Brignac v. City of Monroe

936 So. 2d 272, 2006 WL 2061344
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 26, 2006
Docket41,207-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 936 So. 2d 272 (Brignac v. City of Monroe) 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
Brignac v. City of Monroe, 936 So. 2d 272, 2006 WL 2061344 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

936 So.2d 272 (2006)

Audrey D. BRIGNAC, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
CITY OF MONROE, Louisiana Civic Center, The City of Monroe, TIG Insurance Company, The Louisiana Travel Promotion Association and Trinity Universal Insurance Company, Defendants.

No. 41,207-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

July 26, 2006.

Jeansonne & Remondet by Lisa C. McCowen, Donovan Jay O'Pry, II, Lafayette, *273 for Appellant, TIG Insurance Company.

Ted P. Sorrells, APLC, Cyd Sheree Page, Monroe, Nanci Stafford Summersgill, for Appellant, City of Monroe and City of Monore Louisiana Civic Center.

Musa Rahman, Baton Rouge, for Appellee, Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corp.

Allen Roy Ingram, E. Gregory Voorhies, Lafayette, for Appellee, Audrey D. Brignac.

Adams, Hoefer, Holwadel & Eldridge, by Shannon-Howard Eldridge, New Orleans, for Appellee, Trinity Universal Insurance Company of Kansas, Inc.

Nelson, Zentner, Sartor & Snellings, L.L.C. by David H. Nelson, Monroe, for Appellee, Louisiana Travel Promotion Association.

Before CARAWAY, PEATROSS & LOLLEY, JJ.

PEATROSS, J.

This suit arises from an injury sustained by Audrey Brignac, who slipped and fell during a summit being held by the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association ("LTPA") at the Monroe, Louisiana Civic Center. As a result of her accident and injury, Ms. Brignac sued the City of Monroe ("the City"), the Monroe Civic Center ("the Civic Center"), the LTPA and their various insurers, including TIG Insurance Company ("TIG"). During the litigation, multiple motions for summary judgment were filed and argument heard on each. The trial court ultimately granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Trinity Universal Insurance Company of Kansas ("Trinity") and denied the one filed by the LTPA.[1] Following the trial judge's ruling, TIG, the City and the Civic Center all filed devolutive appeals. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm.

FACTS

On January 23, 2002, Ms. Brignac was injured when she slipped and fell at the Civic Center, while attending the LTPA Summit being held there. She was taken by ambulance from the Civic Center and thereafter hospitalized for the injuries she sustained from her fall. As previously stated, Ms. Brignac filed suit against the City, the Civic Center, the LTPA and their various insurers.

Trinity was the general insurer for the LTPA. Following Ms. Brignac's accident, Joyce Tiller, the office manager for the LTPA, telephoned Angela Burley at Garrett & Garrett Insurance Agency (the LTPA's insurer) with a request for an additional insured endorsement to provide insurance coverage for the Civic Center. Notably, Ms. Tiller made no mention of her knowledge that Ms. Brignac had suffered an injury on the Civic Center's premises during the LTPA Summit. Ms. Burley forwarded the request on to Trinity's agent, Insurance Associates, which charged a premium for two days by "backdating" the additional insured endorsement issued by Trinity and adding the Civic Center as an insured under the Trinity policy with an effective date of January 21, 2002, two days prior to Ms. Brignac's slip and fall (although this contract was actually signed on January 24, 2002).

During the litigation, the LTPA filed a Motion for Summary Judgment claiming, inter alia, that the written contract lease of the Civic Center was not signed and, therefore, ineffective at the time Ms. Brignac's injury occurred. Oppositions to the motion for summary judgment were filed, *274 which claimed that an oral contract had been reached or, in the alternative, that witness testimony reflected that the contract had, in fact, been signed (in spite of the typed date of January 24, 2002, which was in the contract).

Similarly, Trinity filed a Motion for Summary Judgment denying coverage, defense and indemnity to the City or the Civic Center and claimed that any request made for Trinity to retroactively cover the Civic Center after this accident occurred was improper because the endorsement to the policy was not intended to include a known loss.

The Civic Center and its insurer, TIG Insurance Company ("TIG"), opposed Trinity's motion for summary judgment asserting that the "known loss" doctrine[2] was inapplicable in Louisiana and that Trinity had failed to meet its burden of proof, as required under La. R.S. 22:619.

Argument was heard on the motions for summary judgment on August 8, 2005. On September 27, 2005, the trial court granted Trinity's Motion for Summary Judgment, assigning written reasons. Further, the trial court denied the LTPA's Motion for Summary Judgment as it related to the contract with the Civic Center. In denying the latter motion, the trial court ruled that, regardless of whether or not it could be shown that a written contract was in existence at the time the actual summit was held, the LTPA, the City and the Civic Center had a valid contract for the summit to be held.

On October 6, 2005, Trinity submitted a proposed judgment. The next day, TIG objected to the form of said judgment. On October 19, 2005, TIG filed a Notice of Intent to file Supervisory Writs to this court with regards to the trial court's aforementioned September 27, 2005 ruling and filed a Motion to Stay the trial proceedings. The next day, the trial judge signed Amended and Supplemental Reasons for Judgment. In its Amended Reasons, the trial court stated:

. . . the Court finds there was no insurance coverage for the City of Monroe/Monroe Civic Center provided by Trinity with regard to this accident. Apparently, there was backdated coverage for a higher premium for the LTPA's Summit, but since the plaintiff's accident was a known loss at the time coverage was requested, that accident cannot be covered as it falls outside of what the insurance policy was intended to cover. . . . As a corollary, the Court finds that Trinity has no obligation or duty of defense or indemnification with respect to the City of Monroe/Monroe Civic Center arising from Ms. Brignac's claim.

Exactly one month after signing the Amended Reasons, a partial summary judgment in favor of Trinity was signed and the motion to stay was granted with a return date on the writs set for December 28, 2005. This court denied the supervisory writs on December 22, 2005, stating that the trial court's ruling in favor of Trinity was final. Thereafter, TIG, the City and the Civic Center all filed devolutive appeals seeking reversal of the trial court's finding of a "known loss" and its ruling regarding no duty by Trinity to defend or indemnify the Civic Center under the insurance policy.

DISCUSSION

Issue Number One (verbatim): Whether the trial court's use of the common law doctrine of known loss, rather than La. R.S. 22:619 as the primary source of law, to grant summary judgment in favor of Trinity and against the Monroe Civic *275 Center constitutes legal error?[3]

Issue Number Two (Verbatim): Whether Trinity failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Joyce Tiller harbored an intent to deceive the insurance company at the time she orally requested a certificate of coverage for the Monroe Civic Center, when Ms. Tiller thought Ms. Brignac's accident would be covered by workers compensation and no Trinity representative asked her about any accident or known loss?[4]

The standard of review for the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is de novo. See, Jones v. Estate of Santiago, 03-1424 (La.4/14/04), 870 So.2d 1002.

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Bluebook (online)
936 So. 2d 272, 2006 WL 2061344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brignac-v-city-of-monroe-lactapp-2006.