Strub v. C & M Builders, LLC

DAVIS, J. Kelly Lynn Strub, appellant/cross-appellee, 1 appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in favor ⁴ of C & M Builders, LLC (C & M), appellee/cross-appellant, and presents one question for our review: Did the trial court err in granting [C & M’s] motion in limine and precluding [Strub] from offering any evidence or testimony that [C & M] either owed or breached a duty of care under OSHA and MOSHA regulations and the Multi-Employer Doctrine? C&M raises an additional question on cross-appeal: Did the trial court err by denying C & M’s Motion for Judgment, that Nocar assumed the risk of the occurrence, and was contributorily negligent as a matter of law? For the reasons that follow, we answer Strub’s question in the affirmative and C & M’s question in the negative. Accordingly, we reverse, in part, and affirm, in part.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND Strub filed a Complaint on behalf of her minor son, Sebashton Charles Nocar, in the circuit court alleging that C & M’s negligence caused the death of his father, Wayne Barry Nocar, II (Nocar) who suffered fatal injuries after he fell from the third floor of a row home while working as an HVAC subcontractor in a renovation of a Baltimore City row home. Prior to trial, C&M moved in limine to prevent Strub’s expert witnesses from testifying that, in failing to cover the stairwell openings on the construction site, C&M violated MOSHA and OSHA standards; thus, it breached a statutory duty owed to Nocar. Specifically, the parties disagreed as to whether C&M owed a duty to Nocar when Nocar was an employee of Comfort Masters Cooling and Heating, Inc. (Comfort Masters). Appellant contended that C&M was ⁵ obligated to protect not only its own employees from the fall hazard created by the open stair ways, but also the employees of other subcontractors because it created the hazard.

Strub proffered that Brent Leisenring, an engineer and former MOSHA inspector, would testify that C&M violated the statutes in failing to secure the openings on the construction site. Strub further explained, during the hearing on C & M’s motion, that following his testimony, Strub intended to request that the trial court instruct the jury “that the violation of MOSH standards is evidence of negligence.” C&M argued that this Court held, in Murphy v. Stuart M. Smith, Inc., 53 Md.App. 640 , 455 A.2d 69 (1983), that the statutes did not apply to this case, imposing a duty on C & M to a person who was not one of its employees. The trial court permitted Leisenring to testify, but restricted his testimony, ruling: All Right. Here’s how we’re going to deal with this.

I don’t think you can properly use the MOSH [sic] expert to testify that — if he wants to testify on industry standards regarding the preparation of the job site as was done by the defendant, that’s fíne. But if he’s simply saying it violates MOSH [sic] standards, therefore there’s a duty owed and there’s negligence, I don’t think he can do that based on what you gentlemen have told me. The trial court then clarified its ruling, stating: ... if he’s going to discuss industry standards, and that’s what he’s going to discuss, we’ll allow him. But I don’t want him saying there’s a legal duty owed.

He can say there was negligence based on industry standards. Counsel for Strub sought clarification of the court’s ruling and the following transpired: ⁶ Counsel for Strub: So as I understand your ruling Ken Johnson is excluded but Brent Leisenring is allowed to testify? The Court: That’s correct. Counsel for Strub: You’re probably not going to want to hear this.

And I think this will be legal argument actually now that I think about it. Because I do have an argument — well, Mr. Leisenring, the other expert, is only going to be permitted to testify to industry standards. He’s not going to be allowed to talk about MOSH [sic] or OSHA, am I correct? The Court: Right.

The case proceeded to trial during which the following evidence was presented. C&M entered into an oral contract with Bayside Properties, Inc. (Bayside), the general contractor, to finish framing a row home on Fleet Street. Bayside began the renovation project, “gutting” the building and framing the first floor, leaving nothing but a “shell.” All that was in place at the time that C&M began its work was the exterior walls and a roof. The first floor had a rectangular opening prior to C & M’s work, that was not guarded, for the steel staircase that was to be installed in the basement at a later date.

C&M agreed to frame the second and third floors of the building and to leave openings in the floors for staircases to be installed directly above the existing opening in the first floor. Prior to Leisenring’s testimony, C&M moved to exclude him as a witness because, in light of the court’s earlier ruling on its motion in limine, he was barred from testifying to OSHA and MOSHA standards and was limited to testifying to customary practices of the construction industry. C&M argued that Leisenring never testified to the practices of the industry generally during discovery and, thus, his testimony should be excluded. The court explained that the basis of its earlier ruling limiting Leisenring’s testimony was that it agreed with C&M that the expert should not be permitted to ⁷ testify that MOSHA or OSHA imposed a statutory duty on C & M to cover the openings in the floors because duty is a legal question and not something to which an expert can testify.

