Rinkleff v. Knox

• Decision Date: 16 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-1153,84-1153
• Citation: 375 N.W.2d 262
• Parties: Karl Wilhelm RINKLEFF, Jr., Individually; Mary Jane Rinkleff, Individually; and Erik Rinkleff, Heidi Rinkleff, Sara Rinkleff, Maria Rinkleff, and Patrick Rinkleff, Minors, by Karl Wilhelm Rinkleff, Jr., Their Father and Next Friend, Appellants, v. Jerry KNOX d/b/a/ Best Rental Center, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 262

375 N.W.2d 262

Karl Wilhelm RINKLEFF, Jr., Individually; Mary Jane Rinkleff, Individually; and Erik Rinkleff, Heidi Rinkleff, Sara Rinkleff, Maria Rinkleff, and Patrick Rinkleff, Minors, by Karl Wilhelm Rinkleff, Jr., Their Father and Next Friend, Appellants, v. Jerry KNOX d/b/a/ Best Rental Center, Appellee.

No. 84-1153.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 16, 1985.

John W. Holmes of Beecher, Beecher, Holmes & Rathert, Waterloo, for appellants.

James E. Walsh, Jr. of Clark, Butler & Walsh, Waterloo, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

CARTER, Justice.

Plaintiff in personal injury litigation appeals from judgment entered on jury's finding that he was chargeable with ninety percent of the causal negligence occasioning his injuries. He argues several assignments of error relating to the trial court's instructions and rulings on evidence. On consideration of these arguments, we reverse the judgment and remand for a new trial.

Plaintiff, Karl Wilhelm Rinkleff, Jr. (Rinkleff), who had contracted to perform indoor painting at an automobile dealership, was injured when a scaffolding on which he was working tipped over causing him to fall to the floor. The painting was being performed by Rinkleff and his helpers, Donald Verbraken, Kevin Verbraken, and Russell Vlasek. Two scaffoldings were being used on the job. One was owned by Kevin Verbraken and the other had been rented by Rinkleff from the defendant, Jerry Knox, d/b/a Best Rental Center (Best Rental).

It was the rented scaffolding from which Rinkleff fell. That scaffolding was picked up at Best Rental by Rinkleff at 3:20 p.m. on Friday, January 14, 1983. An employee of Best Rental helped him load the disassembled scaffolding into a van which he used to transport it to John Deery Motors in Cedar Falls, where the painting was to take place. The disassembled scaffolding consisted of rectangular-shaped end frames made of steel tubing.

These end frames were seventy-two inches high and twenty-eight inches wide. In assembling the scaffolding, two end frames are connected to each other by bolting two steel cross braces along each edge. When so assembled, the end frames would be standing in a vertical position approximately four feet apart. Planks can then be laid across the top of the frames to form the supporting surface of the scaffolding. It is possible to make a double-deck assemblage by using four end frames and six cross braces and then stacking one seventy-two inch by twenty-eight inch by four foot unit on top of the other. This was the configuration intended by Rinkleff for use in spray painting the twenty-foot high ceilings at John Deery Motors.

In attempting to assemble the scaffolding sometime after 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 14, 1983, Rinkleff discovered that the cross braces were the wrong length--a circumstance which made the end frames too far apart for the length of the planks which were to go across the top. In addition, Rinkleff noticed that no casters had been furnished for insertion in the legs of the end frames in order to facilitate rolling the assembled scaffolding from place to place as the work progressed. Such casters had been listed on the rental receipt which Rinkleff had signed and a charge had been made therefor. Rinkleff returned to the Best Rental office around 5:00 p.m. on the same day and secured the missing casters and cross braces of the proper length.

The assembling of the scaffolding in a double-deck configuration was then completed. The height of the supporting surface on top of this scaffolding was then slightly more than twelve feet from the floor. Casters were inserted in the legs of the end frames. The wheels on these casters were approximately one and one-half inches in diameter and were attached to a shank about four inches long which could be inserted in the hollow steel tubing which formed the legs of the end frames. There were holes in both the shank and the end frame legs so that the casters could be secured with pins or bolts. No pins or bolts were furnished by Best Rental in the rental of this equipment to Rinkleff. As a result, all that held the casters in place was the weight of the scaffolding which they supported. If the legs of the end frames were lifted from the floor, the casters would fall out. The wheels of the casters could be locked so as to immobilize the scaffolding in a given location.

