Seals v. General Motors Corp.
| Decision Date | 17 November 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 07-4415.,07-4415. |
| Citation | 546 F.3d 766 |
| Parties | Chavtz SEALS, Plaintif-Appellant, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Jeffrey L. Austin, Keis George, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Patrick N. Fanning, Lathrop & Gage, Kansas City, Missouri, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Jeffrey L. Austin, Keis George, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Patrick N. Fanning, Lathrop & Gage, Kansas City, Missouri, for Appellee.
Before: GUY, BATCHELDER, and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges.
GUY, J., delivered the opinion of the court. BATCHELDER, J. (p. 772), and McKEAGUE, J. (pp. 772-73), delivered separate concurring opinions.
Plaintiff Chavtz Seals, who was injured at work, brought this action asserting a workplace intentional tort claim against defendant General Motors Corporation (GM). The district court granted GM's motion for summary judgment, finding (1) that this claim was barred by a release plaintiff signed in connection with a voluntary buyout of his employment, and (2) that plaintiff failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact with respect to his intentional tort claim. Seeking reversal, plaintiff argues that there was a genuine issue of material fact concerning the intent of the parties to the general release under the circumstances. On the merits, plaintiff contends that the district court erred in concluding that there was no evidence either that GM had "knowledge" of the allegedly dangerous condition or that GM knew an injury was "substantially certain" to result from that condition. Because we conclude that the release barred plaintiff's claim, we affirm the judgment in favor of GM.
Plaintiff began working at GM's metal stamping plant located in Parma, Ohio, in November 1998, and was injured while working on a press assembly line in the early hours of June 22, 2004. Plaintiff was working as a "floater" on the third shift, and was assigned to a six-person group on a press line where he had not worked in over a week. He started in the "buttons" position, then rotated to an assembly position loading parts into a large metal basket that sat on a tilt table. The height and angle of the tilt table could be adjusted to fit the employee loading parts into baskets. Along the edge of the table were five metal retaining plates, each 6 to 8 inches in size, which were designed to hold the baskets on the table when it was tilted.
Moving to the assembly position, plaintiff raised and tilted the table and proceeded to fill the basket with parts for approximately 15 minutes. Then, as he placed a part inside, the basket began to slide toward him. Plaintiff grabbed it and tried to hold it, but the basket, weighing more than 700 lbs., slid off the table, struck him, and pinned him against the conveyor belt. Plaintiff suffered injuries to his knees, feet, and back of his thighs. After the accident, the tilt table was found to be missing the middle retaining plate where the basket slid off.
Plaintiff had not noticed whether the plate was missing before he was injured, but stated that several unnamed coworkers told him that it had broken off a week earlier. The missing plate was found nearby, although there is a dispute about where exactly it was found. A supervisor named Gary Buddie testified that he approached, saw that the plate was missing, and looked down to find the missing plate on the floor next to plaintiff. Plaintiff, on the other hand, said he saw Buddie walk directly to the other side of the conveyor belt and retrieve the missing plate as if he already knew where it was.
Buddie, the third-shift plant superintendent, and Royal Fenderson, another supervisor that night, prepared an incident report the next day that included under "possible root causes" that the table was not repaired timely and that a repair was not requested. Buddie, Fenderson, and other GM witnesses all testified both that they did not know whether the plate broke off at the time of the accident or some earlier time, and that they were not aware of any report of damage to the table before the accident. An investigation by GM safety supervisor Nicole Misterka resulted in a written report dated June 30, 2004, in which she stated that the "retaining plate had broken off from the tilt table a week prior to the accident," and that the "weld had broke[n] and had been reported but was not repaired." Misterka testified that she did not recall who had given her this information. This report was signed by Buddie, Fenderson, and Area Manager Dave Sands. There were apparently no injuries resulting from broken or missing retaining plates prior to this incident.
