Barrios v. Lambar, Inc.

951 So. 2d 323, 2006 La.App. 1 Cir. 0324, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 2994, 2006 WL 3804476
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 2006
DocketNo. 2006 CA 0324
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 951 So. 2d 323 (Barrios v. Lambar, Inc.) 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
Barrios v. Lambar, Inc., 951 So. 2d 323, 2006 La.App. 1 Cir. 0324, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 2994, 2006 WL 3804476 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

WHIPPLE, J.

I ?This matter is before us on appeal from a judgment of the Office of Workers’ Compensation (“OWC”), District 6 finding Lambert Construction and Maintenance, Inc. and its insurer, LIPCA, Inc., liable for benefits as the general employer of plaintiff, George S. Barrios. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On Friday, November 12, 1999, plaintiff, George S. Barrios, was employed as a full-time carpenter by Lambert Construction and Maintenance, Inc. (“Lambert Construction”), which was owned by Mack Roland Lambert, Jr. (“Mack”). On that day, while en route to a cabinet job in Bogalusa, Louisiana, with his supervisor, Randy Crawford, also a full-time employee of Lambert Construction, Crawford received a phone call from Mack, instructing the men to turn around and report to the shop, to bend and load steel rods on a trailer for Lambar, Inc. (“Lambar”), a company owned by Mack’s father, Mack Roland Lambert, Sr. (“Roland”).1 While cutting and lifting sixty-foot portions of rebar steel under Roland’s supervision, Barrios injured his back. Barrios reported his injury to Crawford that day and subsequently called the Lambert Construction office and reported his injury to Debbie Lambert, secretary for Lambert Construction.2

On July 21, 2004, Barrios filed a Disputed Claim for Compensation stating that his wage benefits had been improperly terminated or reduced on July 4, 2004. Specifically, Barrios alleged that Lambar’s workers’ | ¡¡compensation carrier, Ohio Casualty Group, had initially paid benefits, but had improvidently reduced his benefits from TTD to SEB, and had made irregular and tardy payments of compensation benefits and medical bills, and had applied an inappropriate average weekly wage.

On January 3, 2005, Ohio Casualty Group and Lambar filed a third-party demand against Lambert Construction and its workers’ compensation carrier, LIPCA, Inc. (“LIPCA”), contending that Barrios was a borrowed employee from Lambert Construction at the time of the accident, and that Lambert Construction and Lam-[326]*326bar accordingly were liable in solido for any indemnity, medical and other workers’ compensation benefits due Barrios. Thus, Ohio Casualty Group and Lambar sought reimbursement from Lambert Construction and LIPCA pursuant to LSA-R.S. 23:1031.3 Barrios then amended his claim for compensation, contending that since he was “loaned” to the borrowing employer, Lambar, by his primary employer, Lambert Construction, at the time of the accident, Lambar and Lambert Construction were solidarily liable for his claims.

LLambert Construction and LIPCA filed exceptions of “partial no cause of action,” prematurity, and prescription, and alternative motions for summary judgment or declaratory judgment. By judgment dated June 22, 2005, the exceptions and motions were denied.

Following a hearing, the OWC judge rendered judgment on July 28, 2005, finding that although Barrios was in the general employ of Lambert Construction on the day of his accident, he had been loaned to Lambar and thus, was the borrowed employee of Lambar at the time of the accident.

The OWC judge further ruled that as the general employer, Lambert Construction and its insurer, LIPCA, and the borrowing employer, Lambar, and its insurer, Ohio Casualty Group, were jointly and soli-darily liable for benefits due plaintiff, and that the claim of Lambar and Ohio Casualty Group for contribution from Lambert Construction was well-founded. Thus, the judgment granted the third-party claim of Lambar and Ohio Casualty Group, for one-half of the benefits paid through the date of trial, i.e., $193,323.80, and imposed ongoing liability for 50 percent of any further indemnity and/or medical benefits due plaintiff.

The OWC judge further held that because Barrios was borrowed by Lambar from Lambert Construction, his appropriate compensation rate was to be calculated with reference to his earnings with Lambert Construction. As such, based on LSA-R.S. 23:1031(0 and LSA-R.S. 23:1021, Barrios’ average weekly wage was deemed to be $480.00 per week, with a resulting compensation rate of $320.16 per week. Finding that the uncontroverted evidence established that Barrios was hired as a full-time employee, never classified as a part-time employee, was normally paid $12.00 per hour and did not regularly and/or at his own discretion choose not to work when work was available, the OWC judge concluded that the presumption of a forty-fiours work week, as provided in [327]*327LSA-R.S. 23:1021(10)(a)(l), applied. Thus, the OWC judge granted judgment for all underpayments to date ($32.15 per week) with interest on past-due weekly benefits as they became due and continued indemnity benefits at the corrected rate of $320.16 per week.

The OWC judge further held that defendant, Ohio Casualty Group, failed to reasonably controvert the average weekly wage, but based on a pretrial stipulation of the parties, limited the penalty due Barrios to $2,000.00 and the attorney’s fees due plaintiffs counsel to $5,000.00, plus legal interest from the date of judgment. The judgment further provided that the award of penalties and attorney’s fees was limited to defendants, Lambar and Ohio Casualty Group, inasmuch as Lambert Construction and LIPCA were not initially parties to the adjustment or handling of this matter.

Finally, the judgment cast all defendants with all costs of these proceedings.

Lambert Construction and LIPCA appeal from the judgment of the OWC, contending that the OWC erred in: (1) giving insufficient weight to “objective documentary evidence”; (2) finding that Barrios was a borrowed employee of Lambert Construction at the time of his accident; and (3) awarding damages while failing to consider the effects of prescription and solidarity.

DISCUSSION

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR NUMBERS ONE AND TWO

Louisiana Revised Statute 23:1031(0 and the jurisprudence decided in accordance therewith set forth the standard by which one may be considered a special or borrowed employee of another employer. Pursuant to LSA-R.S. 23:1031(C), a “borrowing” or special employer can be held liable for compensation benefits where the employee is under the control and Indirection of the borrowing employer in the performance of the work. In a workers’ compensation case, the issue of whether a borrowed servant relationship exists is a matter of law for the court to determine. Gardiner v. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Department, 2004-0345 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/30/04), 898 So.2d 470, 473, writ denied, 2005-0914 (La.5/20/05), 902 So.2d 1054. While there is no fixed test, the factors to be considered in determining the existence of a borrowed employee relationship include: right of control; selection of employees; payment of wages; power of dismissal; relinquishment of control by the general employer; which employer’s work was being performed at the time in question; the existence of an agreement, either implied or explicit, between the borrowing and lending employer; furnishing of instructions and place for the performance of the work; the length of employment; and the employee’s acquiescence in a new work situation. Moreover, when a general employer attempts to avoid liability for the acts of an employee by contending the employee was loaned to another employer, the general employer bears the burden of overcoming by a preponderance of the evidence the presumption that he is liable. Arabie Brothers Trucking Company v.

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951 So. 2d 323, 2006 La.App. 1 Cir. 0324, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 2994, 2006 WL 3804476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barrios-v-lambar-inc-lactapp-2006.