The painting work at John Deery Motors proceeded on Saturday, January 15, and Sunday, January 16. Both the Verbraken scaffolding and the rented scaffolding were being used. About 5 p.m. on Sunday, the rented scaffolding was moved into an area where the floor sloped toward a drain. Kevin Vlasek had rolled it to that location with Rinkleff riding on the top in a crouched position. Vlasek, who was standing on the floor nearby, noticed that one of the casters had fallen out. Rinkleff was positioned at this time near the end where the caster was missing, and the scaffolding tipped in this direction. The caster in the other corner on the same end then fell out. The scaffolding then tipped in that direction and fell over causing Rinkleff to fall twelve feet to the floor.

Rinkleff sustained a broken wrist in the fall. Surgery was required to repair the wrist, and a second surgical procedure was later required to correct resulting nerve damage. He brought this action against Best Rental seeking to recover for past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings, and pain and suffering. His wife and five children also brought claims against Best Rental for loss of services and support. The plaintiffs all alleged that Best Rental was negligent in several particulars in regard to the condition of the scaffolding which overturned and in failing to warn Rinkleff of the dangers involved in its use.

An IOSHA compliance officer was called as an expert witness by Rinkleff. Although no legal duties under IOSHA were presented under the theories submitted to the jury, this witness was permitted to testify concerning industry safety standards believed to be indicative of ordinary care. The witness testified that the scaffolding configuration involved in the present litigation is called a "free standing scaffold." In regard to this type of scaffolding, the witness indicated that its height cannot safely exceed four times its minimum width unless it is anchored to a wall. The witness further testified that, if workers are riding on a rolling scaffold, its height cannot safely exceed twice its minimum width.

The jury returned a series of special verdicts, finding that Best Rental and Rinkleff were both negligent, that Rinkleff's negligence amounted to ninety percent of the total causal negligence, that Rinkleff sustained damages of $50,000, his wife, $2500, and each of his five children $200. The resulting judgment rendered in favor of Rinkleff against Best Rental was in the amount of $5000. Only this judgment and not those of his wife and children are involved in this appeal. Other facts will be set forth in our discussion of the legal issues presented on the appeal.

I. Requested Instruction on Bailee's Right to Assume That Bailed Property is Safe for Use.

We first consider Rinkleff's challenge to the trial court's failure to instruct the jury that he had no duty to inspect the equipment which he rented prior to using it. In his action against Best Rental, Rinkleff has claimed that that company was negligent in (1) furnishing a scaffolding from which the casters could fall out, (2) furnishing a scaffolding which was too narrow for the height at which Best Rental was told the work would be done, and (3) failing to warn Rinkleff of the dangers in using narrow scaffolding at the working height which was intended. Best Rental alleged that Rinkleff himself was negligent in certain particulars some of which related to his alleged failure to inspect the equipment prior to using it. Rinkleff requested that the trial court instruct the jury in the determination of these issues that he "had no duty of inspection before using the scaffolding" and "had a right to assume it was safe for use." He took a timely exception to the trial court's refusal to give the requested instruction.

As authority for the giving of this requested instruction, Rinkleff relies on Witte v. Whitney, 37 Wash.2d 865, 869, 226 P.2d 900, 902 (1951) and Restatement (Second) of Torts § 408 comment a (1965). The Witte case states in regard to the rental of an automobile that "a bailee for hire has no duty of inspection before using a car. He has a right to assume that it is road-worthy." 37 Wash.2d at 869, 226 P.2d at 902. Best Rental argues that this principle, if valid at all, has reference only to latent defects and does not relieve someone who undertakes to assemble a structure from inspecting the components which are being set up.

The Restatement comment on which Rinkleff relies provides "the fact that a chattel is leased for immediate use makes it unreasonable for the lessor to expect that the lessee will do more than give it the most cursory of inspections." Best Rental argues that this comment is intended to delineate the obligations of the bailor, based upon what can reasonably be expected in a commercial bailment where the need for immediate use of the equipment will often militate against the opportunity to conduct a detailed examination. It is not, Best Rental urges, a limitation on the duty of the bailee to make such examination as may be required in exercising reasonable care for the bailee's own safety.

We have recognized that the real basis of negligence in the primary sense is not carelessness but behavior which should be recognized as involving an unreasonable danger to others. Evans v. Howard R. Green Co., 231 N.W.2d 907, 913 (Iowa 1975). When this principle is applied to contributory negligence, the concern becomes whether one's conduct "creates an unreasonable risk of harm to one's self or one's own interests." Board of Water Works Trustees v....