Woods v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 2021 UT 49 (Aug. 19, 2021)

The plaintiff asserted a negligence claim against UPS based on an injury he suffered when a vinyl curtain at his place of employment fell and struck him. The vinyl curtain had been jarred loose when a UPS truck allegedly hit the loading dock at the warehouse. The warehouse owner (and plaintiff’s employer) was aware the vinyl curtain had been jarred loose and attempted to repair it by tightening the remaining bolts. The court of appeals had affirmed on the basis UPS owed no duty to the plaintiff. The supreme court instead affirmed on the alternative ground that UPS’s collision with the loading dock was not the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury; the warehouse owner’s negligence in not adequately repairing the curtain was a superseding cause.