Robert Duran v. Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation Charles Glover, Jr., D/b/a Glover Trenching &…

Summary

The court affirmed summary judgment for Southwest, holding that it owed Duran no duty to warn him about the obvious danger of working near energized transformers, no duty to provide a reasonably safe work environment, and no utility-service duty applicable to him as an independent contractor’s employee. The court further held that, even assuming a forced-to-encounter exception could apply, the evidence did not create a material factual dispute because the work could be performed without encountering an energized transformer. Justice Baker, joined by Justices Hart and Womack, dissented, concluding that the evidence viewed favorably to Duran created material factual disputes concerning the scope of his work, his qualifications, Southwest’s knowledge, and whether he was forced to encounter the energized transformer.