Exxon Corp. v. Quinn
Charles Randy Quinn, an employee of Woodard Electric Company, was injured while working on a utility pole on an Exxon lease when the pole was reenergized by his foreman, C.J. Joyner. Quinn sued Exxon Corporation for negligence, alleging Exxon participated in the decision not to use a "red tag procedure" for safety and failed to provide a safe place to work. The trial court initially rendered judgment notwithstanding the verdict for Exxon, but the court of appeals reversed and rendered judgment for Quinn. This court reversed the court of appeals' judgment regarding Exxon's "participation" due to lack of control but remanded the case for the court of appeals to weigh the sufficiency of evidence on the "unsafe premises" theory, finding that Exxon's premises might have been unsafe due to the positioning of disconnect switches, transformers, and jumper wires.