Body by Cook v. Ingersoll-Rand Co.

39 F. Supp. 3d 827, 2014 WL 4064022, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113668
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedAugust 15, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 13-175
StatusPublished

This text of 39 F. Supp. 3d 827 (Body by Cook v. Ingersoll-Rand Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Body by Cook v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 39 F. Supp. 3d 827, 2014 WL 4064022, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113668 (E.D. La. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

NANNETTE JOLIVETTE BROWN, District Judge.

In this litigation, Plaintiffs, an automotive repair business and its owner, assert that Defendant negligently installed an automotive paint system. Before the Court is Defendant’s “Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, or in the Alternative, Motion for a New Trial.”1 After considering the motion, the memorandum in support,2 the memorandum in opposition,3 the record, and the applicable law, the Court will deny the motion.

I. Background

Plaintiffs in this matter are Body by Cook, Inc., a Louisiana company involved in the automotive repair business, and Robert Cook, a Louisiana citizen and the president and owner of Body by Cook, Inc.4 On January 30, 2013, Plaintiffs filed suit against Defendant Ingersoll-Rand Company, a foreign corporation, invoking this Court’s diversity jurisdiction.5 In their complaint, Plaintiffs assert that they suffered damages due to Defendant’s negligent installation of an air compressor-painting system in August, 2000.6

On November 5, 2013, Defendant filed a “Motion for Partial Summary Judgment,” arguing that Plaintiffs’ negligence claim had prescribed.7 The Court denied Defendant’s “Motion for Partial Summary Judgment” on December 4, 2013.8

A jury trial on the merits was held from January 13, 2014 to January 15, 2014.9 On January 14, 2014, at the close of Plaintiffs’ case, Defendant orally raised a motion for judgment as a matter of law on the ground that Plaintiffs’ negligence claim had prescribed and that Plaintiffs claim was not saved pursuant to either contra non valen-tum or the continuing tort doctrine. The Court denied Defendant’s motion as to contra non valentum but granted its motion as to the continuing tort doctrine.

[831]*831On January 15, 2014, the Court submitted the question of whether Plaintiffs’ claim had prescribed to the jury. The jury interrogatory read:

(7) Do you find by a preponderance of the evidence that Robert Cook had actual or constructive knowledge of facts indicating that he was a victim of negligence more than one year before he filed suit on January 30, 2013? 10

Later that day, a jury rendered a verdict, finding: that Plaintiffs were 40% at fault and Defendant was 60% at fault; that the total damages were $375,000; and that Robert Cook did not have actual or constructive knowledge of facts indicating that he was a victim of negligence more than one year before he filed suit on January 30, 2013.11 On February 5, 2014, the Court entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs in the amount of $225,000, together with all costs of court and judicial interest from the day of demand until paid.12

On March 5, 2014, Defendant filed the pending “Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, or in the Alternative, Motion for a New Trial.”13 Plaintiff filed a memorandum in opposition on April 8, 2014.14

II. Parties’ Arguments

A. Defendant’s Arguments in Support

Defendant requests that the Court grant its renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, arguing that the question of whether a cause of action has prescribed is a question of law that is to be decided by the judge.15 Defendant specifically asserts that “Louisiana Courts have long held that issues of prescription are questions of law to be determined by a judge” and that “Louisiana case law has also made it clear that statutes and code articles are to be applied and interpreted as questions of law.”16 For the proposition that the issue of prescription is a question of law, Defendant cites the Fifth Circuit’s opinions in McGee v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.17 and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Hudson,18 an Eastern District of Louisiana order in Bourdais v. City of New Orleans,19 and the First Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana’s opinion in McKenzie v. Imperial Fire & Cas. Ins. Co.20 For the proposition that the interpretation and application of statutes and code articles is a question of law, Defendant cites the First Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana’s opinions in McKenzie and Gilmore v. Whited.21 According to Defendant, in “R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Hudson, the United States Fifth Circuit held that the defendant’s appeal as to its denied prescription summary judgment was proper because issues of prescription, specifically when they begin to run, ‘[present] serious question[s] of law.’ ”22 “For the same reasons,” Defendant maintains, “the Louisiana [832]*832Eastern District similarly granted defendant’s immediate interlocutory appeal on the issue of prescription” in Bourdais v. City of New Orleans.23

Defendant next points out that the Court, in granting Defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on the issue of continuing tort, evaluated the same set of facts as are to be evaluated in deciding contra non valentem. According to Defendant, “the facts upon which the Plaintiffs’ claim of continuing tort was decided are inextricably linked to the Plaintiffs [sic] reliance on the contra non valentem exception to prescription.”24 Defendant maintains that

[b]ecause the facts weighed by this Court when determining that no continuing tort existed are the same facts your Honor must analyze when determining whether the doctrine of contra non valentem was applicable: [sic] Defendant submits that the Court, not the jury, should have also decided whether Plaintiffs’ [sic] had actual or constructive knowledge of a potential claim against Defendant, and whether Plaintiffs’ claims were barred by prescription.25

“Thus,” according to Defendant, “the ultimate determination as to whether Plaintiffs claims are barred by prescription is a question of law that must be decided by this Honorable Court.”26

Moreover, Defendant contends that “all of the evidence offered by the Plaintiffs, including the testimony of Robert Cook, indicates that they actually discovered the facts upon which their cause of action is based more [sic] in October 2000, almost thirteen years before they brought suit.”27 “As a result,” Defendant asserts that “Plaintiffs’ action does not fall under an exception to prescription and their reliance on the doctrine of contra non valentem is inappropriate.”28 According to Defendant, Plaintiffs had “actual knowledge of an injury sufficient to begin the running of prescription beginning in 2000 and continuing through 2011.”29

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Bluebook (online)
39 F. Supp. 3d 827, 2014 WL 4064022, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/body-by-cook-v-ingersoll-rand-co-laed-2014.