The parties again disputed the applicability of MOSHA and OSHA and the trial court denied C & M’s motion. The following transpired: The Court: But how can you — you know, I don’t know that OSHA and MOSH [sic] don’t suggest grounds for arguing that there’s a breech [sic]. They just don’t establish to whom the duty is owed. Counsel for Strub: That’s why [Leisenring] should testify about OSHA and MOSH [sic].

The Court: He can’t testify as to — see, you shouldn’t be asking me these questions. All right. Leave OSHA and MOSH [sic] out of this. If ... but I’m going to let him testify to what he has to say.

And if you— Counsel for C&M: And it will be standard usual and customary practices? The Court: And if you — yeah, it will be practices. Leisenring testified that in the process of framing the house, C&M created openings in the floors for staircases to be constructed at a later date. C & M did not cover the openings, exposing workers to “fall hazards greater than six feet, which violated the industry standards and was a cause of Wayne Nocar’s death.” Leisenring further testified that it was “predictable” that other workers would be entering the premises after C&M completed its assigned job of framing and that it is the general practice of the industry to cover and guard such holes to protect others from falling through the openings in the floors.

Christopher Chavez, part owner of C & M, testified that, at the end of their framing job on May 5, 2006, C&M removed the ladders that they had constructed to access the floors of the building and left the openings exposed, expecting that Bayside’s next sub-contractor would be the company installing ⁸ the stairs. He further testified that Bayside never asked C & M to guard the openings to the stairwell for this job or any other jobs that C&M had done for Bayside in the past. Three weeks later, on May 26, 2006, Comfort Masters sent three of its employees, Nocar, Joshua Tudor and Andrew Pfarr, to the building to install a heating and cooling system, despite the fact that the stairs had not yet been installed. The three worked for approximately three hours that morning before Nocar’s fall.

Throughout the morning, the three worked with only two step ladders, as they had left one behind at the shop. They planned to retrieve a third ladder from the shop on their lunch break. Tudor testified that, in addition to forgetting a ladder, they had neglected to bring other materials necessary for the installation of a return on the third floor. He testified: “We had no collars to hook to it.

So I told him, I say, Wayne, there’s no sense of putting this return box up just so that we have to take it down in an hour____’” Nocar agreed and Tudor went down to the second floor to begin another project. Tudor testified that soon thereafter Nocar had yelled down to him while he was working on the second floor to bring his ladder up to the third floor. Tudor testified that he told Nocar that he would give him his ladder in a minute after he finished the task he was working on when Nocar “leaned down in the hole ... and said ‘Oh. You using it.

Never mind.’ ” Then, according to Tudor, Nocar said “Fuck it. I’ll just climb the bitch.” Three or four minutes later, Tudor heard a loud noise and heard Pfarr scream. He walked to the opening of the second floor stairwell and saw the step ladder “dangling over the third floor” and realized that Nocar had fallen from the third floor into the basement. Tudor testified that, based upon the conversation minutes before the fall, he believed that Nocar had pulled the ladder that had been nailed into the stairwell up to the third floor to use it to install the return box on the third floor.

He surmised: The ladder was leaning right where the return box was supposed to go. The ladder was too tall to stand up in the hallway like straight. And the hallway was too narrow for ⁹ him to fit up there. So what he did is he leaned it across the hole up against the metal stud.

And the metal studs are not made for structural [sic]. So when he leaned on it, it bent and tipped the ladder. During cross-examination, Tudor explained that he did not know for certain if Nocar fell as a result of positioning the ladder as he had described, but that he thought that he fell in that manner based on the circumstances and his knowledge of the task that Nocar was attempting to complete. Timothy Galarnyk, a forensic investigator, testified for the defense that industry practice and industry customs would not have required C & M to cover or otherwise guard the stairwell openings.

