Saarinen v. Hall

The Alabama Supreme Court granted Bobby Saarinen and Chris Williams permission to appeal an interlocutory order of the Franklin Circuit Court denying their motion for a summary judgment in Louis Hall's personal-injury action against them. In 2014, Hall was injured while operating a power saw at his place of employment, a plant owned by Williams Manufacturing, Inc. Hall sued Williams Manufacturing, as well as his co-employees Saarinen and Williams: Williams was the owner of Williams Manufacturing and Saarinen was the plant manager. Hall brought his claims sounding in negligence. The trial court granted Williams Manufacturing's motion to dismiss. The co-employees moved for summary judgment, which was ultimately denied. The Supreme Court found no evidence of willful conduct by the co-employees and reversed: "[u]nder the facts in this case, the failure to install another, presumably safer, saw that was present on the premises but that had not been put into operation and that was manufactured by a different manufacturer than the saw that injured the plaintiff is not the equivalent of the removal of a safety guard so as to constitute willful conduct under § 25- 5-11(c)(2)." View "Saarinen v. Hall" on Justia Law