Conner v. Ogletree
Conner v. Ogletree
Opinion of the Court
In both cases before this Court, an employee brought a common law negligence claim against co-employees for an injury sustained on the job. In each case, the trial court granted summary judgment in the co-employees' favor. On appeal, this Court affirms because the plaintiffs failed to allege the co-employees breached a duty separate and distinct from an employer's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, i.e., a breach of a duty unrelated to employment or a breach of the employer's duty to provide a safe workplace that was not reasonably foreseeable to the employer.
Background
Conner
In 2007, Michael Conner was injured after touching a live power line he thought had been de-energized. On the day of the accident, Conner, a journeyman lineman, was working near an old shoe factory to retire a transformer bank for his employer, Intercounty Electric Cooperative Association ("Intercounty"). Conner was joined by four co-employees, including Dale Ogletree and Scott Kidwell. Ogletree, a supervisor, was responsible for enforcing Intercounty's safety manual, rules, and guidelines as the crew worked. Intercounty's safety manual meticulously explains how to safely de-energize a power line. Those instructions were not followed on the day of the accident.
Before Conner arrived, Kidwell (a serviceman) used an improper tool to de-energize the power line and did not properly confirm the line had been de-energized. He and the rest of the crew mistakenly believed he had successfully de-energized the line and began working next to it. Conner later arrived at the work site. Seeing the rest of the crew working next to the line, Connor assumed it had been de-energized. Out of caution, Conner asked Ogletree whether the line had been de-energized. Even though Ogletree had not properly confirmed the line was de-energized, Ogletree told Conner it was. Conner then climbed atop a work platform and attempted to cut the line. The resulting shock blew him off the platform and rendered him a quadriplegic.
Conner brought a negligence action against Kidwell and Ogletree, alleging they negligently carried out the details of their work in several respects. Generally, Conner alleged Kidwell failed to de-energize the line, failed to ensure the line had been de-energized, failed to warn Connor the line had not been de-energized, and failed to abide by Intercounty's safety rules. Conner also alleged Ogletree failed to supervise Kidwell in carrying out these responsibilities. Kidwell and Ogletree argued that Conner's petition merely alleges breaches of Intercounty's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace.
*319The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment. Connor appealed, this Court granted transfer, and it has jurisdiction under article V, section 10, of the Missouri Constitution.
Evans
In November 2009, Russell Evans was injured on the job when a forklift driven by his co-employee, Monte Barrett, struck him and ran over his foot. Evans and Barrett were working to construct apartment buildings for their employer, Wilco Contractors, Inc. ("Wilco"). At the time of the accident, Barrett was driving a forklift with a load of trusses hanging from one of its two prongs. To stabilize the load, Evans walked alongside and held a tagline connected to the forklift and trusses. Barrett allegedly hit a rock, causing the load to shift. As the load shifted, Evans was pulled toward the forklift, which struck him and ran over his foot.
Evans sued Barrett for negligently operating the forklift. Barrett argued that Evans' petition merely alleges a breach of Wilco's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment in Barrett's favor. Evans appealed, this Court granted transfer, and it has jurisdiction under article V, section 10, of the Missouri Constitution.
Analysis
This Court reviews a grant of summary judgment de novo. Parr v. Breeden ,
can demonstrate entitlement to summary judgment by showing: (1) facts negating any of the [plaintiff's] necessary elements; (2) the [plaintiff], after an adequate period of discovery, has been unable, and will not be able, to produce evidence sufficient to allow the trier of fact to find the existence of any one of the [plaintiff's] elements; or (3) there is no genuine dispute of the existence of facts required to support the [defendant's] properly pleaded affirmative defense.
Conner and Evans were injured between 2005 and 2012. During that period, a plaintiff could pursue a negligence action against a co-employee for an injury sustained in the course of work under certain circumstances. See Peters v. Wady Indus., Inc. ,
The common law surrounding workplace injuries arose against the backdrop of re spondeat superior *320, i.e., the principle that a master generally is liable for the acts of its servants within the course and scope of their employment. Using this doctrine, an employee could sue the employer for injuries resulting from a co-employee's negligence. To prevent this, this Court-and others-adopted an exception to the doctrine of respondeat superior known as the "fellow servant" rule, holding an employer was not liable for an employee's injury resulting from the negligence of a co-employee.
