Hernandez v. Thermal Structures
Plaintiff Heriberto Hernandez suffered a gruesome on-the-job injury when his hands were crushed in a power press. Under the worker’s compensation exclusivity rule (Lab. Code, § 3600, subd. (a)), and under the power press exception to that rule (Lab. Code, § 4558), Hernandez cannot recover against his employer, Thermal Structures, Inc. (Thermal) unless he can show that the accident occurred because Thermal either removed or failed to install a point of operation guard on the press.
When the accident occurred, the press did have a point of operation guard — two buttons, mounted on a pedestal; the press was not supposed to operate unless both buttons were pushed simultaneously. Hernandez’s current theory is that Thermal “removed†the guard by adding wheels to the pedestal, which allowed the pedestal to move so close to the main body of the press that he could push the buttons with his elbows while his hands were still dangerously close to the press. The problem with this theory is that, in discovery, Hernandez admitted that (1) Thermal did not remove a point of operation guard, (2) no changes were ever made to the press, and (3) the buttons were not being pushed when the accident occurred. Accordingly, the trial court properly granted summary judgment for Thermal.
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