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Marathon Corp. v. Pitzner8/2/2001
ncorporated his business as ECSI in 1982. Pitzner was his first employee in late 1991. Hull denied installing the units on top of the Honda-Suzuki building, and testified that he always put disconnect switches in new units he installed. Hull further testified that Pitzner had been on the roof of that building some twenty-five to fifty times, and that he had never reported anything dangerous on the roof. Hull himself never saw anything up there he considered dangerous, except an overhang over the front door that was not involved in this accident. Hull installed new units on the Honda-Suzuki roof in 1994 or 1995.
Hull said that it is common for air conditioning repairmen to use a screwdriver to "short across" to turn the unit on and off. Pitzner did not have access to the "on/off" switch because it was inside the building, which was closed for the evening. To charge an air conditioning unit with Freon fully, it is necessary to turn it on. Hull says all Pitzner had to do to start the unit was to connect the two blue low-voltage (24 volt) wires.
Roger Davidson, Sr., appellee's expert, worked for twenty-seven years as a Dallas city building inspector. He investigated the manufacture dates of the units using their serial number, and discovered that, contrary to Hull's assertion that the units were there when he began doing Marathon's air conditioning service in 1982, the units were installed in mid-1985 or early 1986.
The purpose of the Dallas City building codes is to protect the safety and welfare of anyone who comes into a building, including servicemen such as Pitzner. The code specifically makes the owner or lessee of a building responsible for ensuring that all proper permits are obtained. A permit is required for installation of new air conditioning units and costs about $46. City records show that a permit was never obtained for the installation of the units Pitzner was working on, or for the installation of the newer units in 1995.
Davidson viewed the roof in April 1995, and opined that there were major violations. City codes and ordinances require: (1) a thirty-inch work space in front of the access panel on an air conditioning unit; (2) an electrical disconnect on or near the unit; (3) a 120-volt power outlet within twenty-five feet of the equipment for service and maintenance purposes; (4) a thirty-six inch work space in front of electrical equipment such as an air conditioning unit; (5) electrical wires installed in a continuous circuit; (6) support braces made of a non-combustible material (not wood); (7) a permit to install an air conditioning unit; and (8) a permit to install a gas line. Davidson found violations of all of these provisions on the rooftop of the Honda-Suzuki building.
The city codes and ordinances were enacted to ensure the safety of servicemen. If a permit had been obtained, a city inspector would have inspected the rooftop and required Marathon to fix all the violations. If Bowman or Leos had inspected the area where the units were installed, it would have been obvious that no permit was displayed as required by law.
Davidson further opined that the new units Hull installed in 1995 were also in violation of the code because: (1) the electrical wiring has disjointed joints; (2) the gas line has more than three feet of flexible appliance connector; (3) the condensation drains just pour off the roof instead of draining into the sewer; (4) the units have no disconnect switch; (5) there is no 120 volt power outlet; (6) the electric wiring for the units is too long, up to fifty feet instead of the six feet allowed; and (7) no permit was issued.
Davidson disagreed with Hull's contention that Pitzner could n
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