Bates v. E.D. Bullard Co.

76 So. 3d 111, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 187, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1147, 2011 WL 4578585
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 5, 2011
DocketNo. 11-187
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 76 So. 3d 111 (Bates v. E.D. Bullard 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
Bates v. E.D. Bullard Co., 76 So. 3d 111, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 187, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1147, 2011 WL 4578585 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

PICKETT, Judge.

It The plaintiff, who contracted silicosis as a result of his exposure to silica dust in his employment as a sandblaster, and his wife appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing their claims against the defendants that supplied sand to his employer for sandblasting. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

Wilbert Bates was employed by SBA Shipyards for the period 1980-1989. During that time, Mr. Bates’ work duties included cleaning and/or sandblasting, both of which exposed him to silica dust. In June 2009, Mr. Bates was diagnosed with silicosis, a lung disease caused by the inhalation of small pieces of sand known as respirable silica which are a result of sandblasting. Mr. Bates and his wife filed suit against numerous defendants, asserting strict liability, negligence, and products liability claims against them.

In their suit, the Bates alleged that the sand “manufactured and/or sold” to his employer by two defendants, hereinafter referred to as the sand defendants, was unreasonably dangerous or defective because the sand defendants failed to warn and instruct him and SBA of the hazards of the sand and failed “to properly design products in that products were defective for failure to instruct and warn.” The sand defendants, Specialty Sand Company and Southern Silica of Louisiana, Inc., filed motions for summary judgment, asserting they had no duty to warn Mr. Bates or SBA of the dangers of sand they sold to SBA for sandblasting.

After a hearing, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the sand defendants. The Bates appealed, assigning four errors with the trial court’s judgment.

|,ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The Bates assign these issues for our consideration:

1. Prior to the passage and effective date of the Louisiana Products Liability Act, did a manufacturer or supplier have a duty to warn the “end user” of their product of a danger associated with its product?
2. Are there issues of fact regarding Mr. Bates’s knowledge of the danger of contracting silicosis from sandblasting with silica sand?
3. Are there issues of fact regarding whether SBA was a “sophisticated user” of the defendants’ sand?
4. Did the Hazardous Communication Standard in 1983 establish a tort duty for the sand defendants to warn end users, such as Mr. Bates, of the dangers sand presents when used for sandblasting?

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Motions for summary judgments are subject to de novo review on appeal. Champagne v. Ward, 03-3211 (La.1/19/05), 893 So.2d 773. The appellate court asks the same questions the trial court asks to determine whether summary judgment is appropriate, which is does any genuine issue of material fact exist and is the mover entitled to judgment as a matter of law? La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B).

“A fact is material if it potentially insures or precludes recovery, affects a litigant’s ultimate success, or determines the outcome of the legal dispute.” Ardoin v. Cleco Power, L.L.C., 10-815, p. 3 (La.7/2/10), 38 So.3d 264, 266. A genuine issue of fact is “one as to which reasonable persons could disagree; if reasonable persons could reach only one conclusion, there is no need for trial on that issue and summary judgment is appropriate.” King [?]*?v. Ill. Nat'l Ins. Co., 08-1491, p. 6 (La.4/3/09), 9 So.3d 780, 784.

^DISCUSSION

The basis of the sand defendants’ motions for summary judgment is the fourth circuit’s opinion in Damond v. Avondale Industries, Inc., 98-1275 (La.App. 4 Cir. 8/19/98), 718 So.2d 551, unit denied, 98-2854 (La.1/8/99), 735 So.2d 637. Damond held that Pearl Specialty Sands, Inc., a supplier of sand, such as the sand defendants, had no duty as a matter of law to provide the plaintiff sandblaster with a warning of the dangers presented by sand when it is used for sandblasting. That conclusion was based on a number of factors, including: 1) the defendant sold the plaintiffs employer ordinary sand which it had collected, dried, and separated according to size; 2) sand is not unreasonably dangerous per se because it is a natural substance used in its natural state as a playground on the beach, for filling gardens, lawns, and children’s sandboxes and for mixing with concrete; and 3) the danger presented by sand when used for sandblasting results from the manner in which it is used, not the condition of the sand itself.

The fourth circuit further determined the supplier did not have a duty to warn the purchaser/employer’s employee’s because the purchaser/employer was subject to and presumed to know the Occupation and Safety Health Act (OSHA) 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1-1450, which are detailed regulations that require employers engaged in various industries, including shipyards, provide respiratory protection for their employees. The court concluded the purchaser/employer was a “sophisticated user” to whom no duty to warn was owed. More importantly, the court determined that the supplier did not have a duty to warn the purchaser/employer’s employees because, although the supplier may have known the sand it sold to the employer would be used for sandblasting, “it had no control over how [the employer] would conduct its operations” and because there was no | ¿practical means by which the supplier could provide such warning to the purchaser/employer’s employees. Id. at 553.

Damond relied in part on its earlier decision in Longo v. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., 93-756 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/18/94), 632 So.2d 1193, writ denied, 94-673 (La.4/29/94), 637 So.2d 464, where the court had reached the same result with regard to DuPont whose product, Teflon, had been incorporated in the plaintiffs oral implant that had been used to replace her right temporomandibular joint. The implant failed and had to be replaced with one of plaintiffs ribs. The plaintiff sued DuPont, alleging it was liable to her under the theory of strict liability. The court determined DuPont had no duty to warn the plaintiff of potential dangers Teflon presented because, although DuPont may have known the implant manufacturer would incorporate Teflon in a product it manufactured, it had “no control over the design, composition, testing or manufacture” of the product. Id. at 1197.

The fourth circuit reached the same result in Cowart v. Avondale Industries, Inc., 01-894 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/3/01), 792 So.2d 73, writ denied, 01-2719 (La.1/4/02), 805 So.2d 211, where the plaintiff sued a supplier of sand used for making molds at a foundry. The foundry was held to be a sophisticated user because foundries are also subject to the above-cited OSHA regulations; therefore, the supplier had no duty to warn the employer or its employees of the dangers presented by sand when used for sandblasting.

The sand defendants attached to their motions affidavits which show that the fac[114]*114tors present in Damond are present here. The sand defendants’ affidavits show: 1) they obtain ordinary sand by dredging water bottoms; 2) after dredging, the sand is separated from the gravel then separated into various sizes of sand; 3) the sand is dried and screened, after which it is sold and delivered to purchasers.

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Bluebook (online)
76 So. 3d 111, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 187, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1147, 2011 WL 4578585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-ed-bullard-co-lactapp-2011.