Rather, “... when a contractor is finished with their portion of the work; in other words, framing contractor is finished with their portion of the work; they leave the job site and prepare it only for the next contractor, which in this case would have been the stairway contractor.” He further testified that it was typical for framing contractors to leave stairwells open in order to move large pieces of plywood between floors. Galarnyk also testified that, based upon Tudor’s testimony and his examination of the vertical sheet metal stud on the third floor that the ladder was hanging from after Nocar’s fall, in order for a ladder to cause such damage to a stud “it had to be loaded and twisted,” ie., someone had to be standing on the ladder when it twisted. At the conclusion of the evidence, C&M moved for judgment and argued that Nocar assumed the risk of injury and was contributorily negligent in utilizing the ladder improperly in close proximity to the stairwell opening to install the return box. The motion was denied and the case was submitted to the jury.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of C&M, finding no primary negligence on its part. Thus, the jury did not reach the questions of assumption of the risk and contributory negligence. Strub filed a timely appeal and C & M filed a timely cross-appeal. Additional facts shall be supplied infra as warranted. ¹⁰ LEGAL ANALYSIS I Strub contends that the trial court erred in restricting Leisenring’s testimony and prohibiting him from testifying regarding OSHA and MOSHA standards because, in doing so, the court implicitly made the legal determination that C&M did not owe a duty of care to Nocar under either statute because Nocar was not a C & M employee.

Generally, we review a trial court’s evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. Hall v. University of Maryland Medical System Corp., 398 Md. 67, 82 , 919 A.2d 1177 (2007); Saxon Mortgage Servs. v. Harrison, 186 Md.App. 228, 252 , 973 A.2d 841 (2009); Brown v. Contemporary OB/GYN Assocs., 143 Md.App. 199, 252 , 794 A.2d 669 (2002). The threshold issue for the court’s ruling in this case was its legal determination that the statutes did not apply because there was no employer-employee relationship between Nocar and C&M. The Court of Appeals has said that, “[i]f ‘the trial judge’s ruling involves a pure legal question, we generally review the trial court’s ruling de novo.'” Hall, 398 Md. at 82 , 919 A.2d 1177 (quoting Bern-Shaw Ltd. Partnership v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 377 Md. 277, 291 , 833 A.2d 502 (2003)). Thus, we shall conduct a de novo review.

The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Act (MO-SHA), Md.Code (1991 Rep. Vol., 2006 Supp.), Labor & Employment, L.E. § 5-101 et seq., is the State counterpart to the federal legislation embodied in the Occupation Safety and Health Act (OSHA), 29 U.S.C. § 651 , et seq. MOSHA provides in pertinent part: § 5-104. General duties of employers and employees.

(a) Safe employment and places of employment. — Each employer shall provide each employee of the employer with employment and a place of employment that are: (1) safe and healthful; and ¹¹ (2) free from each recognized hazard that is causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to the employee. Strub contends that, despite the plain language of the statute, C&M, although not Nocar’s employer, owed Nocar a duty of care pursuant to MOSHA. Thus, Strub further posits that the trial court erred in prohibiting Leisenring from testifying that the open holes in the floor violated MOSHA, under which it owed a duty of care to Nocar. 2 The basis for this duty, according to Strub, is the “multi-employer” doctrine. Strub cites Universal Construction Company, Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 182 F.3d 726, 730 (10th Cir.1999), in support of her contention.

Universal Construction propounds the doctrine as follows, id. at 728: The multi-employer doctrine provides that an employer who controls or creates a worksite safety hazard may be liable under the Occupational Safety and Health Act even if the employees threatened by the hazard are solely employees of another employer. The doctrine has its genesis in the construction industry where numerous employers, often subcontractors, work in the same general area, and where hazards created by one employer often pose dangers to ¹² employees of other employers. The Secretary has imposed liability under the doctrine since the 1970’s and has steadfastly maintained the doctrine is supported by the language and spirit of the Act. The Secretary’s interpretation has been accepted in one form or another in at least five circuits, and rejected outright in only one.

Strub also cites a number of cases where federal courts have applied the doctrine to hold an employer liable for an OSHA violation, ie., the employer’s citation has been upheld under the doctrine, although the violation was committed by another contractor or endangered the employees of another contractor. In Universal Construction Company, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission imposing a penalty against Universal, a general contractor, based upon the “multi-employer worksite doctrine.” Id. at 732 . That court adopted the doctrine because Universal, as the general contractor, observed the OSHA violation and “had plenary control and authority over the worksite and could itself correct a hazard created by any subcontractor....” Id. at 732 . Strub also cites Beatty Equipment Leasing, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, United States Dep’t of Labor, 577 F.2d 534 (9th Cir.1978), where the Ninth Circuit upheld a citation issued to a “materialman” for a general contractor for failure to comply with scaffolding standards under OSHA.

