John McGhee v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container
Published: Mar. 11, 2003 | Result Date: Jul. 8, 2002 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: VC028372 Verdict – $1,500,000
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Norwalk
Attorneys
Plaintiff
John F. Denove
(Cheong & Denove)
Brian S. Kesluk
(Kesluk Silverstein & Jacob)
Defendant
Christopher J. Bagnaschi
(Haith Bagnaschi, LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Alexander M. Majidian
(medical)
Tamara Hunt
(technical)
Ronald Schaible
(technical)
Defendant
John Gawlas
(technical)
Richard D. Hornichter
(medical)
A. Jubin Merati Ph.D.
(technical)
Facts
The defendant is the largest manufacturer of glass beverage containers in the United States. The defendant contracted with Lilja Corporation (the plaintiff's employer and not a party to the action, hereinafter "Lilja") to perform an overhaul on one of its furnaces. A furnace is comprised of several parts, which are the "melter," where the raw batch of glass is melted, a transitional area called the "throat" and the "refiner" where the glass is formed. During normal operation, the temperature in the melter is maintained at 2,700 degrees. Typically, a glass manufacturer shuts down the entire furnace during an overhaul. As this procedure costs the manufacturer several hundreds of thousands of dollars daily, they have come up with a "refiner only overhaul" where the furnace remains at a temperature of approximately 2,500 degrees, thereby reducing the number of furnace "down days." In order to perform a "refiner only overhaul," the refiner and throat are cooled to ambient air temperature through the use of direct external water, cooling fans and water jackets wrapped around the throat. The overhaul was scheduled to last several weeks. Though Lilja, the plaintiff's employer, controlled all of the details of the overhaul, the defendant retained total control of the temperature of the furnace throughout the duration of the overhaul. The plaintiff, at the date of the incident on Dec. 24, 1997, was a 57-year-old diabetic journeyman pipefitter, hired by Lilja to work on the overhaul. On December 24, unknown to the plaintiff, the defendant removed the cooling jacket, the water hose and cooling fans, so as to allow the temperature of the throat to go back to its normal temperatures, prematurely anticipating the completion of the overhaul. That day, the plaintiff worked approximately 10 hours, spending the better part of the day, standing on and off the throat in order to replace burners in the refiner. The inside temperature in the throat that day was raised to approximately 2,000 degrees. When the plaintiff went home after work and removed his work boots, he discovered that the soles of his feet had been seriously burned.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff submitted a demand (later withdrawn) of $299,000; the defendant tendered an offer of $150,001 (also subsequently withdrawn).
Specials in Evidence
$186,000 $110,000 $200,000
Injuries
Second and third degree burns of plantar service of both feet. Skin grafting and multiple debridements was required.
Result
The gross award of $1,500,000 was reduced to a net of $900,000 as a result of 60 percent comparative employer negligence.
Other Information
The court previously granted summary judgment under a "Privette" exclusion to third party claims. The Court ruled that the plaintiff successfully argued that the instrumentality, which caused the harm, remained in the exclusive control of the defendant.
Deliberation
two days
Length
seven days
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