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Johnson Construction Management5/4/2005
Johnson Construction Management, Inc. appeals a jury verdict in Miguel Lopez' favor in this personal injury action. Johnson argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant its motion for summary judgment, in thereafter failing to grant its motion for directed verdict, and ultimately in permitting the jury to reach a verdict by means of an impermissible pyramiding of inferences. With no proof from which a jury could base a finding of wrongdoing by this defendant, we agree with the conclusion that the judgment against Johnson must be reversed.
According to Lopez, a United Airlines employee, he was on a coffee break when he noticed a puff of smoke coming from a room located on Concourse F at Miami International Airport (MIA). When he entered the unlocked room (room F1530) to investigate, he was burned by an exploding electrical panel. Lopez subsequently brought suit against Metropolitan Dade County, the owner-operator of the airport, claiming negligent renovation, repair, and construction work in room F1530; negligent inspection of the renovations, repairs and construction performed in room F1530; negligent maintenance of room F1530; and, failure to warn of risk of harm inside the room. He later joined as defendants the owners and operators of two vending machines located outside the room, claiming that they had negligently used jumper cables to connect an electrical outlet needed to power the machines to the high voltage electrical panel which exploded. He also joined as defendants Johnson and its electrical subcontractor, Kinetic Electric, Inc., after the County answered a set of interrogatories stating that these two entities were responsible for locking the door to the room. At the time Lopez was injured, Johnson was building a bridge at Concourse E to support a baggage conveyor system.
Four and one half years after this action was filed, summary judgments were entered in favor of the vending machine owners and operators when it was determined that the machines were powered by a fully functional outlet rather than the outlet "hot wired" to the allegedly exploding electrical panel. Judgment was also entered in favor of Johnson's electrical subcontractor, Kinetic Electric, upon an undisputed showing that it had no access to, and had performed no work in, room F1530. Johnson likewise sought summary judgment, arguing that neither it nor any of its subcontractors had any connection to the room. The court rejected that argument and the case proceeded to trial against the County and Johnson.
At the start of the trial, Johnson again asserted that it had no connection to room F1530. Lopez argued that certain documents that had been in Johnson's possession, but had been destroyed, would have established that room F1530 was within the scope of Johnson's contract. Lopez maintained that as a result of the missing evidence, he should be permitted to argue that the jury could infer Johnson's "control" of the room. Rejecting Johnson's claim that it was being "ambush ," the trial court permitted Lopez to introduce evidence regarding loss of the documents and to argue that Johnson's control of the room could be inferred from the missing documents.
The case proceeded with Lopez asserting that his injuries were caused by a loose connection in a high voltage panel which caused the panel's circuit breakers to melt and slowly burn, exhausting the oxygen in the room and resulting in a flash explosion when he opened the door. Although Lopez introduced substantial evidence to show that electrical work was being performed in the vicinity of the room and possibly even inside, there was no evidence that Johnson performed any work on either the electrical panel or elsewhere in room F1530.
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