plaintiff cannot surmount an affirmative defense which would bar the claim." Clark v. plaintiff cannot produce evidence to support an essential element of his claim, or. In order to prevail on a summary judgment motion, the moving party must show either "(1) an essential element of plaintiff's claim is nonexistent. We agree.Ī trial court may grant a motion for summary judgment only when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The facts of this case, according to defendant, do not meet the strict standard set forth in Woodson. § 97-10.1 that an injured employee is limited to recovery under the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act. Defendant contends Woodson is a narrow exception to the general rule embodied in N.C.Gen.Stat. They argue they are not limited to recovery under the Workers' Compensation Act because the facts of this case permit them to pursue a Woodson claim. Plaintiffs contend the trial court erred in granting defendant's motion for summary judgment. Consequently, defendant decided it would no longer allow this company to handle the wiring on the card machines. Kelly's accident, she was told defendant had discovered the reason the machine had not been working properly was because this outside company had been using defective wire. The problem still persisted despite the fact that this company rewired the machine on four separate occasions. In response to these complaints, defendant attempted to correct the problem by arranging for an outside company to rewire the machine. Kelly notified management of the problem a number of times throughout the month. When her brush hit this dip, it snagged the brush. Kelly's injury, she noticed, as she was cleaning one of the card machines, that it appeared to have a dip in the cylinder. These machines were structurally similar to the card machines used by defendant and the procedure for operating and cleaning the machines was the same. Kelly's employment at Pharr Yarns, she was called upon to operate and clean card machines. After leaving Pharr Yarns, she worked for Carolina Mills for six months and then began working for defendant in October 1990. Prior to working for defendant, she was employed by Pharr Yarns from 1973 until 1986. Kelly was an experienced textile machine operator. Kelly's right hand was severely injured and her right thumb was amputated. When she reached around with her left hand to operate the controls on the side of the machine, the brush in her right hand hit a dip in the cylinder, trapping both the brush and her right hand between the cylinder and a metal guard at the top of the cylinder. The speed was regulated by manipulating the controls on the side of the machine. The standard procedure for cleaning the cylinder was for her to hold a small wire brush against the surface of the rotating cylinder while the machine was operating at a low speed. Kelly's duties was to clean the accumulated cotton, called lap, from the large, stainless steel cylinder of the card machine. In June 1991 she was employed *459 by defendant as a card tender at one of defendant's textile plants. Kelly's deposition included the following testimony. From this order and judgment, plaintiffs appeal. Judge Charles Lamm found there were no genuine issues of material fact as to defendant's liability and granted defendant's summary judgment motion on 19 August 1994. Defendant filed an answer on and a motion for summary judgment on 18 November 1993. 330, 407 S.E.2d 222 (1991) (hereinafter "Woodson claim") alleging defendant had intentionally engaged in conduct which was substantially certain to cause injury to plaintiff. On 19 March 1991, Deborah Kelly and her husband, Brian Kelly, filed suit against Deborah Kelly's employer, Parkdale Mills, Incorporated, pursuant to Woodson v. Alaimo, Charlotte, for defendant-appellee. Golding, Meekins, Holden, Cosper & Stiles by Harvey L. Price, Smith, Crosland and Hargett by William Benjamin Smith, Charlotte, for plaintiff-appellants.
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