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JUAREZ v. AARDEMA6/7/1996
This case involves a wrongful death action brought by the wife and children of a deceased dairy employee who died while working at the dairy. The principal issue presented in this appeal is whether the district court properly denied the appellants' motion for judgment n.o.v. or in the alternative a new trial. For the reasons stated below, we affirm that portion of the district court's order denying appellants' motion for judgment n.o.v., but vacate the portion of the order denying the motion for a new trial and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL
BACKGROUND
This appeal arises from the death of Aldo J. Juarez (Juarez) on the night of April 17, 1991, while he was working as the night foreman at the Aardema-Heida Dairy (the Dairy). Juarez was asphyxiated when a rapid-exit gate caught him across the neck and upper chest. Juarez was working alone on the night of the accident. The facts as developed at trial are summarized below.
Juarez had worked at the Dairy for approximately two years before he was killed. Juarez was a very good employee whom the Dairy manager had promoted to night foreman because Juarez was a hard worker who was always on time, had good attendance, was trustworthy and was safety conscious. On the night of the accident, Juarez's duties as night foreman included checking the barn and calving shed for problems, pushing feed up to the cows with a tractor, milking the cows, greasing the rapid-exit gates, cleaning the barns, bringing in the next milking shift's cows, and odd jobs such as replacing light bulbs. At the time of Juarez's accident, he appeared to have either just finished or was about to finish greasing the rapid-exit gates. The purpose of greasing these gates is so that they do not become "hung up" or stuck.
Juarez's body was discovered by a co-employee of the Dairy, Pablo Gonzalez, when he arrived at the Dairy for his milking shift on the night of April 17, 1991, at 11:30 p.m. As Pablo Gonzalez was leaving the barn to retrieve the cows for the next milking shift, he discovered Juarez caught in the last rapid-exit gate. Juarez was facing the exit alley (toward the outside), with his back to the gate switch that was located in the operator station. Pablo Gonzalez opened the rapid-exit gates to release Juarez, causing Juarez to fall to the ground, his body landing halfway inside the stall area and halfway inside the exit alley. Pablo Gonzalez observed that Juarez was wearing a greasy plastic glove that was customarily worn by employees when greasing the gates. Pablo Gonzalez testified that both of Juarez's hands had grease on them and that there was a grease
bucket in the exit alley about three yards away from where Juarez was found. Pablo Gonzalez stated that when he found Juarez, there was no grease on the switch that opened and closed all of the gates for the side of the barn where Juarez was found. Once Pablo Gonzalez released Juarez from the gate which had caught Juarez, Pablo Gonzalez went to the manager of the Dairy, Scott Haag (Haag), to tell him of the accident.
Haag stated that when he found Juarez, Juarez's grease bucket was on the far side of the gates where Juarez would have been greasing the gates from. Haag testified that Juarez did not have any grease on the hand with which Haag took Juarez's pulse. Before the police arrived, Haag noticed that Juarez had finished greasing all of the gates. Haag did not recall whether the switch, which opened and closed the gates on the side where Juarez was found, had any grease on it.
The barn in which Juarez was killed had twelve gates on each side, allowing t
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