Castille v. All American Ins. Co.

550 So. 2d 334, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1689, 1989 WL 116152
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 4, 1989
Docket88-575
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 550 So. 2d 334 (Castille v. All American Ins. 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
Castille v. All American Ins. Co., 550 So. 2d 334, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1689, 1989 WL 116152 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

550 So.2d 334 (1989)

Annette CASTILLE, et al., Plaintiff-Appellees,
v.
ALL AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., Defendants-Appellees, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 88-575.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

October 4, 1989.
Rehearing Denied November 7, 1989.
Writ Denied January 19, 1990.

*335 Kermit A. Doucet, and David K. Balfour, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellees.

Preis, Kraft, Ward Lafleur, Lafayette, for plaintiff-intervenor.

Hurlburt, Privat, George R. Privat, Lafayette, O'Neil, Eichen & Miller, Earl S. Eichen, James R. Swanson, New Orleans, J.B. Willis, St. Martinville, Gachassin, Hunter & Sigur, Robert A. Mahtook, Juneau, Judice, Kathleen Drew, Lafayette, for defendants-appellees.

Onebane, Donohoe, Paul D. Gibson & Randy Keller, Lafayette, for defendant-appellant.

Before GUIDRY, LABORDE and KNOLL, JJ.

KNOLL, Judge.

The appeal before us concerns whether an employee is acting within the course and scope of his employment when he is involved in an automobile accident, thus rendering his employer liable for his negligence.

This issue was presented to the trial court on opposing motions for summary judgment. Appellant, LFT Jet, Inc. (LFT Jet), filed a motion for summary judgment contending that its employee, Sean Leblanc, was not acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul), the uninsured/underinsured carrier for plaintiff's employer, filed a motion for partial summary judgment contending Leblanc was in the course and scope of his employment. The trial court found that Leblanc's errand after work to have his paycheck corrected on instructions from his supervisor was employment rooted. We affirm.

*336 FACTS

On February 28, 1985, Leblanc, received his paycheck from LFT Jet at the worksite (Lafayette airport) and noticed an error in the amount of the check. Upon speaking with his immediate supervisor, Nabil, Leblanc was directed to another supervisor. Leblanc did not recall the name of the second supervisor, or whether his employer was "Cypress Aviation or LFT Jet `cause they changed it so many times, I really don't remember." Leblanc described the second supervisor as one of the owners. This supervisor told Leblanc "to go to the main office and they'd straighten it out." Since Leblanc had completed his work shift (the morning shift), he "punched out" and proceeded to the main office in his grandfather's truck. At the intersection of Taft and Jefferson streets in Lafayette, he rear-ended the plaintiff, Annette Castille, at approximately 1:15 p.m. After the accident investigation, Leblanc continued to the main office where they "cut me another check" for the correct amount and went home. From the time Leblanc left the airport until the accident happened, he did not stop anywhere.

LFT Jet appeals contending the trial court erred in finding Leblanc's mission was employment rooted and that there were disputed issues of fact.

ACTING WITHIN COURSE AND SCOPE

LFT Jet contends that Leblanc was not on a special errand for LFT Jet, therefore, he was not acting within the course and scope of his employment. In support of this contention LFT Jet argues that: (1) "the unknown supervisor" did not tell Leblanc when to go or how to go; (2) Leblanc was not instructed to speak to anyone; (3) Leblanc was not asked to carry anything; (4) Leblanc was going to the office of Century Minerals and Cypress Aviation, which had no connection with LFT Jet; (5) Leblanc had "punched out" before leaving; (6) Leblanc was not compensated for his time spent on the journey; and, (7) he used his grandfather's personal vehicle. While we agree with LFT Jet that these augumentive elements are present in this case, we conclude that it is not sufficient to defeat LFT Jet's vicarious liability for Leblanc's negligence under the circumstances presented. Every case must be judged under its own set of facts to determine if an employee is acting within the course and scope of employment. In Hebert v. Witherington, 520 So.2d 1075 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1987), writ denied, 522 So.2d 566 (La.1988), a case addressing the identical issue before us, this court in its opinion set forth the well recognized jurisprudential rules that are relied upon in resolving this issue, which we reiterate herein.

"Usually, course and scope of employment questions arise in worker's compensation cases. However, regardless of the context in which such question arises, the legal principles applied in making such determinations are the same. If it is determined that Witherington was in the course and scope of his employment with R.M.C. when the accident occurred, then the Hartford policy issued to R.M.C. provides coverage. In Smith v. A.I.U. Insurance Company, 457 So.2d 868 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1984), a panel of this court, called upon to decide whether an automobile accident involving the plaintiff happened during the course and scope of his employment, stated:
`... The general rule is that injuries sustained while in transit to or from the work place do not arise out of the claimant's employment nor are they in the course thereof. Castille v. Sibille, 342 So.2d 279 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1977); Johnson v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., et al., 387 So.2d 1340 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1980). Therefore, the plaintiff's recovery is precluded unless his car accident falls within one of the exceptions to this rule.
Castille outlines three exceptions to the general rule that injuries sustained in transit to or from the jobsite are noncompensable. First, if the employer provides transportation then an injury sustained in an automobile going to or coming from work is compensable. Second, benefits are due if an employee is injured in a vehicular accident if the employer provides expenses or wages for the time *337 spent traveling in the vehicle. Third, benefits are due in those cases where the operation of the motor vehicle is incidental to or is actually the performance of some employment responsibility.'
This court, in Watson v. Ben, 459 So.2d 230 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1984), stated:
`"The criteria for determining when an employee, who while driving a motor vehicle, is acting within the course and scope of his employment was set forth in the recent case of Johnson v. Dufrene, 433 So.2d 1109 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983), writ denied, 441 So.2d 765 (La.1983), wherein the court stated:
Whether an employee is within the course and scope of his employment during any given incident presents a question that is not answerable except by general rules, given the myriad contexts in which it might arise. The specific inquiry is whether the employee's tortious conduct `was so closely connected in time, place and causation to his employment duties as to be regarded a risk of harm fairly attributable to the employer's business, as compared with conduct motivated by purely personal considerations entirely extraneous to the employer's interest.' Daniels v. Conn., 382 So.2d 945 (La.1980); LeBrane v. Lewis, 292 So.2d 216 (La.1974). In those instances where the injury is caused by an employee's negligence while driving a vehicle owned by his employer, our jurisprudence has repeatedly stated that every case must be decided on its own facts. The important considerations which bear on the result are whether the vehicle was being used in such a manner as to benefit the employer, Taylor v. Lumpkin,

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Bluebook (online)
550 So. 2d 334, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1689, 1989 WL 116152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castille-v-all-american-ins-co-lactapp-1989.