## Facts

- Joseph Garrett was a student in Northwest Mississippi Junior College’s vocational tool-and-die program.
- On April 12, 1985, Garrett was injured during class while working on a horizontal milling machine and severed his right thumb.
- Garrett described the milling machine as using a rotary blade to cut metal and testified he was “mike‑ing” (measuring) a piece of metal with a micrometer when the accident occurred.
- Garrett testified the accident happened the first time he attempted to operate the milling machine on his own.
- Garrett testified he had not received instruction on how to use the milling machine and had not taken a safety test specific to that machine.
- Garrett described the shop practice as largely self-directed: if a machine was open, a student would use it.
- The instructor, Frank Houck, acknowledged in deposition that students did not have to demonstrate proficiency on the machinery before using it.
- The parties disputed Houck’s whereabouts at the time of the accident:
  - Garrett testified Houck was in his office at the opposite end of the room from the milling machine.
  - Houck testified he was only a few feet away and had briefly gone to his office to retrieve a drill bit for another student.
- Houck testified he gave safety instruction and demonstrations and stated that when students operated machines he was “constantly” with them.
- Houck also testified Garrett was somewhat slow and that he had warned Garrett about proper machine use on at least one earlier occasion.
- Garrett sued the college in the Tate County Circuit Court for negligence, alleging the college failed to provide reasonably safe tools and equipment and a reasonably safe place to learn and work with those tools and equipment.
- The circuit court granted the college’s motion for summary judgment, and Garrett appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether genuine issues of material fact existed on the college’s alleged negligence (including adequacy of instruction, supervision, and safety measures) so that summary judgment was improper.
2. Whether proximate cause and fault allocation (including any comparative negligence by Garrett) were questions for the jury on this record.

## Decision

- The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment for Northwest Mississippi Junior College.
- The court remanded the case for trial on the merits.
- The court held that the record contained conflicting evidence about training, supervision, and the circumstances of the accident, creating triable fact questions.
- The court concluded that causation and fault allocation could not be resolved as a matter of law given the disputed evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Summary judgment is proper only when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
- In deciding a summary-judgment motion, courts view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and give that party the benefit of reasonable doubts.
- Negligence claims generally present jury questions when reasonable jurors could differ on whether the defendant used reasonable care under the circumstances.
- Where testimony conflicts about safety instruction, required proficiency, and instructor supervision in a setting involving dangerous machinery, those disputes ordinarily must be resolved by the factfinder rather than on summary judgment.
- Proximate cause and comparative negligence typically are for the jury when the evidence permits more than one reasonable conclusion about what caused the injury and who was at fault.

## Conclusion

Because the evidence conflicted on whether Garrett received adequate machine-specific instruction, whether the shop required proficiency before use, how closely the instructor supervised students operating the milling machine, and how those facts related to causation and fault, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the college was not entitled to summary judgment and sent the case back for trial.


Garrett v. Northwest Mississippi Junior College, 674 So. 2d 1 (1996)