The court observed that, “for all relevant purposes, petitioner functioned as a subcontractor in this case.” Id. at 537 . It adopted the multiemployer worksite doctrine and upheld the citation issued to the subcontractor, even though the violation for which it was responsible only exposed employees of other subcontractors to the hazard because “[i]t facilitates the broad remedial purpose of [OSHA] which Congress declared is ‘to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions’ 29 U.S.C. § 651 ... ‘Congress clearly intended to require employers to eliminate all foreseeable and preventable hazards.’ ” Id. (quoting California Stevedore and Ballast Co. v. OSHRC, 517 F.2d 986, 988 (9th Cir.1975)). ¹³ Finally, Strub cites Solis v. Summit Contractors, Inc, 558 F.3d 815 (8th Cir.2009), and asserts that the trial court’s ruling was erroneously based upon the earlier decision by the Occupational Health and Safety Review Commission (OSHRC) in that case wherein the OSHRC vacated an OSHA citation against a general contractor for a hazard created by one of its subcontractors. Strub argues that the case was not yet decided when the trial in the instant case took place, but that, in light of the Eighth Circuit’s recent holding, we should reverse the trial court’s ruling.

Initially, we observe that, although C&M cited the case in its motion in limine, there is absolutely no indication in the record that the trial court relied upon Solis in making its determination. Notwithstanding that fact, we find Solis instructive as it chronicles the history and evolution of the multi-employer worksite doctrine and its adoption in the federal courts. The Eighth Circuit explained that the multi-employer doctrine has its basis in the specific duty provided in 29 U.S.C. § 654 subsection (a)(2) “to comply with standards for the good of all employees on a multi-employer worksite.” Id. at 818 . The court further delineated the evolution of the doctrine and the practice of citing employers for violations committed by other contractors or non-employees, noting that, “[a]s part of OSHA’s inception, Congress authorized the Secretary to adopt numerous preexisting federal standards, including those of the Construction Safety Act, as OSHA standards.... ” Id. at 818 .

Thus, the Secretary of Labor promulgated a series of regulations pursuant to that authority and also enacted a Field Operations Manual, wherein it first established “the Secretary’s multi-employer worksite policy, a policy that indicates which employers at a multi-employer construction site OSHA could cite for violations.” Id. at 819 . The original multiemployer worksite exceptions were “the creating employer and the exposing employer citation polices, but not the controlling employer citation policy.” Id. Although the OSHRC originally construed these policies very narrowly by citing employers for violations of others only when their own employees were exposed to the hazard, the court observed that, ¹⁴ by 1975, the Second Circuit and the Seventh Circuit rejected the narrow interpretations, questioning whether an employer of a general contractor needed to be exposed to the violation in order to make a general contractor liable under OSHA. Id. at 820 (citing Brennan v. OSHRC, 513 F.2d 1032 , 1308 (2d Cir.1975); Anning-Johnson Co. v. OSHRC, 516 F.2d 1081 , 1091 n. 21 (7th Cir.1975)).

Thus, “OSHRC announced its revised position that a contractor who has either created a hazard or controls a hazardous condition has a duty under § 654(a)(2) to comply with OSHA standards even if the contractor’s own employees are not exposed to the hazard.” Id. at 820-21 (citing Grossman Steel & Aluminum Corp., 4 BNA OSHC 1185 , 1975-1976 CCH OSHD 20 , 691 (O.S.H.R.C. May 12, 1976)). Ultimately, the Solis Court observed that in 1981 “the correcting employer citation policy was added” and then, in 1994, “the multi-employer worksite was amended to add the creating employer and the controlling employer citation policies.” The current version of the OSHA citation manual contains “the same four citation policies — exposing employer, correcting employer, creating employer and controlling employer.” Id. at 821 . The Solis Court held that the controlling employer citation policy was not barred by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.12 (a). 3 Thus, the court rejected Solis’ argument that, as a general contractor, it could not be held liable for a subcontractor’s OSHA violation simply because it controlled the work environment. Id. at 824 .

In light of the foregoing authorities, Strub posits that, because C&M could have been cited as a creating employer ¹⁵ under the multi-employer worksite doctrine, Maryland should adopt the doctrine and hold that C&M owed Nocar a duty of care under the statute. C&M contends that, notwithstanding the authorities cited by Strub, the language in L.E. § 5-104 limits the duty to comply with MOSHA to the employer-employee relationship. L.E. § 5-104 provides in pertinent part, “[e]ach employer shall provide each employee of the employer with employment and a place of employment ...” that complies with MOSHA. Further, C&M posits that “this precise issue” was addressed in Murphy v. Stuart M. Smith, Inc., 53 Md.App. 640 , 455 A.2d 69 (1983).

