Abshire v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Ins. Co.

289 So. 2d 545
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 1974
Docket4357
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 289 So. 2d 545 (Abshire v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abshire v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Ins. Co., 289 So. 2d 545 (La. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

289 So.2d 545 (1974)

Elwood J. ABSHIRE, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 4357.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

January 25, 1974.
Rehearing Denied February 25, 1974.
Writ Refused April 11, 1974.

*546 Plaisance & Franques, by A. J. Plaisance, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellant.

Voorhies & Labbe, by Richard D. Chappuis, Jr., Lafayette, for defendants-appellees.

Welton P. Mouton, Jr., Lafayette, for defendants-appellees.

Davidson, Meaux, Onebane & Donohoe, by Robert L. Cabes, Lafayette, for Intervenor-appellee.

Cooper & Sonnier, by Silas B. Cooper, Abbeville, for defendant-appellee.

Bean & Rush, by Warren D. Rush, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before FRUGÉ, SAVOY and PONDER, JJ.

PONDER, Judge.

This suit for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff, Elwood Abshire, was originally instituted in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for East Baton Rouge Parish. Under the provisions of LSA-C.C.P. art. 123, it was transferred to the Fifteenth Judicial District Court. The following parties were made defendants: Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Horace B. Rickey, Inc., University Place Apartments, Inc., Horace B. Rickey, Jr., Frank Tong and Doris LeBlanc. On motion *547 of plaintiff, the action against Horace B. Rickey, Inc., was dismissed.

Insurance Company of North America filed a petition in intervention, alleging a preference and priority to any amounts received by the original plaintiff.

Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Horace B. Rickey, Jr., and Horace B. Rickey, Inc., filed third party demands against Aristile LeBlanc & Son, Inc., who was plaintiff's employer, and who was a subcontractor of Horace B. Rickey, Inc. No judgments were rendered on the third party demands, and they are not before this court for review.

Horace B. Rickey, Jr., his insurer, Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Doris LeBlanc, and his insurer, National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, filed exceptions of no cause or no right of action and motions for summary judgment. In addition, Doris LeBlanc, Aristile LeBlanc & Son, Inc., and National Fire & Marine Insurance Company filed an exception of res judicata.

The trial judge sustained the exceptions of no cause and right of action and the motions for summary judgment filed by Doris LeBlanc, National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Horace B. Rickey, Jr., and Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company; he also sustained the exceptions of res judicata filed by Doris LeBlanc, Aristile LeBlanc & Son, Inc., and National Fire & Marine Insurance Company. He rendered judgment accordingly in favor of these defendants, and against the original plaintiff and the plaintiff in intervention. Only the plaintiff has appealed.

The issues before us are whether plaintiff has stated a cause of action in his petition, whether res judicata was correctly applied and whether summary judgment was correctly granted.

Horace B. Rickey, Inc., was the general contractor for an apartment complex in Lafayette, Louisiana. Aristile LeBlanc & Son, Inc., was hired as the mechanical subcontractor for this job and plaintiff worked as a journeyman plumber for the latter.

Immediately prior to the accident, plaintiff had been working on the third floor of the complex and was descending some stairs. As he stepped on a temporary floor or landing located midway between the second and third levels of the building the board gave way under his weight, and he fell approximately one and one-half floors to the ground.

Plaintiff alleges that the landing gave way due to a defective board that was used in its construction; that the landing was built under the exclusive supervision and control of the supervisors and/or stockholders of Horace B. Rickey, Inc., whom he named as Horace B. Rickey, Jr., and Frank Tong, and that these men were negligent in failing to inspect the board used, or if they did inspect them, in negligently using the defective board. He further alleged that:

"Doris LeBlanc, who is a stockholder and/or supervisor of Aristle (sic) LeBlanc & Son, Inc., had the duty to inspect the premises where employees of Aristle (sic) LeBlanc & Son, Inc. were working in order to be certain that such premises were safe for employees of the said corporation, and he was negligent in either failing to inspect, or if he did inspect, failing to properly inspect, the flooring, landing or walk-way through which petitioner fell."

The very recent decision of Canter v. Koehring Company, 283 So.2d 716 (La. 1973), is very pertinent to the decision of this case. Applying the duty-risk approach, the court recognized that a defendant may be liable to a third person (including a co-employee) for the breach of a duty which is imposed by reason of an employment or agency relationship when the breach of duty serves to subject a person whom the duty was designed to protect to a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm. See also: Smolinski v. Taulli, 276 So.2d *548 286 (La.1973); Hill v. Lundin & Associates, Inc., 260 La. 542, 256 So.2d 620 (1972); Pierre v. Allstate Insurance Co., 257 La. 471, 242 So.2d 821 (1971); Turner v. Caddo Parish School Board, 252 La. 810, 214 So.2d 153 (1968). See also Restatement of Torts, Second, Sections 282, 284, 343 (1965).

However, the court recognized certain previously established[1] criteria for imposing individual liability which are:

"1. The principal or employer owes a duty of care to the third person (which in this sense includes a co-employee), breach of which has caused the damage for which recovery is sought.
"2. This duty is delegated by the principal or employer to the defendant.
"3. The defendant officer, agent or employee has breached this duty through personal (as contrasted with technical or vicarious) fault. The breach occurs when the defendant has failed to discharge the obligation with the degree of care required by ordinary prudence under the same or similar circumstances—whether such failure be due to malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance, including when the failure results from not acting upon actual knowledge of the risk to others as well as from a lack of ordinary care in discovering and avoiding such risk of harm which has resulted from the breach of the duty.
"4. With regard to the personal (as contrasted with technical or vicarious) fault, personal liability cannot be imposed upon the officer, agent or employee simply because of his general administrative responsibility for performance of some function of the employment. He must have a personal duty towards the injured plaintiff, breach of which specifically has caused the plaintiff's damages. If the defendant's general responsibility has been delegated with due care to some responsible subordinate or subordinates, he is not himself personally at fault and liable for the negligent performance of this responsibility unless he personally knows or personally should know of its non-performance or mal-performance and has nevertheless failed to cure the risk of harm." Canter v. Koehring Company, supra.

We construe plaintiff's petition to allege that Rickey and LeBlanc have breached an employment-imposed duty to provide a safe place to work. LSA-R.S. 23:13.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bravo v. Borden
3 So. 3d 505 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
Guillory v. Robideaux
733 So. 2d 100 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
Livingston Downs Racing Ass'n v. State ex rel. Edwards
653 So. 2d 1311 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
Williams v. Timber
524 So. 2d 875 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
Stell v. Louisiana Dept. of Public Safety
499 So. 2d 1211 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
Chrisham v. Blum
383 So. 2d 458 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Canzoneri v. Smith
381 So. 2d 973 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Abshire v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Insurance
293 So. 2d 170 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 So. 2d 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abshire-v-hartford-accident-indemnity-ins-co-lactapp-1974.