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Papalas v. Ford Motor Co.11/8/2005
UNPUBLISHED
Before: Donofrio, P.J., and Murphy and Borrello, JJ.
In Docket No. 252470, plaintiff appeals as of right from an order dismissing all claims by, between and among plaintiff, defendant/crossplaintiff/third-party plaintiff Ford Motor Company ("Ford") and defendant/crossdefendant Walbridge Aldinger Company ("Walbridge"). However, the issue on appeal is related to an earlier order granting summary disposition in favor of defendant/crossdefendant Metro Industrial Piping, Inc. ("Piping") and against plaintiff. We reverse and remand in accordance with this opinion. In Docket No. 252527, Ford appeals as of right from an order dismissing all claims by, between and among plaintiff, Ford and Walbridge. However, the issues on appeal are related to an earlier order granting summary disposition in favor of third-party defendant Metro Industrial Painting, Inc. ("Painting") and against Ford, and another order granting summary disposition in favor of Piping and against Ford. We reverse and remand to the trial court Docket No. 252527.
FACTS
This is a personal injury action where plaintiff alleges that he sustained injuries on November 24, 1999, when he fell into a pipe access channel through a hole in the floor of the Swarf Building ("accident hole"). The "accident hole" had been covered by a thin sheet of plywood. At the time of plaintiff's injury, Ford was in the process of renovating its Dearborn Engine and Fuel Tank Plant (DEFTP) at the Rouge complex, owned by Rouge Steel Company. Walbridge and CCC were Ford's general contractors performing work on the construction project at DEFTP. Painting was a subcontractor of Commercial Contracting Company (CCC) and plaintiff was an employee of Painting. Detroit Edison Company ("Edison") supplied the Ford substation with electricity. Ford operated and maintained the electrical distribution system for the Ford facilities at the Rouge Steel Complex.
On November 24, 1999, plaintiff and three co-workers were working in the "G" Building of the Ford DEFTP. They were using man lifts to paint various pipes along column line "W" at the ceiling level. At approximately 8:20 p.m., the Ford DEFTP sustained a total power outage due to an equipment failure inside Ford's "Substation 41." As a consequence, all permanent lighting was extinguished in the G Building and the Swarf building. Emergency lights and battery powered machine HMI screens provided some lighting in the G Building. Plaintiff and his co-workers ceased painting and waited for approximately thirty minutes to see if the power would be restored. At approximately 9:00 p.m., they decided to leave the worksite. Plaintiff and his co-workers proceeded to walk through the adjacent Swarf Building. Since no battery-operated emergency lights and exit lamps had been installed in the Swarf Building, plaintiff and his co-workers testified in their depositions that the Swarf Building was "pitch black," and that they had to feel their way through the darkness. Before exiting the Swarf Building, Walin and Metzke, who were walking along with plaintiff, heard a noise, which was later discovered to have been plaintiff falling approximately 28' 3" through the two by five foot floor opening to the concrete basement floor. Apparently plaintiff stepped on a piece of plywood covering one of eight floor openings in the Swarf Building, and the plywood gave way. Plaintiff sustained two broken vertebras, a fractured ankle, a fractured heel, a broken foot and a concussion.
Review of the record indicates that on September 9, 1999, Walbridge had installed a two by nine foot cover, made of multiple pieces of three-quarter inch plywood, over all of the eight floor openings on the Swarf
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