C&M believes our decision in Murphy to be determinative of the issue before us. We agree, but not for the same reasons advanced by C & M. We explain. In Murphy , a route salesman for Tastykake, Inc. suffered injuries while loading his work van, in the dark, at a warehouse owned by the defendant and leased to Murphy’s employer. Murphy claimed that he lost his footing and fell due to inadequate lighting at the facility.

Id. Murphy sued the property owner based upon two alternate theories: (1) that the property owner retained control of the area in which he fell and owed him a duty as a business invitee and (2) that the property owner owed him a duty of care under MOSHA. Id. On appeal, Murphy argued that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that, “as a matter of law, any duties owed to [him] pursuant to [MOSHA], were not applicable in this case because [the property owner] was not Mr. Murphy’s employer.” Id. at 642 , 455 A.2d 69 .

We acknowledged that Murphy cited “a series of federal cases which have applied a duty under certain circumstances upon someone other than an employer to maintain safe premises for another’s employees.” Id. Those exceptions included (1) where the jurisdiction’s OSHA statute specifically limited the duty to keeping the place of employment safe “for employees,” (2) “where the employer was, or could have been, found to have voluntarily assumed a duty to comply with OSHA regulations for the benefit of persons other than his own employees ...” and (3) when “owners or employers who have either actually created a ¹⁶ hazardous condition which violated specific OSHA regulations and to which its own and another’s employees were exposed ... or had actual and substantial physical control over the work area, and actual responsibility for the hazardous condition.” Id. at 643 , 455 A.2d 69 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). We also acknowledged that the Fifth Circuit “flatly held that OSHA does not create a duty on behalf of an employer to any persons other than its own employees, regardless of any other factual circumstance presented.” Id. at 644 , 455 A.2d 69 (citations omitted). We declined to “go to the extreme of the fifth circuit” because “we are a Court purposed to decide cases on the facts presented rather than proclaim in black letter the applicability of law for all purposes.” We instead held, id. at 644 , 455 A.2d 69 : It will suffice that under the facts of this case the Maryland Act is clearly limited, placing the duty on the “employer” for the benefit of “his employees.” Rules of construction are to be resorted to only when there is a doubt, ambiguity, or uncertainty, and they are never to be used to create doubt, only to remove it.

John McShain, Inc. v. State, 287 Md. 297, 301 [ 411 A.2d 1048 ] (1980). This is another case for applying the canon of construction of the wag whom Justice Frankfurter quoted as saying when the legislative history is doubtful, go to the statute. Greenwood v. United States, 350 U.S. 366, 374 [ 76 S.Ct. 410 , 100 L.Ed. 412 ] (1956). In doing so we find that neither its statutory language nor legislative intent can be stretched beyond the fair implication of the statute’s words or its purpose.

Soper v. Montgomery County, 294 Md. 331, 335 [ 449 A.2d 1158 ] (1982). Because the issue had been injected into the case by [Murphy], the trial judge quite properly dispelled the jury’s doubts by instructing that the statutory duty had no applicability in this case. C&M asserts that, “since Murphy , two exceptions to this principle have been recognized in Maryland. But, neither exception is apposite here.” C&M points out that, in Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. v. Thompson, 57 Md.App. 642 , ¹⁷ 471 A.2d 768 (1984), we recognized the “actual control exception” and, in Brady v. Ralph M. Parsons Co., 82 Md.App. 519 , 572 A.2d 1115 (1990), aff'd, 327 Md. 275 , 609 A.2d 297 (1992), we recognized the “assumed duty” exception to the general rule that employers are only liable to their own employees to provide a safe workplace under MOSHA.

In Thompson , we affirmed a trial court’s instruction to the jury that “B.G. & E. was responsible for providing [Thompson] with a safe place of employment ...” when Thompson was not an employee of B.G. & E. 57 Md.App. at 645 , 471 A.2d 768 . Thompson, an employee hired by Insul-Temp/Airco, Inc., was performing a job for B.G. & E. and, while climbing scaffolding erected by B.G. & E., fell to the floor and suffered permanent injuries. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Thompson. Id.

On appeal, B.G. & E. argued that it did not owe a duty to provide a safe workplace under MOSHA or OSHA, relying on Murphy, supra. Thus, it maintained that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that, “if they found that [B.G. & E.] and its employees failed to provide safe access to the scaffolding, they could consider such failure evidence of negligence.” Id. at 651 , 471 A.2d 768 . We rejected B. G. & E’s contention and explained: In Murphy , however, we pointed out circumstances wherein the duty of the employer may be owed to someone other than its own employee. One of those circumstances was where employers have “actually created a hazardous condition which violated specific OSHA