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Grant v. Georgia Pacific8/30/1999
Plaintiff John Earl Grant, Jr., administrator of the estate of the decedent, John Earl Grant, Sr., and plaintiff Flora Mae Scott as surviving spouse, brought this wrongful death action against defendants Georgia Pacific Corporation, Georgia Pacific Resins, Inc. (collectively "Georgia Pacific"), and Fleet Transport Company ("Fleet"), alleging that John Earl Grant, Sr., a driver for defendant Fleet, and an invitee at a Georgia Pacific plant in Brunswick, Georgia, was negligently "exposed to turpentine sulfate and died as a result. . . ." Specifically, defendants were negligent in failing to provide a mask or other breathing apparatus; failing to instruct plaintiffs' decedent on the proper procedure for loading turpentine sulfate, such as wearing a mask; failing to instruct plaintiffs' decedent on the dangers of working around turpentine sulfate; and failing to warn of the dangers of turpentine sulfate fumes, which allegedly caused the death of plaintiffs' decedent. Defendant Fleet admitted that John Earl Grant, Sr. drove a tractor pulling Fleet's trailer to a Georgia Pacific plant in Brunswick, Georgia, in order to transport a turpentine sulfate product, but denied that Mr. Grant's death was the result of any negligence on its part. Georgia Pacific admitted that plaintiffs' decedent was an invitee at its Brunswick mill and that he died on the premises, but also denied this resulted from any negligence on its part.
After discovery, all defendants jointly moved for summary judgment. Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs as the non-movants, the record reveals the following, largely undisputed, facts:
Mr. Grant had made pick-ups from this plant before. On the day in question, he was found face down on top of his tanker truck. According to the autopsist, Milton J. Arras, M. D., the decedent had "severe coronary artery disease," and suffered a fatal heart attack. Death was "instantaneous, . . . . He just dropped dead." In the opinion of Dr. Arras, "excessively strong odor and/or vapors of the sulfated turpentine had a high probability of precipitating a myocardial infarction. . . ." Bonifacio T. Floro, M. D., also thought the heart attack itself "was precipitated by inhalation of the turpentine fumes." Specifically, the mixture of turpentine fumes with the open air reduced the amount of oxygen Mr. Grant received in the breathing process. Quitman Tanner, a safety liaison at the Georgia Pacific mill deposed in an affidavit that the processing of pine trees at the Georgia Pacific Mill emits a noticeable odor of turpentine; that he observed Mr. Grant in and on the truck while the tank was being loaded; and that, on this particular occasion, the odor of turpentine was "no more pronounced than usual." Likewise, Kenneth Dean Knapp, the former safety manager at this mill, detected no unusual turpentine odors that day. Mr. Knapp confirmed that visiting drivers, such as Mr. Grant, formerly were issued COM-FO II respirators, consisting of "a breathable air charcoal filter that screwed in on each side of the face plate," but later Georgia Pacific switched to issuing a five-minute escape bottle "because it had a clear plastic bag and five minutes of compressed breathable air. . . . ruck drivers can have beards; they can have false teeth that they didn't put in; they could wear glasses; a lot of things that would break the seal of a normal respirator." On site, each driver had to be within arm's reach of the five-minute escape bottle. In practice, drivers were to leave the escape bottle on the nearest fender while working atop their truck. The air bottle is designed for emergencies, to escape hazardous gas such as chlorine. Instructions are written on the package. The escape bottle Mr. Grant signed for was
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