IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE
______________________________________________
AMY TYLER,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
FILED
Williamson Circuit No. 96361
Vs. C.A. No. 01A01-9711-CV-00661
November 24, 1998
LARRY MORGAN, d/b/a LARRY
MORGAN CONST. COMPANY, Cecil W. Crowson
UNITED CITIES GAS CO., Appellate Court Clerk
ROGER P. DYE, d/b/a ROGER DYE
CONST. CO., MURRAY TATUM,
QUAD STATES, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees.
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DISSENT
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CRAWFORD, J.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. Bearden’s affidavit states that he had
a conversation with the defendants’ employees right after they finished pouring the concrete at
about 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. He further states that after warning the workers that they should
barricade the area, he was assured by the workers that they would put up a barricade. Although
a stretched string is not much of a barricade as we normally think of a barricade, to some people
it could be considered a type of a warning barricade. Since Bearden was assured by the workers
that they would put up a barricade, and subsequently the so-called barricade existed, there
appears to be an inference that the workers placed the barricade.
In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court must consider the motion in
the same manner as a motion for directed verdict made at the close of the plaintiff’s proof; that
is, the court must take the strongest legitimate view of the evidence in favor of the nonmoving
party allowing all reasonable inferences in favor of that party and discard all countervailing
evidence. Suddath v. Park, 914 S.W.2d 910 (Tenn. App. 1995).
Although the defendants categorically deny any knowledge of the string, the fact that the
defendant’s employees said they were going to erect a barricade, in my opinion creates a genuine
issue as to a material fact and precludes summary judgment.
I would reverse the order of the trial court granting summary judgment and remand this
case for further proceedings.
_________________________________
W. FRANK CRAWFORD,
PRESIDING JUDGE, W.S.
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