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Thompson v. Jess3/12/1999
This opinion is subject to revision before final publication in the Pacific Reporter.
Eighth District, Duchesne County The Honorable John R. Anderson
Trevor Thompson appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Connie Jess, owner of four motels in Duchesne, Utah. The district court ruled, as a matter of law, that Thompson could not recover from Jess for injuries sustained while erecting a steel pipe for use as a sign post at one of Jess's motels. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
On or about March 9, 1995, Jess phoned AmeriKan Sanitation to arrange for the purchase and delivery of a used steel pipe. Jess requested a hollow pipe approximately 20 feet in length with an 8-inch diameter, one that would fit vertically over an existing pipe stub secured to the ground in front of one of her motels, which stub would support the larger pipe for use as a sign post. After agreeing upon a price, Jess requested that the pipe be delivered to her motel.
Two employees of AmeriKan Sanitation, Dennis Jensen and Trevor Thompson, delivered the pipe. When Jensen inquired where to place the pipe, Jess told him she wanted it installed over the existing pipe stub. Jensen responded that he had been instructed only to deliver the pipe and that he was not equipped to erect it in the best manner. Jess then asked Jensen if he would install the pipe, and he agreed to do so, believing he could improvise by hoisting the pipe with the winch truck and tools he had with him.
At that point, Jess's involvement in erecting the pipe ceased, and she went inside the motel. Jensen, who had hoisted similar pipes more than a hundred times before, determined on his own the manner and method of lifting and installing the pipe. For leverage, Jensen set up stabilizing poles in an A-frame formation. He then attached to the pipe a "system-seven" chain and a hook using a "trucker's hitch" or "logger's hitch"--a method of fastening pipe, which Jensen had used many times prior, whereby the weight of the pipe pulls the chain tight. Jensen connected the chain to a winch cable that was strung over the A-frame and proceeded to hoist the pipe with the winch attached to his truck. Thompson stood near the back of the truck and attempted to guide the elevated pipe onto the pipe stub protruding from the ground.
After lifting the pipe as high as this method would allow, Jensen and Thompson discovered they were approximately two inches short of being able to raise the pipe over the top of the pipe stub. They decided to lower the pipe to the ground and obtain different equipment that would lift the pipe the requisite height. In the process of lowering the pipe, however, slack developed in the chain, and the pipe slipped out, bouncing on the ground and striking Thompson in the leg. As a result of the injuries sustained from this incident, Thompson's leg was amputated below the knee.
The day following the accident, Jensen returned to the site with a backhoe and erected the pipe without problem using the same chain-hitch method. Both Jensen and Thompson, as well as their employer, AmeriKan Sanitation, testified after the accident that had they known in advance they would be asked to raise and install the pipe, they would have arrived prepared with a backhoe or crane in the first instance. However, after agreeing to install the pipe for Jess, neither Jensen nor Thompson informed her that a backhoe or crane was necessary to do the job. Rather, as reflected by the record, Jensen simply told Jess that although he lacked the best equipment, he would nonetheless erect the pipe. Jensen devised his own technique for the task, and Thompson helped him in the
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