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Moore v. Cottrell Inc.

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in striking the plaintiffs' two expert witnesses and properly granted summary judgment to the defendant in the plaintiffs' action for negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability, in which they alleged that the car hauler from which the plaintiff fell was defective and not equipped with a safe means for him to descend to the ground.

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Dennis and Lisa Moore filed this action to recover for injuries Dennis received in a fall from the top level of a car hauler manufactured by Cottrell, Inc. The Moores appeal the trial court’s orders striking their experts and granting summary judgment to Cottrell. We affirm for the reasons that follow.

On April 1, 2008, Dennis, a car hauler driver for Waggoners Trucking Company, went to the Nissan North American facility in Canton, Mississippi, to pick up a load of new vehicles. The car hauler was equipped with a head ramp, which held three vehicles over the truck cab, and was attached to a two-level trailer. The car hauler included a portable, non-affixed ladder, which could be moved from the driver’s side to the passenger’s side of the car hauler and was located at the rear of the head ramp. It was raining, and the car hauler was wet. Dennis backed the first vehicle onto the head ramp of the car hauler into the position farthest forward and over the cab and hood of his tractor-trailer rig, exited the vehicle on the passenger side of the car hauler, walked past the first vehicle, and walked down the ramps to the ground in lieu of using the ladder. He then drove a Nissan Armada a large SUV into the second position on the head ramp, exited from the driver’s door on the driver’s side of the car hauler, and turned to face the SUV, intending to step onto the wider ramp at the back of the SUV upon which the tires are driven and walk down the ramp to the ground. While balanced on the frame of the head ramp, which was not equipped with guard rails or handholds, Dennis attempted to maintain a three-point stance by grasping the roof of the Armada with his fingers as he inched along the rail of the head ramp towards the back of the SUV. As he approached the rear tire of the Armada, Dennis lost his footing and fell to the ground, sustaining serious injuries.

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