Sheard v. Hattum
| Decision Date | 22 September 2021 |
| Docket Number | 29496-aff |
| Parties | TALYN SHEARD, a/k/a TALYN O'CONNER, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Chalan Hedman, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. ROBERT HATTUM, BEVERLY HATTUM, TODD HATTUM and CHELSEA HATTUM, jointly and severally, DBA HATTUM FAMILY FARMS, Defendants and Appellees. and JEFFREY PAUL HOLSHOUSER, Plaintiff, |
| Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
ARGUED MAY 24, 2021
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT HUGHES COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA THE HONORABLE MARGO D. NORTHRUP Judge
BRAD A. SCHRIEBER Pierre, South Dakota Attorney for plaintiff and appellant.
GARY D. JENSEN BRETT A. POPPEN of Beardsley, Jensen & Lee Prof. LLC Rapid City, South Dakota Attorneys for defendants and appellees.
[¶1.] Chalan Hedman and Troy Hattum lost their lives after an explosion and fire at the Hattum Family Farms. Chalan's estate (the Estate) brought a wrongful death suit against the Hattum Family Farms and individual members of the Hattum family, seeking damages on strict liability and negligence theories. The circuit court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the Estate's claims. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
[¶2.] At the time of the accident, Hattum Family Farms was owned and operated by Robert (Bob) Hattum and Beverly Hattum, their son Todd Hattum, and Todd's wife Chelsea Hattum (the Hattums).[1] Troy was Todd and Chelsea's son. Troy was 22 years old, and Chalan was 23. Both men had worked full-time for the Hattums for several years and were good friends. Chalan had lived in Todd and Chelsea's home for a time and was engaged to be married to their daughter Taylor Hattum. Chalan had a minor child, Z.O., from a prior relationship.
[¶3.] The accident occurred on the morning of August 8, 2016, when Troy and Chalan attempted to weld a half-inch split in a diesel fuel tank they had taken off a Peterbilt truck that the Hattums owned. The tank had leaked since the year before when Chalan used the truck to haul silage. Chalan used a bar of soap to plug the split, but it only stopped the leak for about 30 minutes. The Peterbilt truck had air conditioning but as silage season approached, Bob told Chalan to haul silage with another truck that did not have air conditioning. On the morning of the accident, Chalan's fiancé Taylor, testified that Chalan told her he would not drive a truck without air conditioning.
[¶4.] Jeff Holshouser was the only surviving witness to the accident. He worked full-time for the Hattums in the 1980s and considered Bob a friend. For the last several years, he had worked seasonally for the Hattums. When Jeff arrived at work on August 8, 2016, he saw the Peterbilt truck was pulled up to the front of the shop at the Hattum farm. Troy and Chalan were the only other people in the shop that morning. Todd was in Pierre buying equipment, and Bob was working ten miles away. Troy told Jeff that he was going to weld the split in the tank.
[¶5.] Jeff began to help Chalan take the mounts off the tank. The tank held about 75 to 100 gallons of diesel fuel, and there was about a gallon or so left in the tank. The men dumped that out, then all three men ran about 50 gallons of water from a nearby fire hydrant through the tank and "sloshed" it around. They rinsed the tank out two or three times for about 20 minutes in this manner. Then they used an air compressor to dry it out. Once the tank had been rinsed and the men identified the split, Troy and Chalan used a grinder to shine it. Meanwhile, Jeff walked over to the shop bench about 20 feet away and began to organize the tank's mounting brackets.
[¶6.] Troy or Chalan, although Jeff was "pretty sure" it was Troy, drove an ATV up to the shop and parked it under the overhead door. Troy and Chalan left the ATV running, then hooked a hose up to the exhaust of the ATV and placed the other end in the filler hole of the diesel tank, so that exhaust from the ATV ran into the tank cavity. Jeff became concerned because he had never seen anything being welded this way and asked Troy what he was doing. Troy assured Jeff that this was the "textbook way" to do the job. Troy also showed him a spot on the tank where Troy claimed to have welded the tank a year earlier. Based on Troy's assurances, Jeff walked back to the shop bench and resumed organizing the mounting brackets.
[¶7.] There was a strong wind blowing through the shop doors that morning. Chalan closed the walk-through door of the shop and lowered the overhead door so it rested on the seat of the ATV. Chalan also grabbed a large piece of cardboard to use as a windbreaker. He stood next to Troy and held the cardboard while Troy began to weld the tank.
