Page 52
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 53
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 54
Appeal
from Jackson Circuit Court (CV-13-900106).
Anthony
N. Fox of Scott, Sullivan, Streetman & Fox, P.C.,
Birmingham, for appellant.
W. Lee
Gresham III of Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, Birmingham, for
appellee.
STEWART,
Justice.
This
case requires us to consider whether a defendant engaged in
third-party spoliation of evidence that would have been
essential to the plaintiff's products-liability claim
against a manufacturer. For the reasons stated below, we
affirm the judgment entered by the Jackson Circuit Court
("the trial court") following a bench trial insofar
as it found Imperial Aluminum-Scottsboro, LLC
("Imperial"), culpable for negligent spoliation of
evidence and awarded compensatory damages to Tyler D. Taylor.
We reverse the trial court's judgment insofar as it
awarded punitive damages against Imperial based on a finding
of wanton conduct.
Facts
and Procedural History
On
October 10, 2010, Taylor injured his right index finger while
in the line and scope of employment with Imperial. In its
judgment, the trial court provided a summary of the facts
leading up to and relating to Taylor's injury:
"In early October of 2010, [Taylor] was hired by
Imperial to paint some of the structures on its property;
he was given a used paint sprayer with which to complete
his task. After starting his task, [Taylor] realized that
the used paint sprayer was malfunctioning, which he
reported to Imperial. On October 5, 2010, Imperial
purchased a new paint sprayer, a Tradeworks 170, from
Sherwin-Williams. The new paint sprayer included the `spray
gun' component, which is used to distribute the paint,
and the compressor, which compresses air and is used to
send paint to the spray gun.
"After unboxing the paint sprayer, [Taylor] assembled
the components and began painting Imperial's
structures. On October 10, 2010, [Taylor] had finished his
work for the day and was cleaning paint from the spray gun
component, when the paint sprayer activated and injected
paint and mineral spirits into his right index finger.
"[Taylor] was transported to Highlands Medical Center
and underwent a series of painful procedures in an attempt
to save his finger. Despite the best efforts of his
physicians, they were unable to save his finger, and the
decision was made by [Taylor] and his physicians to
completely amputate his right index finger, all the way
down to his hand.3 Subsequent to this amputation, [Taylor]
had to undergo another procedure to remove a painful
neuroma at the amputation site.
"[Taylor's] doctors have discussed with him the
possibility that he may need to, at least, have carpal
tunnel surgery, and [Taylor] is also at risk of developing
arthritis and other degenerative conditions as a result of
his injury.
"3 This type of amputation is called a ray
resection."
(Citations to record omitted.)
In
preparation for potential litigation stemming from his
injury, Taylor retained legal counsel.[1] On January 3, 2011,
Taylor's
Page 55
attorney sent Imperial a letter stating:
"We represent [Taylor,] who was injured while working
at your company on or about October 1 [sic], 2010.
"We understand that a paint gun was the cause of his
injury, which resulted in the loss of his index finger. We
anticipate making a claim for damages arising from this
injury. In this regard, it will be necessary for us to
inspect the paint gun and any equipment utilized with it at
the time of the injury, along with any and all paperwork,
documents, bill of sale, etc., pertaining to its purchase,
manufacture and maintenance. Please preserve the gun along
with any and all paperwork and do not allow anyone to
change, modify, or destroy or otherwise dispose of the
paint gun and other requested items."
The
letter did not include an offer by Taylor to bear any cost or
other burden of preserving the requested evidence.
In its
judgment, the trial court summarized the efforts employees of
Imperial took to preserve the Tradeworks 170 paint sprayer
after receiving the January 3, 2011, letter:
"In response [to the letter], the general manager of
Imperial's Scottsboro facility, Mike Peebles,
instructed Randy Stalnaker to put the paint sprayer up.
Imperial was aware, no later than its receipt of [the]
January 3, 2011, letter, that [Taylor] intended to pursue a
claim for damages arising out of [Taylor's] injury.
Randy Stalnaker was the maintenance supervisor and/or
manager at Imperial's Scottsboro location. Mr.
Stalnaker instructed Amanda King to put the paint sprayer
in the finished-goods portion of the warehouse and to cover
it with a bag. After putting the paint sprayer up, Amanda
King confirmed to Mr. Stalnaker that the `spray gun
part' of the paint sprayer was also preserved."
(Citations to the record omitted.)
On
October 10, 2012, Taylor filed a complaint in the Madison
Circuit Court asserting claims of products liability under
the Alabama Extended Manufacturer's Liability Doctrine
("the AEMLD"), negligence, wantonness, failure to
warn, and breach of warranty against Graco, Inc.
("Graco"), and Sherwin-Williams Scottsboro Store
Number 2126 ("Sherwin-Williams"). Taylor also
alleged in the complaint that Graco was the manufacturer of
the Tradeworks 170 and that Imperial had purchased the unit
from Sherwin-Williams. Although it is not clear from the
record, the trial court's judgment indicates that
Taylor's case against Graco and Sherwin-Williams was
removed to the United States District Court for the Northern
District of Alabama. On January 18, 2013, Imperial's
attorney sent a letter to Taylor's attorney stating:
"I went to the Imperial Aluminum plant in Scottsboro,
Alabama[,] to obtain the spray gun involved in this matter.
