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Buttelo v. S.A. Woods-Yates American Machine Co.12/14/1993
Rick Buttelo's left arm was amputated below the elbow when he was sharpening the rotating planer knives of an industrial woodworking machine that his employer, Western Dry Kilns, Inc. (Western), leased from Paxport Mills, Inc. (Paxport). Buttelo appeals the trial court's dismissal by summary judgment of his products liability and negligence claims against Paxport. We affirm.
Paxport, a lumber mill, and Western, a custom remanufacturer of wood products, are related corporations. Paxport
owns the majority of Western's shares; Paxport's majority shareholder and president, Chauncey Griggs, is also one of Western's officers and directors. Although Paxport and Western maintain separate offices and production facilities, the two corporations have overlapping payroll and clerical functions; occasionally, each lends the other the services of its production and maintenance employees. Another significant connection between the two companies is their longstanding lease agreement, under which Western leases machinery and equipment for use in its manufacturing process. The machine that injured Buttelo is subject to this agreement.
The machine that injured Buttelo is a used molder and planer that was built in 1925 by the S.A. Woods-Yates American Machine Company. In January of 1987, Jay Garrison, Western's production superintendent, ordered the used molder from Burton Machinery, an Oregon dealer in used woodworking equipment. Burton Machinery shipped the molder directly to Western's production facility.
When the molder arrived at Western's production facility, Harley Sykes supervised its installation. Sykes also supervised Schneider & Simpson Sheet Metal's installation of the ductwork above the molder, which vacuumed sawdust away from the work area. Sykes had been in charge of rearranging Western's production facility to accommodate the molder and several other pieces of equipment since January. Sykes had been on Western's payroll since June of 1986, when Western's production superintendent, Jay Garrison, had hired him on a contract basis to install Western's boiler system and chip bin. Sykes had performed contract work for both corporations at various times over the preceding years.
A few days after the molder was installed, Buttelo was cleaning it for the next day's run when he noticed that one of its blades was nicked. Buttelo started the machine so that he could sharpen the blade. The molder, when shipped to its original owner, had a crank and screw apparatus that allowed the operator to stand back from the machine during the sharpening process. This crank and screw apparatus was missing, which made it necessary for Buttelo to grab
the sharpening stone and to manually pull it across the spinning blades. Had this originally furnished apparatus been intact and properly attached to the molder, Buttelo's hand would not have been positioned above the knives during the sharpening operation. During the blade sharpening process, part of the duct work, which was located above the molder and held up by suction, dropped, striking Buttelo's arm and forcing it into the moving blades.
Buttelo named Schneider-Simpson Sheet Metal and Paxport as defendants in an amended complaint after his earlier claims against the manufacturer and the seller of the machine had been dismissed. Schneider-Simpson and Paxport were dismissed on their motions for summary judgment. This appeal is from the trial court's dismissal of Paxport.
[1-3] In reviewing a summary judgment order, this court makes the same inquiry as the trial court. Touchet Vly. Grain Growers, Inc. v. Opp & Seibold Gen. Constr., Inc., 119 Wash. 2d 334,
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