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Wilkinson v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.12/29/1998
cific Round House--a supervisor's station--and requested an ambulance. A supervisor, Lyle Barton, heard this request and saw that decedent was having trouble breathing. Barton offered to take decedent to the hospital, asserting that it was faster than waiting for an ambulance. Decedent accepted Barton's offer.
Within a minute after entering Barton's truck, decedent fell unconscious. Barton used his mobile telephone to call another Union Pacific employee, Craig Fletcher. Fletcher met Barton at the truck, and they discussed doing CPR on decedent. After deciding not to do CPR, Fletcher returned to the building to call 911. According to fire department records, this call was received at 11:00:54 p.m.
While Fletcher was placing the call, Barton, with the assistance of another employee, Tim Best, drove decedent to the flag pole on the property--a location which an ambulance driver could easily find. After Barton and Best removed decedent from the vehicle, Al Davis, another Union Pacific employee, arrived on the scene and treated decedent for shock. Fletcher returned and informed the others that the paramedics were on their way. Fletcher began monitoring decedent's pulse. At some point, Fletcher informed the others that decedent was losing his pulse. Davis and Barton began CPR. Decedent regained his pulse once, and CPR was stopped. Fletcher lost decedent's pulse again, and CPR was resumed until the paramedics arrived at 11:06:33 p.m. Decedent never regained consciousness and died fifteen days later at LDS Hospital.
Wilkinson filed a complaint against Union Pacific on February 28, 1994. The claims were for negligence in caring for decedent and were grounded solely on FELA which, where applicable, makes recovery easier than at common law for employees injured on the job . Wilkinson argued that FELA applied because the injury to decedent occurred in the scope of his employment, i.e., on the employer's property as he was reporting for work. To support this claim, she asserted that decedent was not in a state of medical emergency creating a duty to act on the part of Union Pacific until he lost consciousness in his supervisor's truck on the employer's premises. Union Pacific moved for summary judgment, claiming that FELA did not apply because decedent's medical emergency--the asthma attack--did not begin on the employer's property. Union Pacific argues that decedent was, therefore, not injured within the scope of his employment. Alternatively, Union Pacific asserted that even if FELA applied, it was not negligent, or its actions were not the cause of decedent's death.
The trial court found that decedent was not within the scope of his employment when he suffered his medical emergency and granted Union Pacific's motion for summary judgment. While this court does not accept Wilkinson's legal characterizations of the triggering facts, we do conclude that she has alleged sufficient facts to withstand Union Pacific's unsupported motion for summary judgment. We therefore reverse.
To withstand a motion for summary judgment, Wilkinson had to establish the four elements of a prima facie case under FELA. The four elements are: (i) decedent was injured while in the scope of his employment; (ii) decedent's employment was in furtherance of the railroad's interstate transportation business; (iii) the employer was negligent; and (iv) the employer's negligence played some part in causing the injury for which compensation is sought under FELA. See Green v. River Terminal Ry. Co., 763 F.2d 805, 808 (6th Cir. 1985).
The trial court based its grant of summary judgment on a finding that Wilkinson did not meet the first requirement--it held that decedent was not within the sco
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