Community Coffee Co., Inc. v. Tri-Parish Const. & Materials, Inc.

490 So. 2d 1109
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 28, 1986
DocketCW 85-1314, CW 85-1458
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 490 So. 2d 1109 (Community Coffee Co., Inc. v. Tri-Parish Const. & Materials, Inc.) 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
Community Coffee Co., Inc. v. Tri-Parish Const. & Materials, Inc., 490 So. 2d 1109 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

490 So.2d 1109 (1986)

COMMUNITY COFFEE COMPANY, INC. and Arkwright-Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company
v.
TRI-PARISH CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS INC., The Rose D., Inc., Global Special Risks, Inc., and Mission Insurance Company. (Two cases).

Nos. CW 85-1314, CW 85-1458.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 28, 1986.

Michael McAlpine, Martin Grayson, Alan Yacoubian, New Orleans, for defendant/appellant—The Rose D., Inc.

John Moore, Baton Rouge, Michael Quinn, for plaintiff/appellee Community Coffee.

*1110 Alan K. Breaud, Lafayette, for defendant-appellant Tri-Parish Const.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and PONDER,[*] JJ.

LANIER, Judge.

This is a suit for damages in tort. The defendants filed peremptory exceptions pleading the objection of no cause of action. After a hearing, the trial court overruled the exceptions. The defendants sought supervisory writs to review the trial court rulings. We granted and consolidated both writs to review the trial court judgments. Herlitz Construction Company, Inc. v. Hotel Investors of New Iberia, Inc., 396 So.2d 878 (La.1981).

FACTS

The objection of no cause of action raised in a peremptory exception tests the legal sufficiency of the petition, and all the allegations of the petition are accepted as true. No evidence may be introduced to support or controvert the facts alleged. An objection of no cause of action is sustained only where the law affords no remedy to plaintiff under the allegations of his petition. La.C.C.P. arts. 927(4) and 931; Hubbs v. Canova, 427 So.2d 875 (La.App. 1st Cir.1982). If a petition states a cause of action on any ground or portion of the demand, the objection of no cause of action must be overruled. Rodriguez v. American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, 386 So.2d 652 (La.1980).

The following pertinent facts are pleaded in the petition:

2.

On or about April 5, 1983, a coffee roasting machine belonging to Community Coffee Company, Inc., a petitioner herein, located in the Parish of West Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was damaged when a crane with a raised boom, owned by Tri-Parish Construction & Materials, Inc., was being transported by a tug, the Rose D, owned by The Rose D, Inc. snagged and tore down electric power lines belonging to Gulf States Utilities Company.
3.
As a result of the accident described in paragraph 2 above, direct physical damage was caused to the property of Community Coffee Company, Inc. As a direct causal result of the power outage a coffee roasting machine belonging to Community Coffee Company, Inc. ceased to operate. As a result, part of the contents of the machine overheated and injured the interior of the machine. As a further direct causal result, some of the contents of the machine caught fire, also damaging the machine.
....
8.
Petitioner, Arkwright-Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company, is the physical damage insurer of Community Coffee Company, Inc. In accord with its policy contract with Community Coffee Company, Inc., Arkwright-Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company was obligated to pay, and did in fact pay, the sum of Seventy One Thousand Seventy and 11/100 Dollars ($71,070.11) and that the remaining amount of Sixteen Thousand and no/100 Dollars ($16,000.00) was paid by Community Coffee, Inc. Petitioner Arkwright-Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company further alleges that it is subrogated both legally and conventionally against defendants herein for the full amount of its payment.

CAUSE OF ACTION UNDER LOUISIANA LAW

The principal arguments of the parties concern whether or not there is a cause of action under Louisiana law. Relators contend respondents have no cause of action because they "seek indirect damages as a *1111 result of tortious interference with its contractual relationship with a third party which is not within the scope of risk encompassed in the duty imposed upon Relators in their activity." Relators cite PPG Industries, Inc. v. Bean Dredging, 447 So.2d 1058 (La.1984) as authority. The respondents contend they did not sustain indirect economic loss, but sustained direct damage to property as a result of the tortious acts of the relators. Respondents argue that the risk of such damage is within the ambit of the protection of the duty breached by the relators and cite Consolidated Aluminum Corporation v. C.F. Bean Corporation, 772 F.2d 1217 (5th Cir.1985) as authority.

The PPG and Consolidated cases arose out of the same incident.[1] On April 5, 1980, Bean Dredging Corporation (Bean) was dredging the Calcasieu River Ship Channel when the cutterhead on one of the dredges struck and ruptured a 12-inch natural gas pipeline owned by Texaco. As a result of this accident, Texaco was unable to fulfill its contract to supply natural gas to PPG for its plant and PPG had to obtain fuel from another source at an increased cost. Also, as a result of this accident, Texaco was unable to comply with its contractual obligation to supply Consolidated with the gas necessary for the operation of its aluminum reduction plant. The accident caused the gas supply at the plant to fall below the minimum necessary to operate the plant. This caused the reduction process to stop and resulted in heavy physical damage.

PPG filed suit in state court seeking to recover the increased cost of obtaining natural gas. Bean filed a peremptory exception pleading the objection of no cause of action contending PPG had no right of recovery for negligent interference with contractual relations. The trial court sustained the exception, and the court of appeal affirmed. PPG Industries, Inc. v. Bean Dredging Corporation, 419 So.2d 23 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1982). The Louisiana Supreme Court granted a writ and affirmed holding that "the damages to the economic interest of the contract purchaser of natural gas, caused by a dredging contractor's negligent injury to property which prevents the pipeline owner's performance of the contract to supply natural gas to the purchaser, do not fall within the scope of the protection intended by the law's imposition of a duty on dredging contractors not to damage pipelines negligently." PPG, 447 So.2d at 1059-1060. To put the PPG claim in perspective, the Court observed that there was "no question that Bean is liable to Texaco for the costs of repairing the pipeline and for the direct economic losses sustained by Texaco during the period of repair." [footnote omitted.] PPG, 447 So.2d at 1061. The Court observed that rules of conduct protect some persons under some circumstances against some risks. In making the policy decision of what is within the "reach of the rule", a court should consider the following factors: (1) ease of association between the rule of conduct, the risk of injury and the loss sought to be recovered; (2) moral, social and economic values involved, with the view toward the ideal of justice; and (3) whether the imposition of responsibility on the tort-feasor for such damages would create liability in an indeterminate amount for an indeterminate time to an indeterminate class.

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490 So. 2d 1109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/community-coffee-co-inc-v-tri-parish-const-materials-inc-lactapp-1986.