I was advised at that time that immediately following this
accident which occurred on October 10, 2010, they stopped
using the spray guns of the type involved in the accident
made the basis of this suit. According to the information I
was able to obtain this occurred in December of 2010.
Unfortunately, the spray gun was deposed [sic] of at or
near that time and is no longer available."
Page 56
On May
8, 2013, after receiving the letter from Imperial's
counsel, Taylor dismissed his complaint against Graco and
Sherwin-Williams.
On the
same day, Taylor filed a complaint in the trial court naming
as defendants Imperial, Mike Peebles, and various
fictitiously named defendants and asserting a claim alleging
third-party spoliation of evidence arising from
Imperial's failure to preserve the spray-gun portion of
the Tradeworks 170 unit. Taylor demanded a trial by a jury.
Imperial filed an answer on June 10, 2013, in which it
stated, in pertinent part:
"5. The Defendant, Imperial Aluminum-Scottsboro, LLC,
would state that [Taylor], through his counsel of record,
did not contacted [sic] it about preserving the `paint
sprayer' until January 3, 2011, which was not actually
received until a later date.
"6. Prior to January 3, 2011 the `paint sprayer'
in question was disposed of as it was not longer in use at
the plant."
The
trial court conducted a bench trial on March 12, 2018, during
which it received the testimony of Peebles, Taylor, Amanda
King, and Mike Chenoweth, who was vice president of
operations for Imperial and who had been designated as
Imperial's corporate representative.[2] The deposition
testimony of Randy Stalnaker, the maintenance supervisor at
Imperial's Scottsboro facility, and of Taylor's
treating physicians was read into the record. Chenoweth
testified that he was aware of the January 3, 2011, letter
from Taylor's attorney to Imperial in which Imperial was
asked to preserve the spray gun, as well as other items
related to the Tradeworks 170 unit. Chenoweth testified that,
after Imperial received the letter, Imperial management
instructed maintenance workers to preserve the unit. Under
direct examination by Taylor's counsel, Chenoweth
testified as follows:
"Q. All right. And in this letter, [counsel for
Taylor] also notified Imperial Aluminum that he believed
the paint gun was the cause of Tyler Taylor's injury,
correct?
"A. Correct.
"Q. That— that he anticipated making a claim
for damages arising from this injury, correct?
"A. Correct.
"Q. And that it would be necessary for him to be able
to inspect the paint gun and any equipment utilized with it
at the time of injury, along with any and all paperwork,
documents, bill of sale, et cetera, pertaining to its
purchase, manufacture, and maintenance. Do you remember
that?
"A. Yes.
"Q. All right. That was not done, correct? That paint
gun, along with all of the equipment and the warnings and
the literature was not preserved by Imperial Aluminum,
correct?
"A. No. It's not correct.
"Q. All right. Part of it was preserved, the
compressor.
"A. As far as we know, it was all preserved, but....
"Q. It was all preserved at one time?
"A. At one time.
"Q. Okay. Well, would you agree that as we sit here
today, we don't know where the paint gun is?
"A. Correct.
Page 57
"Q. We don't know where the box that it came in
is, correct?
"A. Correct.
"Q. We don't know where any of the literature or
warnings are, relative to the paint sprayer or the paint
gun, correct?
"A. Correct.
"....
"Q. Have you seen any of the testimony [in] this case
that would indicate... that the paint gun was with the
sprayer when it was initially put up?
"A. No, I have not.
"....
"Q. When was the last time that you know of that the
paint gun was still at the plant?
"A. If it was with the sprayer at the time it was put
up, that's the last time [Imperial management] knew it
was there."
When
asked by Taylor's attorney whether the spray gun was
stored with the compressor, Chenoweth replied:
"We're not sure ... if the maintenance
person— when we say the sprayer, he saw the sprayer
unit. Most people think the unit is the sprayer. So at that
time, we assumed the gun was with it. We're not sure.
Nobody inspected it, just the maintenance person that put
it up."
Chenoweth
testified that Imperial did not incur any cost for storing
the Tradeworks 170 in its warehouse, other than being
deprived of using the unit.
Peebles,
who was the plant manager for Imperial on the date of
Taylor's injury and who left his employment with Imperial
in August 2012, testified that he was not a witness to
Taylor's injury but that he understood the injury
occurred when Taylor was attempting to clean paint off of his
hands using the spray gun. Peebles testified that, after
receiving the January 3, 2011, letter from Taylor's
counsel, he notified Imperial's corporate office of the
letter and also instructed Stalnaker to preserve the
Tradeworks 170 unit by putting it on a pallet and into the
finished-goods area of the plant. Peebles testified that when
he left his employment with Imperial, the Tradeworks 170 was
still in the finished-goods area of the plant. Under direct
examination from Taylor's attorney, Peebles testified:
"Q. All right. So [when] you instructed Mr. Stalnaker
to take the paint gun, did you instruct him to take all the
documents and the— any equipment that went with it?
"A. Well, the paint gun would have been— when I
asked him to take the sprayer, I assumed that he would have
took the whole paint gun. There was— there was only
two— really only two pieces to it. So I would assume
that— as far as the ...