Of course, neither the doctrine of respondeat superior nor the "fellow servant" rule is directly relevant to this case because each dealt only with the employer's civil liability, a topic long ago rendered moot by the immunity granted to employers under the workers' compensation statutes. See § 287.120.1, RSMo Supp. 2005. A review of these common law principles is instructive only because they set the stage for an exclusion to the "fellow servant" exception known as the "nondelegable duty" rule. See Hough v. Texas & P.R. Co. ,
*321This exclusion was referred to as the "nondelegable duty" rule because this Court (and many others) had held the "duty of the master to exercise ordinary care to furnish his servant a reasonably safe place ... cannot be delegated." Bender v. Kroger Grocery & Baking Co. ,
Nevertheless, what was "nondelegable" about the employer's "nondelegable duty" to provide a reasonably safe workplace was the employer's responsibility to ensure its duty was fulfilled. Even though an employer could-and, often, had to-assign to employees the tasks required to fulfill this duty, it could not delegate responsibility for ensuring those tasks were carried out or avoid the liability for injuries to an employee due to a co-employee's breach of this duty. Combs v. Rountree Const. Co. ,
At the time it was developed, the "nondelegable duty" rule was aimed at whether the employer was liable, i.e., whether the ordinary rules of respondeat superior would apply or whether application of that doctrine would be barred by the "fellow servant" rule.
*322Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 793-96. Under Parr and Peters , if a co-employee was negligent for breaching a duty owed by the employer (i.e., the nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace), the co-employee cannot be held liable and the injured employee's sole recourse is workers' compensation. But, if a co-employee was negligent for breaching a duty separate and distinct from the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace (i.e., either a breach of a duty unrelated to employment or an unforeseeable breach of the employer's duty to provide a safe workplace), the injured employee can sue the co-employee at common law to recover for those damages the employee has not recovered in the workers' compensation process. Parr , 489 S.W.3d at 778-79 ; Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 793-96.
The scope of the employer's nondelegable duty is broad. "It is the duty of the master to exercise reasonable care, commensurate with the nature of the business, to protect his servant from the hazards incident to it." Curtis v. McNair ,
In the course of applying this broad duty to particular factual scenarios, this Court has stated the employer's nondelegable duty includes, but is not limited to, the duty to "provide a safe place to work," "provide safe appliances, tools, and equipment for work," and "give warnings of dangers of which [an] employee might reasonably be expected to remain in ignorance." Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 795 (citations omitted); see also Parr , 489 S.W.3d at 779 (citations omitted).
Yet these merely were applications of the employer's broad duty to safeguard employees from reasonably foreseeable hazards in the workplace. See, e.g. , Beasley v. Linehan Transfer Co. ,
But the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace was not unlimited. Instead, like most common law duties, the employer's nondelegable duty was limited to those risks that were reasonably foreseeable to the employer. In Cain v. Humes-Deal Co. ,
This Court applied the same analysis, though with a different conclusion, in Kelso v. W. A. Ross Construction. Co. ,
The cases discussing and applying the "fellow servant" rule and the "nondelegable duty" exclusion to that rule are legion, but the common thread running throughout them is that the employer has a nondelegable duty to protect employees from reasonably foreseeable hazards in the workplace. See Beasley ,
*324Plaintiffs in the present cases argue that Peters held the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace was not implicated when a co-employee was negligent in carrying out the duties assigned to the employee by the employer. Peters did not so hold and, as discussed above, this Court has rejected substantially the same argument in the past. See, e.g., Combs ,
The confusion inherent in Conner's and Evans' arguments is that they focus on whether the co-employee (as opposed to the employer) was negligent. After the advent of workers' compensation, the employer is immune from suit and the employer's negligence is irrelevant in a suit against a co-employee. More importantly, for purposes of determining whether a co-employee can be liable for an employee's injury between 2005 and 2012, the co-employee's negligence is assumed. What matters, and the only thing that matters for purposes of applying Parr and Peters , is whether the duty the co-employee breached was part of the employer's duty to protect employees from reasonably foreseeable risks in the workplace. If so, the claim is barred. If not, the suit against the co-employee can proceed.
Said another way, for injuries occurring between 2005 and 2012, a co-employee cannot be liable in cases in which-had they been brought before workers' compensation statutes were enacted-the employer would have been held liable under the "nondelegable duty" exclusion to the "fellow servant" exception to the doctrine of respondeat superior. A co-employee can only be liable for such injuries if the employer (prior to workers' compensation) would not have been liable because the co-employee either breached a duty unrelated to the master-servant relationship or committed a breach of workplace safety that was so unforeseeable to the employer as to take it outside the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace.
