Bougere v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.

105 So. 3d 862, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 181, 2012 WL 5500497, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1470
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 13, 2012
DocketNo. 12-CA-181
StatusPublished

This text of 105 So. 3d 862 (Bougere v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.) 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
Bougere v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., 105 So. 3d 862, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 181, 2012 WL 5500497, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1470 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

| sPlaintiffs appeal the trial court’s judgment granting defendants’ exception of no cause of action dismissing their wrongful death claims pursuant to the immunity extended in La. R.S. 23:1032. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Fernand Fortune Bougere was employed by Avondale Shipyards, Inc. (Avon-dale) from 1945 until his retirement as a welding supervisor in May of 1986. During his employment, Mr. Bougere was exposed to asbestos fibers allegedly causing him to contract mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer, from which he died on July 7, 2010.

On July 1, 2011, plaintiffs, Mr. Bougere’s surviving wife and children, filed suit against Kemper Insurance Group, The Travelers Indemnity Company, and Commercial Union Insurance Company1, as Avondale’s executive officers’ insurers, asserting both survival and wrongful death claims under La. C.C. art. 2315.1 and 2315.2. In their petition, plaintiffs assert that Avondale’s negligence, directly and through its executive officers, deprived Mr. Bougere of a safe workplace and unnecessarily exposed him to asbestos, ultimately causing his death.

14Pefendants filed an exception of no cause of action2 as to plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims, asserting that Avondale’s executive officers are granted tort immunity pursuant to the exclusivity provision of La. R.S. 23:1032.

On September 30, 2011, the trial court conducted a hearing and sustained defendants’ exception of no cause of action, dismissing plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims. Because the judgment granting defendants’ exception of no cause of action did not dispose of all claims in litigation, plaintiffs filed a motion to have the judgment designated final pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B), which the trial court granted. This timely appeal follows.

DISCUSSION

An exception of no cause of action questions whether the law extends a remedy against the defendant to anyone under the factual allegations of the petition. Indus. Companies, Inc. v. Durbin, 02-0665 (La.1/28/03), 837 So.2d 1207, 1213. The exception is triable on the face of the petition. To determine the issues raised by the exception each well-pleaded fact in the petition must be accepted as true. Badeaux v. Sw. Computer Bureau, Inc., 05-0612 (La.3/17/06), 929 So.2d 1211, 1217. An exception of no cause of action should be granted only when it appears beyond [864]*864doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of any claim which would entitle him to relief. Barrie v. V.P. Exterminators, Inc., 625 So.2d 1007, 1018 (La.1998). The determination whether an exception of no cause of action is properly granted is a question of law requiring a de novo review. Indus. Companies, Inc. v. Durbin, 02-0665, p. 6 (La.1/28/08), 837 So.2d 1207, 1213.

The Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Act provides that compensation benefits are an employee’s exclusive remedy against his employer for | ¡^unintentional injuries arising out of and in the course and scope of his employment. Bazley v. Tortorich, 397 So.2d 475 (La.1981). Prior to 1976, this tort immunity extended only to an employer. Thus, an injured worker could pursue an action in tort against an employer’s negligent executive officers and their liability insurers. Id. Further, if the injured worker died as a result of an occupational injury, “his survivors could maintain both a survival action for the decedent’s damages as well as a wrongful death action for their own damages against executive officers.” Walls v. Am. Optical Corp., 98-0455 (La.9/8/99), 740 So.2d 1262, 1265. However, La. R.S. 23:1032 was amended by Act 147, effective October 1, 1976, to further extend tort immunity to any “principal, officer, director, stockholder, partner, or employee of the employer[.]” Walls, 98-0455 (La.9/8/99), 740 So.2d at 1265.

Defendants assert that because plaintiffs’ wrongful death action did not accrue until Mr. Bougere’s death on July 7, 2010, the tort immunity extended to executive officers through the 1976 amendment to La. R.S. 23:1032 applies to this case and bars plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims against defendants. Plaintiffs assert that because decedent was exposed to asbestos and subject to the executive officers’ negligence prior to the 1976 amendment to La. R.S. 23:1032, the pre-1976 law should apply-

In the Walls case, the Louisiana Supreme Court addressed an issue identical to that presented in this case — whether La. R.S. 23:1032 applies to bar a wrongful death action against executive officers when the exposure and alleged negligent conduct occurred before the 1976 amendment to the worker’s compensation act but the employee’s death did not occur until years later.3 In Walls, the decedentjem-ployee,6 Mr. Walls, worked for Land & Marine Coastal as a sandblaster from 1964 to 1970, where he was exposed to silica dust. On March 17, 1995, Mr. Walls died of silicosis; his survivors filed survival and wrongful death claims against his employer and its executive officers, asserting that Mr. Walls’ silicosis and ultimate death resulted from his occupational exposure to silica dust. One of the employer’s executive officer’s insurers filed an Exception of No Cause of Action, asserting that the 1976 amendment to La. R.S. 23:1032 extends tort immunity to executive officers and thus bars plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims. The plaintiffs in Walls argued that the 1976 amendment could only permissibly extend immunity for negligent acts committed after its effective date, October 1, 1976. Plaintiffs asserted that because the executive officers’ negligent acts occurred during Mr. Walls’ employment [865]*865between 1964 and 1970, the pre-1976 law applied and permitted a wrongful death action against the executive officers.

In determining which version of La. R.S. 28:1032 to apply to the plaintiffs’ claims, the Court in Walls acknowledged that the issue was complicated “by the allegation that all liability producing conduct was complete six years prior to the effective date of the amendment.” Walls, 98-0455 (La.9/8/99), 740 So.2d at 1268. However, the Court determined that the immunity extended by La. R.S. 23:1032 is an affirmative defense based upon the individual defendant’s “status,” rather than a law evaluating a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 1267. The Court considered the fact that a “wrongful death action is an independent and distinct action that arises even in the absence of a viable personal injury action by the direct tort victim and compensates the beneficiaries for their own individual injury arising out of the victim’s death.” Id. at 1270. The Court found that the plaintiffs’ cause of action for wrongful death did not arise until Mr. Walls’ death in 1995; |7therefore, the Court applied the post-amendment law, extending tort immunity to the executive officers and barring plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims against them and their liability insurers.

An action for wrongful death is authorized by La. C.C. art. 2315.2 and compensates beneficiaries for their own injuries suffered as a result of the victim’s death. The Louisiana Supreme Court has consistently recognized that an action for wrongful death does not and could not arise until the date of the victim’s death. Walls, 98-0455 (La.9/8/99), 740 So.2d at 1269-70; Taylor v. Giddens, 618 So.2d 834, 840 (La.1993); and

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Related

Barrie v. VP Exterminators, Inc.
625 So. 2d 1007 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
Guidry v. Theriot
377 So. 2d 319 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
Industrial Companies, Inc. v. Durbin
837 So. 2d 1207 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2003)
Rando v. Anco Insulations Inc.
16 So. 3d 1065 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2009)
Bazley v. Tortorich
397 So. 2d 475 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Taylor v. Giddens
618 So. 2d 834 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
Badeaux v. Southwest Computer Bureau, Inc.
929 So. 2d 1211 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2006)
Walls v. American Optical Corp.
740 So. 2d 1262 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1999)
Bozeman v. UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION
70 So. 3d 169 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)

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105 So. 3d 862, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 181, 2012 WL 5500497, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bougere-v-northrop-grumman-systems-corp-lactapp-2012.