Gonzalez v. Seal Methods, Inc.

Filed 1/24/14 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

LUCIA GONZALEZ, B246825

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VC060315) v.

SEAL METHODS, INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court for Los Angeles County, Raul A. Sahagun, Judge. Affirmed. Panish Shea & Boyle, Rahul Ravipudi; Law Offices of John J. Perlstein, John J. Perlstein; The Ehrlich Law Firm and Jeffrey Isaac Ehrlich for Plaintiff and Appellant. Musick, Peeler & Garrett, William A. Bossen and Cheryl A. Orr for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff Lucia Gonzalez was working for defendant Seal Methods, Inc. (SMI) when she was severely injured while loading material onto a die in a power press. She sought damages from SMI in a lawsuit filed under Labor Code1 section 4558, which allows an employee to “bring an action at law for damages against the employer where the employee’s injury or death is proximately caused by the employer’s knowing removal of, or knowing failure to install, a point of operation guard on a power press, and this removal or failure to install is specifically authorized by the employer under conditions known by the employer to create a probability of serious injury or death.” (§ 4558, subd. (b).) The trial court granted SMI’s motion for summary judgment, finding that section 4558 did not apply under the undisputed facts of this case. We affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND The accident at issue in this lawsuit occurred while Gonzalez was operating a power press, referred to as Preco Punch Press No. 4 (the Press), in the course and scope of her employment with SMI. The Press is an industrial machine that uses a die to shape material by pressing against or punching through the material. At the time of the accident, Gonzalez was operating the Press in “manual” mode because the material being shaped had to be moved onto and off of the die by hand. The Press was equipped with a two-hand activator system for operation in manual mode; the die would not strike unless the operator used both hands to press buttons located outside the strike zone (the “point of operation”). The purpose of this two- hand activator system was to ensure that the operator’s hands were outside the point of operation during the machine stroke.