Peters concentrates on the latter of these categories,
In this way, Marshall is similar to Cain , where this Court held the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe (and adequately lighted) workplace did not extend to protecting an employee from injuries arising from a co-employee's unforeseeable negligence in suddenly and violently striking the ground with a shovel, causing a nail to fly into the employee's eye. Cain ,
Peters was not the first case to use the term "transitory risk." Instead, this term has a settled meaning in this Court's jurisprudence and refers to a co-employee's negligence that decreases workplace safety in a way that was not reasonably foreseeable to the employer and, therefore, not within the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace. In Redmond v. Quincy, O. & K.C.R. Co. ,
This Court's discussion of the "something more" test in Peters also supports the conclusion that the scope of the employer's nondelegable duty (and, therefore, the cases in which an employee cannot sue a co-employee for the breach of such a duty) turns on whether the risk is reasonably foreseeable to the employer. Though Peters holds the "something more" test inaccurately stated the common law for the employer's nondelegable duty, the Court emphasized that "cases applying the 'something more' test can still prove instructive in a common law analysis." Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 797. This is because those cases properly discern whether the risk at issue was reasonably foreseeable to the employer and, therefore, within the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace.
In sum, plaintiffs Conner and Evans incorrectly focus on isolated statements in Peters that an employee can sue a co-employee for negligence in "carrying out the details" of his or her work but ignore the surrounding explanations, which make it clear the Court was referring only to *327cases in which such negligence was not reasonably foreseeable to the employer. Moreover, Peters expressly acknowledges, "when an employee's injuries result from ... the manner in which the work was being done, the injuries are attributable to a breach of the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace." Id. at 796 (emphasis added).
The common law always has held an employer cannot fulfill its duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace merely by telling its employees to "make it so" if the employee's negligence in carrying out that duty was reasonably foreseeable. Id. at 800 (employer has a "nondelegable duty to provide a safe work environment, and it breaches that duty where it charged an employee with the responsibility to provide a reasonably safe work environment but the employee did not so provide") (citation omitted); see also Combs ,
Conner
Here, Conner alleges Kidwell negligently carried out the details of his work by failing to ensure the power line was de-energized, failing to warn him the line was energized, and failing to abide by Intercounty's safety rules. If true, the allegations show Kidwell was negligent, but that is beside the point. The question presented is whether, assuming Kidwell was negligent, his negligence was due to a breach of Intercounty's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace or a breach of some duty separate and distinct from Intercounty's duty.
The risks associated with working around an energized line are reasonably foreseeable to Intercounty. Therefore, the duty to ensure lines are de-energized before its workers confront them is part of Intercounty's nondelegable duty to provide its workers with a reasonably safe workplace. It attempted to fulfill these duties by promulgating safety rules and relying upon its workers and supervisors to ensure transmission lines were de-energized. There is no reason to believe Intercounty was negligent in doing so, but that-too-is irrelevant because Intercounty is immune for any liability stemming from its own negligence or that of its employees. Instead, what matters is whether Kidwell's negligence in fulfilling Intercounty's duty to ensure the line was de-energized was reasonably foreseeable to Intercounty. It was. Accordingly, Kidwell's negligence was due to a breach of Intercounty's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace.
At common law, prior to workers' compensation, Intercounty would have been liable for Kidwell's negligence. In the present circumstances, however, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in Kidwell's favor. Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 800 (employer has a "nondelegable duty to provide a safe work environment, and it breaches that duty where it charged an employee with the responsibility to provide a reasonably safe work environment but the employee did not so provide") (citing Bender ,
Similarly, Conner claimed Ogletree negligently carried out the details of his work by failing to ensure the line was de-energized, failing to warn Conner the line was energized, failing to abide by Intercounty's safety rules, and failing to *328properly supervise Kidwell. In every instance, the thing Conner alleges Ogletree failed to do was something Intercounty instructed Ogletree to do as part of Intercounty fulfilling its duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace. More importantly, it was reasonably foreseeable to Intercounty that an employee would be negligent in carrying out these responsibilities in the way Ogletree was negligent. Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 799 (affirming judgment because "this is a classic case of a supervisory employee breaching the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace"). Accordingly, Conner failed to allege Ogletree breached a duty separate and distinct from Intercounty's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, and the trial court properly granted summary judgment in Ogletree's favor.
Evans
Evans, like Conner, alleged his co-employee negligently carried out the details of his work in that Evans claims Barrett negligently drove the forklift and was not licensed, certified, or adequately trained to operate the forklift safely. Injuries to employees working on and around moving forklifts were reasonably foreseeable to Wilco and, therefore, Wilco had a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect its employees from such risks. Moreover, it was reasonably foreseeable to Wilco that an employee would be injured if a co-employee negligently operated a forklift in the same way Evans alleges Barrett was negligent in this case. See id. at 795 ("[i]ncluded within the employer's duty to provide a safe workplace is a duty to see that instrumentalities of the workplace are used safely"); Parr , 489 S.W.3d at 779 (duty to ensure that all drivers were "safe to operate a commercial motor vehicle" fell "squarely within the [employer's] duty to provide a safe workplace"). Accordingly, Evans failed to allege Barrett breached a duty separate and distinct from Wilco's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, and the trial court properly granted summary judgment in Barrett's favor.
