St. Paul Fire & Marine v. Wittman Mech. Contract
| Decision Date | 16 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 1:04cv1303. |
| Citation | 444 F.Supp.2d 670 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
| Parties | ST. PAUL FIRE & MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. WITTMAN MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS, INC., Defendant. |
Daniel J. Travostino, Daniel J. Travostino PC, Leesburg, VA, for Plaintiff.
Francis Joseph Prior, Jr., Siciliano, Ellis, Dyer & Boccarosse, Fairfax, VA, for Defendant.
On the morning of January 12, 2004, defendant Wittman Mechanical Contractors, Inc. ("Wittman Mechanical") activated the propane gas line leading to a house under construction in Loudon County, Virginia and started a furnace located therein. A gas explosion destroyed the house approximately one hour later. Plaintiff St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company ("St.Paul") paid the claim submitted by the home owner and filed this subrogation action against Wittman Mechanical, alleging negligence and breach of warranty.
After a three-day trial, a jury found in favor of Wittman Mechanical on both claims. St. Paul now moves for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 50. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS plaintiffs motion.
The builder/owner of the house that exploded was Virginia Residential Construction, Inc., also known as The Van Metre Company (hereinafter collectively referred to as "VRC"). VRC is a major residential real estate developer in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The destroyed house, which was located in a development known as Raspberry Falls, was in its final stages of construction at the time of the explosion. (Tr. at 19).
In constructing the houses of Raspberry Falls, VRC engaged Wittman Mechanical to provide heating, ventilating and air conditioning ("HVAC") services. VRC engaged Peed Plumbing ("Peed") to install all piping, including the gas piping leading to and running inside the house. Peed obtained a Loudoun County gas permit to perform its work and was generally responsible for running and connecting the gas piping to the appliances in the house.
Once it had installed the gas piping, Peed requested that Loudoun County perform a combination inspection of the drain, water, and gas pipes. Before it will conduct such an inspection, Loudoun County requires that all the gas pipes in the house be tied to an appliance, capped off, or have a shutoff valve. The county inspection consists of a pressure test to detect any leaks in the gas piping. Specified amounts of air pressure are injected into the pipes. If the pipes hold the pressure for an entire day, the gas piping system is approved.
Loudoun County approved the gas piping in the house after conducting a combination inspection on October 14, 2003. (Tr. at 150). Typically, one to six months may elapse between the County administered pressure test and activation of the propane gas line. (Tr. at 176). In the case of the Raspberry Falls house, the interim period was approximately three months. During this time, a gas spur line running from the main line in the basement to an island cooktop in the kitchen became disconnected. Peed was scheduled to install the fixtures in the house (including the kitchen stove) on the day of the explosion, and likely would have discovered the open joint in the course of its installation.
Two Wittman Mechanical employees, Robert Casteel and Lloyd Henry Dignazio, Jr., reached the Raspberry Falls house before the Peed technicians arrived. Casteel served as the lead service technician for Wittman Mechanical and was generally responsible for installing thermostats and activating the heating and air-conditioning units. Dignazio served as Casteel's assistant. Neither man held any licenses or certifications to perform HVAC work. Their only qualifications came from on-the-job training.
Casteel and Dignazio were sent to the house on the day of the explosion to set outside brackets for the air conditioning units. They did not intend to start the furnace or turn on the gas. (Tr. at 427). However, Russell Rolle, the construction superintendent for VRC, approached Casteel soon after he arrived at the house and asked him to start the furnace. (Tr. at 429-30). Rolle informed Casteel that the gas piping in the house had passed the appropriate inspections. Casteel never inquired into the types of inspections or tests that had been performed. (Tr. at 415).
Because Casteel was not scheduled to start the furnace that day, he obtained permission to do so by calling Wittman Mechanical's main office. (Tr. at 430). Casteel then opened the connection between the furnace and the propane gas line to bleed out any air that would prevent the furnace from starting. He immediately determined that the gas line had not been activated because he felt no pressure and smelled no gas. (Tr. at 431). Upon being informed of this fact, Rolle advised Casteel that the propane tank was filled with gas and requested that Casteel activate the propane gas line leading from the tank to the house.
