Straley v. Calongne Drayage & Storage, Inc.
| Decision Date | 16 May 1977 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 58850,58858,s. 58850 |
| Citation | 346 So.2d 171 |
| Parties | Philip Glenn STRALEY v. CALONGNE DRAYAGE AND STORAGE, INC. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
J. Fred Patin, Lake Charles, for applicant in No. 58850, respondent in No. 58858.
Rene A. Curry, Jr., Drury, Lozes & Curry, New Orleans, for defendant-respondent Calongne Drayage & Storage, Inc.
Lloyd W. Hayes, Adams & Reese, New Orleans, for defendant-respondent (third party), Smith-Willow Distributing Co., Inc. in No. 58850, applicant in No. 58858.
This suit involves a claim for damages for personal injuries sustained by Philip Glenn Straley when an elevator-hoist fell in a building owned by Calongne Drayage and Storage, Inc. and leased to plaintiff's employer, Smith-Willow Distributing Company, Inc. Plaintiff filed suit against the building's owner-lessor (Calongne), alleging that his injury resulted from the negligent design of the elevator-hoist involved in the accident. Calongne generally denied plaintiff's allegations of negligence and alternatively pleaded that the accident was caused by the negligence of Smith-Willow or the contributory negligence of plaintiff. Calongne additionally filed a third-party demand against Smith-Willow for indemnification for any amounts for which it might be cast in judgment under the terms and provisions of the contract for lease of the premises in effect between Calongne and Smith-Willow at the time. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company filed an intervention for workmen's compensation benefits paid to plaintiff as a result of the accident.
Finding that the accident was caused by the unsafe elevator-hoist designed, constructed and installed by Calongne and that plaintiff's actions relative to the accident were non-negligent, the trial judge rendered judgment against Calongne and in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $25,000 together with legal interest thereon from date of judicial demand until paid and also in favor of Aetna, intervenor, in the sum of $6,177.95 in reimbursement of compensation paid to plaintiff plus legal interest and for such additional compensation benefits as Aetna may pay to plaintiff in connection with the accident subsequent to trial. All costs, including the expert witness fee of Dr. Gerard L. Davis which was fixed at $150, were assessed against Calongne. Further finding that Smith-Willow's conduct had not contributed to the accident and that the lease between Smith-Willow and Calongne did not contemplate an assumption of responsibility or agreement of indemnification for damages resulting from the unsafe elevator, the trial judge rendered judgment dismissing Calongne's third-party demand against Smith-Willow.
From this judgment, Calongne appealed to the court of appeal whereupon a majority of a panel of five judges of the court of appeal, with two judges dissenting, reversed the judgment of the district court, finding that plaintiff failed to prove causation or fault on the part of Calongne and that plaintiff's own negligence was a cause of the accident. 1 Upon separate applications of plaintiff and Aetna, we granted certiorari to review the correctness of this judgment. 2
On April 11, 1973, nineteen-year-old Philip Straley was employed as a warehouseman for Smith-Willow Distributing Company, Inc. He was stationed atop a balcony or mezzanine inside the Smith-Willow warehouse and was receiving furniture for storage at that level as it was sent up by means of a hoist-type elevator from a loading platform below. The hoist apparatus had been designed by R. Gerard Calongne, president of Calongne Drayage and Storage, Inc., and had been fabricated and installed in the warehouse by Calongne employees several years prior to the lease of the building by Calongne to Smith-Willow. Mr. Calongne first got the idea for the elevator-hoist from a boat hoist operated at a local yacht club. He personally modified the design to serve in his drayage and storage business, apparently without seeking the advice of an architect, engineer or safety consultant. The device consisted of an unenclosed 5' X 5' wooden platform framed at the top and four corners by angle iron and suspended by an open hook from an electrically-powered chain hoist motor mounted near the ceiling of the building. The hoist moved up and down inside an open angle iron superstructure when activated by applying continuous tension to either an "up line" or "down line," which lines hung from the hoist motor on either side of the superstructure and dangled waist high at the loading platform level.
On the morning of the accident, plaintiff was removing furniture from the hoist on a hydraulic pallet, a relatively new piece of Smith-Willow equipment which rolled on round ball-bearing type wheels. Plaintiff, who had been working for Smith-Willow for only two months, was using the hydraulic pallet on the balcony level for the first time. As he removed a number of loads of furniture from the elevator-hoist, plaintiff experienced difficulty in rolling the pallet off of the hoist and onto the balcony storage level. Approximately one inch below the floor level of the balcony, a small ledge extended out all along the balcony's edge. Thus, when the elevator-hoist was stopped at balcony level, a small aperture existed between the floor of the elevator and the floor of the balcony. This gap, approximately one inch deep and one inch wide, accounted for the difficulty in rolling the pallet off the elevator. In order to keep the wheels of the pallet from becoming stuck in this gap, plaintiff dropped a slat from an orange crate into the aperture. The piece of wood, only one-quarter inch thick, one inch wide and two and one-half feet long, was dropped into the aperture so that one of the one-quarter inch edges rested on the recessed ledge extending along the balcony's edge and the other one-quarter inch edge created a surface between the floor of the elevator and the floor of the balcony. Plaintiff testified that the insertion of the slat in this fashion filled up the gap just enough to prevent the pallet wheels from becoming lodged in the opening. After unloading, plaintiff would remove the slat as he returned the hoist to the loading platform for more freight. Plaintiff had used this procedure without incident to remove furniture from the hoist on the morning of the accident disputed herein. Just prior to the occurrence of the accident, plaintiff had removed a loaded pallet from the hoist and started it downward. Since the hoist moved very slowly and continuous tension on the "down line" was necessary to keep it in motion, plaintiff secured the line to a nearby switch (as he had done on a number of other occasions) so that he could unload the pallet while the elevator was descending and be ready to receive another load when the hoist was sent up again. When the elevator had descended about six inches, plaintiff dropped to one knee to remove the orange crate slat. Suddenly the elevator plummeted down to the loading platform fifteen feet below. Plaintiff, who fell immediately behind it, found himself lying face up spread eagle across the top of the hoist with a badly broken arm and a lacerated head. The open hook from which Calongne had designed the elevator to hang had slipped out of the yoke on top of the hoist. Plaintiff was unable to account for why or how the hoist became disassociated from the hook. He remembered only that just before the elevator fell, he had heard a squeaking sound.
It is clear from the record that, when Calongne leased the warehouse building to Smith-Willow, all parties were aware that Smith-Willow intended to use the balcony level for storing furniture and would therefore be using the hoist apparatus to move freight up to that level. In fact, Calongne had similarly used the hoist to move appliances and heavy machinery up to the balcony. Although Mr. Calongne apparently issued instructions to his own employees prior to the lease that the elevator was to be operated only from the loading platform level, this instruction was never communicated to Smith-Willow or any of its employees. The owners of Smith-Willow were merely shown how to operate the lift by pulling the lines and told that no personnel should ride the hoist. There were no written or oral instructions concerning the use of the device; neither were there any oral warnings concerning dangers which might be encountered in operating the hoist. It is undisputed that plaintiff at no time received instructions inconsistent with his use of the apparatus on the day of the accident.
The primary issues presented for our consideration herein are (1) whether Calongne Drayage and Storage, Inc. is liable to plaintiff for damages for the personal injuries sustained by him as a result of the accident, and (2) if so, what is the proper quantum of damages to be awarded?
La.Civil Code art. 2315 provides in relevant part:
Every act whatever of man that causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it...
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