[¶8.] Within a minute or so, there was an explosion. It blew Jeff forward onto the shop bench. Jeff turned to look toward Chalan and Troy and saw that the entire front area of the shop where they had been standing was "totally engulfed in flames - floor to ceiling." Jeff could not see either man through the flames, but he heard them screaming. Chalan seemed to be outside the shop while Troy was screaming from inside.
[¶9.] Jeff rushed to the back of the shop where he believed there was a fire extinguisher but could not find it. He turned back and saw Troy moving towards the center of the shop, still engulfed in flames. Jeff yelled "drop and roll," and Troy did. Jeff dove on top on him and rolled with him, but he quickly realized the floor they were rolling on was also on fire and his clothes were burning.
[¶10.] Jeff jumped up and peeled off his shirt and jacket and used them to try to beat the flames off his pants. He could hear gas hissing from an oxygen tank in the shop and recognized they did not have much time to flee. Jeff grabbed Troy's hand to lead him out, but Troy pulled his hand away as if he was in pain. Jeff opened the walking door to the shop to exit, and Troy followed. Jeff believed another tank in the shop exploded at that time, and he lost sight of Troy.
[¶11.] Jeff ran to retrieve a fire extinguisher. He saw Troy walking out of the shop as he ran back. Jeff extinguished some of the remaining flames on Troy and guided him toward the front of Todd's house where there was a swimming pool. Jeff saw that Troy's siblings had exited the house by this point and Chalan was with them. Jeff surmised that Chalan must have gotten out of the shop through the overhead door and jumped into the pool.
[¶12.] An ambulance arrived to take the three men to the hospital. Jeff's face, arms, hands, ears, and upper body were burned. Troy and Chalan suffered more severe burns. Both men died in the hospital within two weeks of the accident.
[¶13.] Talyn Sheard, the biological mother of Z.O. and the personal representative of the Estate, filed a complaint against the Hattums on July 5, 2018. The complaint alleged claims for strict liability and negligence and sought compensatory and punitive damages. On December 4, 2018, Jeff filed a separate complaint against the Hattums for his injuries. After the parties began discovery, the circuit court granted the Hattums' motion to consolidate the lawsuits.
[¶14.] Bob and Todd were self-trained welders, as was Troy. During his deposition, Bob stated Troy was an excellent welder, and he and Todd taught Troy how to weld. Bob further explained that his father, a professional welder, taught him to weld fuel tanks in the "same manner" Troy applied. However, Bob claimed he had not welded any fuel tanks on the farm in the last 40 years. Bob was not asked if he taught Troy how to weld fuel tanks. Bob, Todd, and Chelsea submitted affidavits stating they never instructed Troy or Chalan to weld the split in the tank, they had no knowledge of a plan to weld the tank, and they were unaware that any fuel tank had been welded on the farm in the last 40 years.
[¶15.] Further, Bob testified that he planned to replace the leaky tank as he had with other defective equipment. However, it is unclear whether a new tank was ever ordered. Bob and Todd also testified that, a couple of days before the accident, they told Troy and Chalan "to leave the truck alone." Todd further explained that repairing the fuel tank was not a priority because he was focused on preparing the silage cutter and they had another truck they could use. Bob stated he believed welding the tank could be dangerous. There is no evidence Bob told Troy and Chalan his concerns, but Bob stated welding the tank "wouldn't have been allowed" had he known about it.
[¶16.] Bob, Todd, and Chelsea testified that Troy had no supervisory authority over other employees on the farm, and they had never told anyone Troy had such authority. Bob stated the chain of command was him, Todd, and then their foreman Ben Reinert, who had worked at the farm for ten years. He stated that his grandchildren did as they were told. Troy and Chalan often worked together, but Bob claimed neither had authority over the other. The Hattums also submitted an affidavit from Chalan's father, Steve Hedman, stating that Chalan had observed him welding fuel tanks while exhaust from another vehicle was pumped into the tanks.
[¶17.] After discovery, the Hattums filed a motion for summary judgment on both complaints. Jeff submitted an affidavit in response to the motion, in which he disputed Bob and Todd's testimony that Troy lacked supervisory authority at the farm. Jeff stated:
It was made clear to employees that if Bob or Todd were not present, that Troy . . . was the charge-next in line . . . . There are not statements that "Troy is your boss," it is rather every occurrences that the Hattum family owners, Bob and Todd, give authority to their son, or grandson . . . to run the hired hands and keep the place running. . . ....
To continue reading
Request your trial