Casteel once again called Wittman Mechanical's main office, this time seeking permission to activate the propane gas line. Wittman Mechanical's operations manager, Thomas Hoffmaster, gave his consent after being informed of Rolle's representation that the gas piping system was ready to receive propane gas. Hoffmaster assumed that Rolle was accepting responsibility for any adverse consequences that might arise from the introduction of propane gas into the pipes. Hoffmaster based his assumption on the facts that Rolle made the request and affirmed that the gas piping was in good condition. (Tr. at 492).
Casteel had never worked on the gas piping in this particular house and did not know personally whether the piping had been tested for leaks or other damage. (Tr. at 433). While Casteel had started furnaces before, he had never before activated the main gas line to a house. Casteel did not advise Rolle of his inexperience or lack of training. (Tr. at 433-34).
Before turning on the gas, Casteel walked around to visually inspect the gas appliances on the first floor and in the basement and confirm that the gas line valves on each appliance were in the "off' position. Casteel sent his assistant, Dignazio, to inspect the appliances on the second floor and the attic.
Casteel checked the island cooktop in the kitchen. He looked inside the island's cabinet and saw that the gas line valve was in the "off' position, but he did not touch the pipe. Dignazio also confirmed that this gas line valve was in the "off' position, but could not recall whether the pipe was capped.
Casteel entered the basement and walked underneath the area in the kitchen where the island was located. Although the connection from the main gas pipe in the basement to the spur gas pipe under the island was visible, Casteel failed to inspect it. Subsequent investigation established that the gas leak that caused the explosion occurred at this point.
Casteel then activated the propane gas line and started the Carrier furnace in the basement. He did not have the Carrier installation and start-up instructions manual with him that day. In the course of turning on the gas and starting the furnace, Casteel did not perform a leak test. He acknowledged at trial that a leak test was necessary, but testified that he did not know who should perform it, how long it would take, or the equipment necessary to perform such a test. (Tr. at 408-09). Moreover, he was not aware of any codes or industry standards that he was required to follow before or after turning on the gas and starting the furnace. Casteel admitted at trial that Wittman Mechanical had never instructed him on any such codes or standards.
After Casteel turned on the furnace, he allowed it to cycle for about fifteen minutes while he cleaned up his tools outside the house. (Tr. at 441). Afterwards, he went back inside the house, turned the thermostat down to approximately 45 degrees, and left the property.
Plaintiff's experts, fire investigator David M. Hoffman and forensic and mechanical engineer Peter E. Susey, visited the destroyed house on January 14, 2004, two days after the explosion. Based on analyses of the explosion and fire patterns in the house, both experts concluded that the fire originated in the basement in an area beneath the kitchen island.2 The most severe damage from the fire occurred in this area. (Tr. at 288). The source of fuel for the explosion was propane gas that escaped from an open gas line that terminated at an elbow seven inches beneath the kitchen floor. (Tr. at 261, 288-91). Because propane gas is heavier than air, the propane gas that escaped from the open connection immediately sank and accumulated in the basement. The furnace provided the source of ignition for the explosion and fire.
Plaintiff's experts further opined that if Wittman Mechanical's workers had performed a leak test immediately before starting the furnace, they would have detected a gas leak of this magnitude. (Tr. at 335). Standard operating procedure dictates that Wittman Mechanical's workers would then have turned off the entire system and isolated the leak to repair it before proceeding further. (Tr. at 335).
Judgment as a matter of law is proper when there is "no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for the [non-moving] party on [the] issue." Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1); see Babcock v. BellSouth Adver. & Publ'g Corp., 348 F.3d 73, 76 (4th Cir.2003); Dennis v. Columbia Colleton Med. Ctrs, Inc., 290 F.3d 639, 645 (4th Cir.2002); Baynard v. Malone, 268 F.3d 228, 234 (4th Cir.2001). The Court must view the entire record and should grant such judgment if "substantial evidence does not support the jury's findings." Konkel v. Bob Evans Farms Inc., 165 F.3d 275, 279 (4th Cir.1999); see also Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods.,...
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