Broussard v. Hertz Equipment Rental Corp.

27 So. 3d 337, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 177, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 2154, 2009 WL 4844790
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 16, 2009
Docket09-177
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 27 So. 3d 337 (Broussard v. Hertz Equipment Rental 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
Broussard v. Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., 27 So. 3d 337, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 177, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 2154, 2009 WL 4844790 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

GENOVESE, Judge.

pin this personal injury case, the Defendant, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation (Hertz), appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Firestone Polymer, LLC (Firestone), dismissing its third party claim against Firestone for defense and indemnity. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court judgment and remand the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On December 7, 2003, Charlotte Brous-sard was involved in an accident while operating a pallet jack (a walking forklift) owned by Hertz and rented to Firestone. The accident occurred while Ms. Brous-sard was in the course and scope of her employment with Firestone.

A personal injury lawsuit was filed by Ms. Broussard for the injuries she suffered in the accident. Named as a Defendant was Hertz as the renter of the pallet jack forklift (“forklift”) to Firestone. Firestone, as Ms. Broussard’s employer, was immune from tort liability by virtue of the exclusive remedy provisions of the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act.

The forklift was rented by Firestone from Hertz in 2001. Marsha Reed, who was a member of Firestone’s purchasing department, negotiated a verbal lease with Hertz for the rental of the forklift. That verbal agreement did not contemplate any indemnification by Firestone on behalf of Hertz. Shortly after terms were agreed upon, Firestone sent a purchase order to Hertz which contained an indemnification and hold harmless agreement; however, the purchase order was never signed by Hertz. Nevertheless, Hertz did deliver the equipment to Firestone’s facility.

When the forklift was delivered by Hertz to Firestone, the delivery man for Hertz requested that D.J. Pickle, who was a Firestone warehouse clerk, sign what 12Hertz referred to as a “rental contract” that contained canned indemnification language on the reverse side. Mr. Pickle testified that he believed he was simply signing a packing slip to acknowledge receipt of the delivery. He stated that this was the usual practice when receiving equipment. He maintained that he did not read the document that he had signed and, in any event, did not believe that he had the authority to sign contracts for Firestone.

Prior to the accident date, Firestone had signed a National Account Agreement (“NAA”) with Hertz which was in effect at the time of the accident. Hertz notes the following language in the NAA:

EQUIPMENT RENTALS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT ARE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF THE HERTZ [339]*339RENTAL AGREEMENT ... IN EFFECT AT THE TIME AND PLACE OF RENTAL.

Hertz argues that the NAA binds Firestone to defend and indemnify Hertz with regard to Ms. Broussard’s claim. Specifically, it argues that, by signing the NAA, the language on the reverse side of the document presented to Mr. Pickle bound Firestone to indemnify Hertz. Firestone countered that there was no language in the NAA which referred to any written contract that would be binding upon Firestone and that there was no indemnification language in the agreement. Firestone argues that the NAA merely referred to Firestone being bound by future contracts, whether oral or written, and contained only references to the pricing that would apply.

Ms. Broussard filed her petition for damages in 2004. It was not until September 28, 2006, that Hertz filed a Third Party Petition against Firestone, seeking a defense and indemnity. Hertz then filed a motion for summary judgment seeking an order of court requiring Firestone to provide it with a defense and indemnity. | .¡Firestone then filed its own cross-motion for summary judgment, seeking a dismissal of Hertz’s Third Party Petition.

Firestone maintained that a full rental agreement had been agreed to by the parties prior to the delivery of the forklift and that both parties verbally agreed that Hertz would indemnify Firestone should an accident occur resulting in an employee of Firestone filing a claim for damages against it. Firestone argued that there was a prior verbal agreement, and, therefore, the NAA would not bind it to the written agreement allegedly signed by its representative at the time of the delivery of the forklift. Firestone argued that no indemnification or hold harmless agreement was ever sent to Marsha Reed to review or negotiate, nor was any compensation ever offered to Firestone to provide a hold harmless agreement.

At the hearing on the cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled that there was not an “actual meeting of the minds” on the issue of indemnification and gave the following reasoning for reaching its judgment:

I don’t believe there was any intent on the part of Firestone to agree to this particular condition in the contract. In fact, I think it’s evidenced by the fact that [Marsha Reed] sent a contract out seeking indemnification from Hertz for injuries caused by their equipment. I just can’t believe that they would — even though it’s in the contract, to ever agree to indemnify a rental company for injuries caused by that rental company’s equipment. That just flies in the face of logic. So I just can’t believe there was that agreement.

Based on that reasoning, the trial court denied Hertz’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted Firestone’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Hertz’s third-party petition. Hertz has appealed the trial court’s judgment herein.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Hertz has presented a number of assignments of error, basically alleging that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment and erred in granting 14Firestone’s motion for summary judgment.

Though counsel for Hertz, in its brief, seeks a judgment on appeal granting it a defense and indemnity from Firestone, that issue is not properly before this court. Hertz may not appeal the denial of its motion for summary judgment against Firestone. It is an interlocutory judgment, as correctly set forth in the trial [340]*340court judgment, and is, therefore, not ap-pealable. La.Code Civ.P. art. 968; La. Code Civ.P. art. 1915; Alfred Palma, Inc. v. Crane Services, Inc., 03-614 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/5/03), 858 So.2d 772.

We will, however, address Hertz’s assignment of error asserting that the trial court erred in granting Firestone’s motion for summary judgment.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This court recently stated the following with regard to the standard of review applicable to an appeal of the grant of a motion for summary judgment:

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used when there is no genuine issue of material fact for all or part of the relief prayed for by a litigant. Duncan v. U.S.A.A. Ins. Co., 2006—363[,] p. 3 (La.11/29/06), 950 So.2d 544, 546, see [La.Code Civ.P.] art. 966. A summary judgment is reviewed on appeal de novo, "with the appellate court using the same criteria that govern the trial court’s determination of whether summary judgment is appropriate; i.e. whether there is any genuine issue of material fact, and whether the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Wright v. Louisiana Power & Light, 2006-1181[,] p. 17 (La.3/9/07), 951 So.2d 1058, 1070; King v. Parish National Bank, 2004-0337[,] p. 7 (La.10/19/04), 885 So.2d 540, 545; Jones v. Estate of Santiago, 2003-1424[,] p. 5 (La.4/14/04), 870 So.2d 1002, 1006.

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Broussard v. Hertz Equipment Rental Corp.
27 So. 3d 337 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
27 So. 3d 337, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 177, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 2154, 2009 WL 4844790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/broussard-v-hertz-equipment-rental-corp-lactapp-2009.