Conclusion
Neither Evans nor Conner alleged a breach of a duty unrelated to employment, Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 794-95 ("employees are liable at common law to third persons, including co-employees, for breaching a legal duty owed independently of any master-servant relationship"), or a breach of workplace safety that was so unforeseeable to the employer as to take it outside the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, id. at 796 (describing such a breach as a "transitory risk"). Only actions against co-employees for injuries between 2005 and 2012 based upon such an allegation may proceed. Because Evans and Conner failed to allege such a breach of duty, the trial court's judgments are affirmed.
Fischer, C.J., Russell, Powell, Breckenridge and Stith, JJ., concur;
Draper, J., concurs in result in separate opinion filed.
Common law decisions prior to the advent of workers' compensation laws were difficult to reconcile in their own time and remain difficult to reconcile now. See N. Pac. R. Co. v. Hambly ,
The "fellow servant" rule originally was justified under principles of assumption of the risk. See Farwell v. Boston & W.R. Corp. ,
If the co-employee was negligent for breach of a duty separate and distinct from the employer's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, only the co-employee was liable. Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 794. But if the co-employee was liable for breach of the employer's duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, only the employer was liable. Id. (citing Hansen v. Ritter ,
As Peters makes clear, allegations of a breach of duty separate from the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace come in two distinct categories: (1) allegations that a co-employee breached a duty unrelated to co-employee's employment, Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 794-95 ("employees are liable at common law to third persons, including co-employees, for breaching a legal duty owed independently of any master-servant relationship"); and (2) allegations that a co-employee breached the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace in a manner that was not reasonably foreseeable to the employer, id. at 796 (describing such a breach as a "transitory risk"). Cases involving allegations in the first category are rare and easy to spot. The appeals now before the Court in these cases and in similar cases decided contemporaneously herewith involve allegations that seek (but fail) to come within the second category.
Similar statements appear at Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 797, 799, and 800.
See also Tauchert v. Boatmen's Nat. Bank of St. Louis ,
This Court is not alone in using the term "transitory risk" to refer to a workplace risk that was not reasonably foreseeable to the employer and, therefore, not within the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace. The term appears to have been used quite often in Massachusetts, where the "fellow servant" rule was created. Farwell ,
The concurring opinion asserts the following four cases would have reached opposite results had those courts applied the reasoning outlined in this case and in McComb v. Norfus ,
Compare Burns ,
Concurring Opinion
While recognizing this Court's opinions regarding the application of the nondelegable duty doctrine in the co-employee liability cases handed down today are limited to actions against co-employees for injuries between 2005 and 2012, I write separately to preserve the right to find co-employee liability in limited circumstances. I believe the principal opinion announces a new standard, expanding the employer's nondelegable duties to any foreseeable act and resulting in a flawed analysis. I concur in the result only.
*329The principal opinion focuses on whether the action or injury was foreseeable. I maintain the proper analysis begins with ascertaining where the employer's nondelegable duty ends and a co-employee's independent duty begins. Abbott v. Bolton ,
1. The duty to provide a safe place to work.
2. The duty to provide safe appliances, tools, and equipment for work.
3. The duty to give warning of dangers of which the employee might reasonably be expected to remain in ignorance.
4. The duty to provide a sufficient number of suitable fellow servants.
5. The duty to promulgate and enforce rules for the conduct of employees which would make the work safe.
Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 795.
"When the co-employee is performing the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace ... liability attaches to the employer, not the co-employee." Parr v. Breeden ,
To alter this analysis and replace it with the foreseeability test advocated by the principal opinion automatically would bar recovery for all co-employee liability because it is always foreseeable workplace accidents will occur. Applying a foreseeability test would have barred recovery in prior cases wherein co-employees were found to have breached a personal duty beyond that of an employer's nondelegable duty. This would be in contravention of established caselaw, which finds co-employee liability when the co-employee creates a transitory risk at work. Peters , 489 S.W.3d at 796.
Under the principal opinion's new analysis, it is clear co-employee liability would not merely be limited, it would be eliminated. For example, in Burns v. Smith ,
"When the co-employee is performing the employer's nondelegable duty to provide a safe workplace ... liability attaches to the employer, not the co-employee." Parr , 489 S.W.3d at 779. In both of these cases, the co-employees merely failed to carry out the details of their work as instructed by the employers. Accordingly, I concur in the result only.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael E. CONNER v. Dale OGLETREE and Scott Kidwell, and Russell Evans v. Ron Wilson and Monte Barrett
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published