v.
Home Depot USA, Incorporated
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
April 15, 2020
No. 19-20670 Lyle W. Cayce
Summary Calendar Clerk
JANE MILLIGAN, individually and as Representative of the Estate of Fritz Pierre Poux, Sr.,
Plaintiff - Appellant
v.
HOME DEPOT USA, INCORPORATED,
Defendant - Appellee
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. 4:17-CV-449
Before WIENER, HAYNES, and COSTA, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:* Jane Milligan appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. on her common-law negligence claim. For the reasons below, we AFFIRM.
* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. Case: 19-20670 Document: 00515383058 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/15/2020 No. 19-20670 I. Background Fritz Poux worked as a Home Depot employee and had a history of heart health issues. In 2015, while working at Home Depot’s store in Porter, Texas, Poux submitted a medical accommodations request form completed by his doctor to Home Depot. His doctor noted that due to Poux’s heart issues, Poux should not “work outside in heat” and should “not be required to lift, push or pull over 20 lbs.” His doctor also specifically recommended that Poux not work as a lumber department supervisor, Poux’s position at the time. Poux thereafter worked as a sales associate. In 2016, Poux suffered a cardiac event. His doctor again noted that it would be in Poux’s “best interest” to do work that did “not require heavy lifting over 30 lbs or exposure to extreme heat.” Poux returned to work about two months after his cardiac event. When he returned, he was transferred to Home Depot’s store in Humble, Texas, and put to work in the lumber department as a sales associate. Two weeks into working at the Humble location, Poux suffered a stroke. He was found in the back part of the store, “[n]ot too far” from two wood saws. According to an employee accident claim worksheet completed after the event, Poux was “cutting lumber” at the time of the incident. Due to complications from the stroke, Poux died in 2018. Poux’s wife, Milligan, sued Home Depot in Texas state court, raising a claim of negligence under the non-subscriber portion of the Texas Worker’s Compensation Act. Home Depot timely removed the case to federal district court on diversity grounds.[1] Home Depot then moved for summary judgment, Case: 19-20670 Document: 00515383058 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/15/2020 Case: 19-20670 Document: 00515383058 Page: 4 Date Filed: 04/15/2020 Case: 19-20670 Document: 00515383058 Page: 5 Date Filed: 04/15/2020
[*2][*3][*4]No. 19-20670 Even if cutting lumber with a wood saw was outside of Poux’s work restriction, he did not request assistance. Poux’s coworker testified that employees have communication devices that they can use to call for help and that Poux did not use his device for help the day of the incident. An employer is not liable for injury that “results from the actions of [an] employee who voluntarily proceeds to do the work without assistance.” Adams v. Reynolds Tile & Flooring, Inc., 120 S.W.3d 417, 421 (Tex. App.⎯Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, no pet.). Milligan also suggests that Poux’s doctor requested that he no longer work in the lumber department. However, no evidence supports that suggestion. The doctor only recommended that Poux no longer work as a supervisor in the lumber department, and Poux was working as a sales associate, not a supervisor. Thus, there is no evidence that Home Depot failed to accommodate Poux’s work restrictions. Lastly, Milligan claims that Home Depot’s refusal to adhere to Poux’s work restrictions is evident from the employee accident claim worksheet, which noted that “job restrictions” could prevent a reoccurrence of Poux’s accident. But the worksheet did not identify what types of job restrictions could prevent a reoccurrence, nor did it state that Poux’s work restrictions were not being followed. The record does not provide any evidence that Poux was working outside of his doctor’s restrictions. Thus, even if Home Depot had a duty to accommodate Poux’s work restrictions, Poux failed to raise a fact issue supporting the claim that Home Depot breached that duty. AFFIRMED.
[*5]