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Evanoff v. Grove Manufacturing Company11/10/1994
This is an accelerated appeal from a final judgment of the Portage County Court of Common Pleas, in which the court granted summary judgment in favor of appellee, Grove Manufacturing Company, as to each of the two claims of appellants, Daniel and Linda Evanoff.
For approximately twelve years, Daniel Evanoff worked as a certified ironworker in the Warren-Youngstown are. During this period, Evanoff was primarily employed by Warren Engineering, a construction company. As part of his employment, Evanoff would be assigned to perform various tasks at construction sites throughout the area.
On April 11, 1984, Warren Engineering assigned Evanoff to act as a foreman at a construction site in Windham, Ohio. At this site, Evanoff and his crew of three men were to assist in the building of an addition to a small factory owned by Dresser Industries and Harbison-Walker Refractories. As part of the job , the crew had to attach two steel columns to the foundation of the addition. In performing this task, the crew used a mobile crane which had been manufactured by appellee.
The construction site was located near set of railroad tracks. Almost directly above the tracks was a set of high-voltage electrical wires, which were still operational during the period in which the work took place. To facilitate thsinstallation of the columns, the crane was parked almost directly underneath the power lines on the north side of the tracks. The columns, which had been placed between the two tracks, were attached to the steel line which extended down from the boom of the crane. The operator of the crane then hoisted the column into the air and moved it over the tracks to the site of the addition. During this process, the boom of the crane was located within a short distance of the electrical wires.
The columns were moved into the addition one at a time. Evanoff attached the second column to the line by himself. However, before the operator of the crane could hoist it into the air, the column got caught on an object between the railroad tracks. Evanoff attempted to free the column. Before he could do so, a surge of electricity went down the line and into the steel column, shocking Evanoff. As a result of this shock, Evanoff fell onto the tracks. While he was lying there, one of the electrical wires broke and fell in the area of the tracks. A second surge of electricity then went through the tracks, shocking Evanoff for a second time.
As a result of this accident, Evanoff suffered serious injuries to three of his limbs. Approximately two years later, Evanoff and his wife, appellants, brought an action in Portage County against appellee and several other defendants. This first action was eventually dismissed voluntarily by appellants before any judgment could be rendered as to appellee.
In June 1989, appellants initiated the instant action. Appellee was named as the sole defendant in this second action, which A as originally filed in Columbiana County. In their complaint, appellants asserted two claims sounding in negligence and strict liability. These claims were predicated upon the basic allegation that the mobile crane had been defective in two respects: (1) it had been designed improperly, and (2) it had not contained signs which could have provided notice of the fact that it had not been insulated against electrical shocks.
After answering the complaint, appellee moved for summary judgment as to each of appellants' claims. In support of this motion, appellee cited various depositions which had been taken during discovery in the first action. Once the second action had been transferred from Columbiana County to Portage County on the ground that a companio
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