MATTIE LOU GREENE AND WANDRA S. WHITE, APPELLANTS,
v.
IVACO INDUSTRIES, LTD. AND NIAGARA WIRE WEAVING COMPANY, LTD., APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1976-06-09
No. AA-109
BOYER, C. J., and HODGES, JOHN G., Associate Judge, concur.
334 So. 2d 347 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1976) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

This case involves administrators of an employee's estate who sued a parent corporation for negligence in designing and operating industrial machinery that caused the employee's death. The court reversed summary judgment for the parent corporation, holding that the statutory immunity under Florida's workers' compensation act does not extend to a negligent machinery manufacturer merely because it also provided incidental safety services to the employer.


Holding

The court held that § 440.11(2) does not provide immunity to a negligent machinery manufacturer merely because it also provided incidental safety services or instructions. Statutory immunity applies only to safety consultants whose services are specifically engaged as incidental to workers' compensation coverage or servicing contracts, not to manufacturers fulfilling their independent legal duties regarding user safety.


Headnotes

[1] A workmen's compensation statute providing immunity to employers' carriers, service agents, or safety consultants does not extend immunity to a manufacturer of a dangerou…

[2] The immunity granted to workmen's compensation carriers, service agents, or safety consultants is intended to encourage the use of expert service companies for employee s…

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Key Quotes

“That statute does not purport to immunize the negligent manufacturer of a dangerous machine merely because the manufacturer also provided the injured workman's employer safety inspections or instructions incidental to supplying the machine.”

Establishes that statutory immunity does not extend to manufacturers based on incidental safety services

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Facts & Procedural History

Dick Sadberry, employed by Niagara Wires, Inc., was crushed to death when he fell onto moving wire mesh while cleaning rotating drums as directed by h…

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Opinion of the Court
SMITH, Judge.

SMITH, Judge.

The administrators of the estate of Dick Sadberry, deceased, appeal from a summary judgment entered for appellee Niagara Wire Weaving Company, Ltd., on appellants’ claim for Sadberry’s death. Appellants also complained of but now concede the propriety of the summary judgment entered simultaneously for Ivaco Industries, Ltd. Judgment was entered for Niagara Wire Weaving Company on the ground that it is immune from liability pursuant to § 440.11(2), F.S., providing:

“(2) An employer’s workmen’s compensation carrier, service agent, or safety consultant shall not be liable as a third party tortfeasor for assisting the employer in carrying out the employer’s rights and responsibilities under this chapter by furnishing any safety inspection, safety consultive service, or other safety service incidental to the workmen’s compensation or employers’ liability coverage or to the workmen’s compensation or employer’s liability servicing contract. The exclusion from liability under this subsection shall not apply in any case in which injury or death is proximately caused by the willful and unprovoked physical aggression, or by th'e negligent operation of a motor vehicle, by employees, officers, or directors of the employer’s workmen’s compensation carrier, service agent, or safety consultant.”

Sadberry was employed by Niagara Wires, Inc., which manufactures wire mesh used to process wood pulp into paper. Niagara Wires, Inc., is a corporate subsidiary of appellee Niagara Wire Weaving Company. At the direction of his foreman, young Sadberry undertook to clean the rotating drums on which the wire mesh is stretched and losing his balance, he fell onto the moving mesh and was crushed by it against one of the drums. Sadberry’s dependent parents collected workmen’s compensation benefits from his employer, Niagara Wires, Inc., and the appellants sued the parent corporation, appellee Niagara Wire Weaving Company, for negligence in designing the machine, failing to provide adequate warning of its inherent dangers and failing to promulgate reasonably safe procedures for its operation.

Niagara Wire Weaving Company undertook for its subsidiary not only to design the machine in question but also to assemble it, oversee its installation and instruct the employees of Niagara Wires, Inc., in the operation of the machinery. The trial judge concluded from that evidence that Niagara Wire Weaving was in effect the service agent or safety consultant of its subsidiary, Niagara Wires, Inc., that it furnished safety inspection and consultive services to its subsidiary and, therefore, that the subsidiary’s immunity under the workmen’s compensation act was extended to the parent by § 440.11(2), F.S.

We disagree with the trial court’s interpretation of § 440.11(2).

That statute does not purport to immunize the negligent manufacturer of a dangerous machine merely because the manufacturer also provided the injured workman’s employer safety inspections or instructions incidental to supplying the machine. The statutory immunity was granted to encourage “employing expert service companies to inspect and advise concerning safety for employees.” Allen v. Employers Serv. Corp., 243 So. 2d 454, 456 (Fla.App.2d, 1971), cert. den. 248 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 1971); Conklin v. Cohen, 287 So. 2d 56 (Fla.1973).

The statute rewards efforts of safety consultants whose services are “incidental to the workmen’s compensation or employers’ liability coverage [of the employer] or to the workmen’s compensation or employer’s liability servicing contract.” It does not appear that Niagara Wire Weaving Company was 'employed or engaged by Niagara Wires for such a purpose, nor that any safety services provided by the manufacturer were incidental to workmen’s compensation or employer’s liability coverage or contracts. The law imposes independent duties concerning user safety on the manufacturer or assembler of industrial machinery; and efforts by the manufacturer or assembler to fulfill the law’s expectations do not bring it within the immunity of § 440.11(2).

AFFIRMED as to Ivaco; REVERSED as to Niagara Wire Weaving Company, Ltd. BOYER, C. J., and HODGES, JOHN G., Associate Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Johnson v. Thoni, 453 So. 2d 188 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
    …corporations were immune because of the provisions of the workers’ compensation statute can not be sustained under the law as set forth in Morris v. Bryan & Fletcher, Inc., 373 So. 2d 407 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979), and in Greene v. Ivaco Industries, Ltd., 334 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). The immunity provision to which reference is made is found in section 440.11(2), Florida Statutes (1981).1 The complaint alleges that the corporations provided management and security services. These services do not qualify the…

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