Plaintiff's injuries kept him off work for close to a year, but he returned to work and was not planning to leave his employment at GM. GM announced a voluntary buyout opportunity under the terms of a "Special Attrition Plan GM-UAW Plants," memorialized in the National Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding dated March 22, 2006. Plaintiff filed this action in state court on May 26, 2006, GM was served with the complaint on June 5, 2006, and GM removed the action to federal court on June 29, 2006.1
On June 20, 2006, plaintiff accepted GM's buyout offer and signed two documents: in one, the Special Attrition Plan, plaintiff agreed to voluntarily quit in exchange for a lump-sum payment of $70,000; and in the other, entitled Special Attrition Plan Conditions of Participation Release Form, plaintiff agreed, among other things, to a release of all claims, demands, or causes of action, known or unknown, related to his employment. Specifically, the paragraph releasing claims provided, in full, as follows:
In consideration for participation in the Special Attrition Plan, I hereby release and forever discharge GM, Delphi the UAW and their officers, directors, agents, employees, stockholders and employee benefit plans from all claims, demands and causes of action, (claims) known or unknown which I may have related to my employment or the cessation of my employment or denial of any employee benefit. This release specifically includes, without limitation, a release of any claims I may now have under The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA); the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination based on age; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex; the Equal Pay Act; state fair employment practices or civil rights laws; and any other federal state or local laws or regulations, or any common law actions related to employment discrimination. This includes without limitation any claims for breach of employment contract, either express or implied, and wrongful discharge. This release does not waive claims that arise only after the execution of this release.
The next paragraph provided the following advice regarding revocation and consultation with counsel.
I acknowledge I have been given a period of forty-five (45) days to review and consider this agreement before signing it. If I execute this agreement, I shall have a period of seven (7) days to revoke, in writing, my acceptance and this agreement shall not be effective until expiration of this seven (7) day period. I have also been advised to consult with an attorney, but understand whether or not I do so is my own decision. I understand that once the seven (7) day revocation period expires, my acceptance is irrevocable.
Plaintiff did not revoke his acceptance, and his employment terminated effective July 17, 2006.
GM filed an answer in this case on July 6, 2006, without asserting the recently executed release as an affirmative defense. Defense counsel discovered the release in producing plaintiff's personnel file in discovery, and alerted plaintiff's counsel that GM would assert the release as a bar to the intentional tort claim. GM did not move to amend its answer, however, until after its motion for summary judgment was filed in July 2007. The district court granted GM leave to amend in a marginal order, and then granted GM's motion for summary judgment for the reasons stated in the written decision entered August 30, 2007. This timely appeal followed.
We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Smith v. Ameritech, 129 F.3d 857, 863 (6th Cir.1997). Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court must view the factual evidence and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
Without articulating a separate claim of error, plaintiff complains that, by granting GM leave to amend its answer, the district court improperly gave GM a procedural advantage and undercut his position that GM had waived the affirmative defense by failing to include it in its answer. To be sure, GM's answer did not assert the recently executed release as an affirmative defense as required by Fed. R.Civ.P. 8(c). We have explained, however, that failure to raise an affirmative defense by responsive pleading does not always result in waiver of the defense—such as, when the plaintiff receives notice of the affirmative defense by some other means. Moore, Owen, Thomas & Co. v. Coffey, 992 F.2d 1439, 1445 (6th Cir.1993). Here, plaintiff's counsel had notice that GM intended to assert the release as an affirmative defense once the documents were discovered by defense counsel in producing plaintiff's personnel record.
Moreover, as a practical matter, there are exceptions to the general rule of waiver, including when amendment is permitted under ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Ky. Mist Moonshine, Inc. v. Univ. of Ky.
...party, and futility of the amendment. Foman v. Davis , 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962) ; Seals v. Gen. Motors Corp. , 546 F.3d 766, 770 (6th Cir.2008).Here, KM seeks leave to amend Counts II, III, and IV of the Amended Complaint to refer only to "international trademar......
-
Griffin v. Reznick
...plead an affirmative defense does not invariably result in waiver. See Seals v. GMC, 546 F.3d 766, 770-71 (6th Cir.2008) (Guy, J., with Batchelder, J., concurring separately, and McKeague, J., concurring separately); Old Line Life Ins. Co. of America v. Garcia, 418 F.3d 546, 549-550 (6th Ci......
-
Wilson v. Chagrin Valley Steel Erectors, Inc.
...prejudice the opposing party, or is the result of repeated failures to cure prior deficiencies in the pleadings. Seals v. General Motors Corp., 546 F.3d 766 (6th Cir. 2008) (allowing defendant to raise affirmative defense after summary judgment had been briefed). 3. The G & W Construction c......
-
Bank of New York v. Sheeley (In re Sheeley), Case No. 08-32316
...of that defense provided that the plaintiff receives notice of the affirmative defense by some other means. See Seals v. General Motors Corp., 546 F.3d 766, 770 (6th Cir. 2008). Although the Sheeleys failed to plead the affirmative defenses of res judicata, collateral estoppel, or claim pre......