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Panpat v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container6/26/2003
Submitted on remand July 11, 2002.
Affirmed.
This case is before us on remand from the Oregon Supreme Court. Panpat v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container, 334 Or 342, 49 P3d 773 (2002). In our previous opinion, we reversed the trial court's order granting plaintiff a new trial because of newly discovered evidence. Panpat v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container, 172 Or App 470, 479-80, 21 P3d 97 (2001). We reasoned that defendant was entitled to prevail on its summary judgment motion because the workers' compensation system provided plaintiff's exclusive remedy and that plaintiff's newly discovered evidence had no bearing on that issue.
Id. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the workers' compensation system did not preclude plaintiff from suing defendant for negligence. Panpat, 334 Or at 352. On remand, two interrelated issues remain. The first is whether defendant was entitled to summary judgment on the alternative ground that it could not reasonably foresee that its employee would physically harm plaintiff's decedent. The second is whether plaintiff was entitled to a new trial because of newly discovered evidence. Because we hold that defendant's summary judgment motion should have been denied, we need not decide whether plaintiff's new trial motion should have been granted.
A number of the facts have been set forth at length in the two previous opinions. For purposes of evaluating the trial court's summary judgment ruling, we state the pertinent facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff. ORCP 47 C; Jones v. General Motors Corp., 325 Or 404, 420, 939 P2d 608 (1997).
The decedent, Achara Tanatchangsang, and her former boyfriend, Chris Blake, worked for defendant Owens-Brockway on the graveyard shift. Before November 1995, decedent and Blake lived together. In November 1995, decedent moved out of Blake's home and made repeated efforts to keep Blake from discovering her new address. Blake became depressed and began missing a significant amount of work. He entered an inpatient chemical dependency program, and defendant put him on medical leave. Senner, the company nurse who granted the medical leave, was aware that Blake also was having a problem with depression. Others at defendant's facility, including the plant superintendent, were aware that Blake was having difficulty coping with his breakup with decedent.
In January 1996, Blake sought to have decedent transferred to a different shift so that he would not have to work near her. Blake's supervisor Mobley attempted to accommodate his request so that Blake "through his counseling [could] get his problem under control[.]" Blake spoke with defendant's plant manager Couvillion, seeking to have decedent transferred because being on the same shift with her was "bothering him." Couvillion told Blake that he did not want "any verbal or physical confrontations," and Blake assured him that "there was no problem, he just would like her moved from that shift." In support of his request that decedent be transferred, Blake provided a letter from his chemical dependency counselor, stating that working close to decedent was causing Blake "quite a bit of stress."
Management informed decedent of the proposed transfer, but decedent took the position that, if Blake had a problem, he should be transferred. She threatened to sue for discrimination if she were transferred because of Blake's problem. Blake did not wish to be transferred. Both remained on the graveyard shift. Defendant's management took no further steps to separate Blake from decedent.
Blake continued to have problems, missing a significant amount of work. He received considerable medical intervention between Januar
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