task is to position the shoulder butt flat on the tray so that the roller catches its corner. If the roller does not catch the butt, the operator is instructed to exert downward pressure on the butt. In practice, the operators often push the butts toward the cutting blades. This is done, for example, when overly cold butts or dull cutting blades hinder the machine's "take up" of butts.

Henrich was assigned to operate the butt skinner by the general cut floor supervisor, defendant Jim Schmitz. Schmitz introduced Henrich to the assistant cut floor supervisor, defendant Jeffrey Lorenz. Henrich was wearing the company-provided cotton gloves with the rubber gloves over them for warmth. Schmitz told Henrich that Lorenz would be her supervisor and that Lorenz and Dan Moeller, a fellow production worker and experienced butt skinner operator, would train her to run the machine.

Lorenz showed Henrich how to adjust the cutting blades, how to lift them from the tooth roller, and how to shut the machine off. He instructed Henrich to rest the butt on the tray and to keep her hands away from the cutting blades and roller. He demonstrated Henrich's new task at least once. He left Henrich with Moeller for further training.

After demonstrating the operation of the butt skinner for about half an hour, Moeller again instructed Henrich on the same things Lorenz had instructed her. Henrich operated the machine in increasing intervals for the rest of that day and for her full shift the next day. Moeller watched and instructed Henrich the entire time, and took over for her whenever she fell behind the pace of the production line. Lorenz observed Moeller giving Henrich further instruction. Moeller reported to Schmitz, Lorenz, and another assistant supervisor that Henrich was doing well on the butt skinner and operating it according to instructions. At the time of the accident, Moeller was still training Henrich and assisting her as needed.

The accident occurred on the morning of November 7, Henrich's third day operating the butt skinner. Henrich set a shoulder butt on the tray. While guiding the butt to the roller, her gloved right hand slipped off the butt and into the cutting blades of the machine. She later testified that the roller grabbed her glove and pulled her hand into the machine. With Moeller's help, Henrich was able to pull her hand from the machine almost immediately, but it had already been injured.

The defendants named in Henrich's suit were various supervisory and management employees at IBP Storm Lake. Defendant Bob O'Brien was plant manager. He directly supervised the plant superintendent, Gary McVey, who was not named as a defendant; the plant mechanical engineer, defendant Dave Andresen; and the plant personnel director, defendant Thomas Dunlop. Defendant Jim Schmitz, the general cut floor supervisor, was one of five general area supervisors who worked under McVey. (The other four supervised areas of the plant other than the cut floor.) Schmitz, in turn, supervised three assistant cut floor supervisors: defendant Jeffrey Lorenz, who was in charge of the area where Henrich was working as a butt skinner operator; defendant Dan Richardson, who was in charge of another area of the cut floor; and Bill McCoy, who was in charge of a third area of the cut floor and who was not named as a defendant. As previously noted, Henrich and Moeller worked under Lorenz's supervision.

Henrich's petition alleged that the defendants were grossly negligent in failing to warn her of the hazardous condition of the butt skinner; in allowing the machine to be operated when it constituted an unreasonable safety hazard; and in failing to oversee, inspect, discover and prevent hazardous working conditions at the plant. The defendants' answer denied any negligence or gross negligence, alleged that workers' compensation was Henrich's sole remedy, and asserted that Henrich assumed the risk of operating the butt skinner or was contributorily at fault in causing her injury. At trial, Henrich's case consisted of showing a combination of working conditions at the plant which, she alleged, were the equal responsibility of each defendant.

The jury could have found that the defendants knew that production workers at IBP often wore gloves while working. The temperature on the cut floor was always between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature of the meat handled there was 36 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit, or colder. IBP allowed its workers to wear gloves for comfort and to prevent numbness of fingers around knives and meat cutting machinery. The evidence was that if a worker's hands became cold, that would be a safety hazard.

The decision to provide gloves was made on the corporate level and not by anyone at IBP Storm Lake. Similarly, the temperature of the room and the temperature of the meat were set by the company in compliance with government sanitation standards. The defendants had no choice in these matters.

The manufacturer's maintenance manual for the butt skinner instructed that machine operators and supervisors should read the manual, and that gloves should not be worn while operating the machine. Out of all the defendants, only Andresen knew of the existence of this manual, and not even he knew of the specific admonition against wearing gloves. None of the other defendants made an effort to "seek out" the manual which, as noted, they did not know existed. The manual, of course, was not made available for Henrich's inspection. At trial, Henrich also produced a meat industry publication which warned that machine operators in the industry should not wear gloves.

There was evidence that a warning plate had been removed from, or had fallen off of, the butt skinner sometime after it came under the control of IBP, but not by or at the direction of any defendant. The plate had warned the operator of the machine not to wear gloves. The jury could have found that some of the defendants had seen the warning plate when it was on the machine.

The power shut-off switch on the butt skinner was located at a place on the machine where, if the operator's right hand were caught in the machine, the operator probably would be unable to shut the machine off. Henrich presented evidence that when the machine left its manufacturer, it had also been equipped with a foot switch; but there was no evidence that IBP, as opposed to the prior owner of the Storm Lake plant and the butt skinner, had removed the foot switch. The defendants were not aware of this machine modification.

In addition, the jury could have found that on the day Henrich was injured, the cutting blades in the butt skinner were dull, the butts themselves were overly cold, and the production line had not been slowed to make it easier for Henrich to keep up. Moeller, however, was still training Henrich and would periodically take...