Missildine v. Avondale Mills, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 December 1981
• Citation: 415 So.2d 1040
• Parties: Alvin C. MISSILDINE v. AVONDALE MILLS, INC., a Corporation. 80-417.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 1040

415 So.2d 1040

Alvin C. MISSILDINE v. AVONDALE MILLS, INC., a Corporation.

80-417.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Dec. 18, 1981.

Russell L. Irby, Eufaula, for appellant.

Richard A. Ball, Jr., Ball, Ball, Duke & Matthews, Montgomery, for appellee.

TORBERT, Chief Justice.

This appeal is from a summary judgment granted in favor of defendant Avondale Mills in an action for damages for injury to the plaintiff's lungs caused by over thirty years' work in a cotton mill operated by a subsidiary of that defendant. For the reasons set out herein, we affirm.

This suit was brought by Alvin C. Missildine, appellant, against Avondale Mills, Inc. (Avondale), and Curtis-Marble Machine Company, Inc., alleging that Avondale owned and operated a textile mill, Cowikee Mills, Inc. (Cowikee), and that both defendants "negligently failed to provide Missildine with a reasonably safe place to work and safety equipment or appliances with which to do his job." As a proximate result of this negligence, appellant alleged, he was exposed to hazardous working conditions and unsafe machinery, and thereby forced to breath large amounts of cotton dust and fibers, which in turn caused him to become afflicted with byssinosis (brown lung).

Missildine was employed at Cowikee, a cotton textile mill in Eufaula, for over thirty years. The vast majority of his service was spent working in the cloth room, a finishing area in the production process. His employment with Cowikee officially ended on October 25, 1976, though that date was the only day he had worked since September 11 of that year. In a prior case against Cowikee, Missildine testified that due to his respiratory illness, he was forced to discontinue his employment at that time.

After this suit was filed, Missildine settled with Curtis-Marble Machine Company, Inc., and it is not a party to this appeal. Missildine also amended his complaint against Avondale, claiming that its negligence or wantonness caused him to contract byssinosis, adult onset asthma, or some other respiratory disease.

Shortly thereafter, Avondale moved for summary judgment, setting forth in support thereof an affidavit and several depositions. The affidavit of Mr. Donald Comer III, president and treasurer of Avondale, stated that Avondale did not own or operate the Cowikee mill, but merely acquired its stock in 1975 and thereafter operated the mill as a separate corporation, therefore owing no duty to the plaintiff, Missildine.

In order to show that a duty did exist, Missildine attempted to show that Avondale and Cowikee were one and the same. Appellant pleaded that Cowikee was the alter ego of Avondale and introduced check stubs and insurance payments to support that theory. In a letter brief to the trial court, plaintiff stated that only one legal entity was involved and that Avondale was thus liable to him for the acts of its subsidiary, Cowikee.

Prior to filing this suit against Avondale, however, Missildine had also filed a workmen's compensation claim against Cowikee. The trial court in that action held in favor of Cowikee and denied recovery of workmen's compensation benefits, holding that Missildine "at no time pertinent, had or has a compensable occupational disease within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act of Alabama."

A party moving for summary judgment has the burden of clearly showing that the non-moving party cannot recover under any discernible set of circumstances and that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact. Fountain v. Phillips, 404 So.2d 614 (Ala.1981); Butler v. Michigan Mutual Insurance Co., 402 So.2d 949 (Ala.1981); Amason v. First State Bank of Lineville, 369 So.2d 547 (Ala.1979); Ragland v. Alabama Power Co., 366 So.2d 1097 (Ala.1978). The moving party must be entitled to the summary judgment as a matter of law. Fountain v. Phillips, 404 So.2d 614 (Ala.1981); Studdard v. South Central Bell Telephone Co., 356 So.2d 139 (Ala.1978); Birmingham Television Corp. v. Water Works, 292 Ala. 147, 290 So.2d 636 (1974). All reasonable inferences concerning issues of material fact are to be drawn in favor of the non-movant. Butler v. Michigan Mutual Insurance Co., 402 So.2d 949 (Ala.1981); Papastefan v. B & L Construction Co., 356 So.2d 158 (Ala.1978); Donald v. City National Bank, 295 Ala. 320, 329 So.2d 92 (1976).

The burden for sustaining a motion for summary judgment is substantially increased by the scintilla of evidence rule. This rule requires that no summary judgment be granted if there is a scintilla of evidence to support the non-movant's position. Fountain v. Phillips, 404 So.2d 614 (Ala.1981); Browning v. Birmingham News, 348 So.2d 455 (Ala.1977). The scintilla of evidence rule requires merely a gleam, glimmer, spark, the least bit, or the smallest trace in support of the non-moving party. Watkins v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., 376 So.2d 660 (Ala.1979).

Applying the law to these facts, it is quite clear that Avondale met its burden of showing no genuine issue as to a material fact. The motion for summary judgment was submitted to the trial court on the theory, as presented by the plaintiff, that Avondale and Cowikee were one legal entity and, as a result, Avondale should be liable through its duty to Missildine for the acts of its subsidiary. Yet, if this is the case, then Avondale would be entitled to the immunity provided by the Workmen's Compensation Act, unless it fits within the exception of the dual capacity doctrine. Under the holding of Stone v. United States Steel Corp., 384...