Daigle v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Co.

610 So. 2d 883, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3706
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 20, 1992
DocketNo. 91 CA 1589
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 610 So. 2d 883 (Daigle v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance 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
Daigle v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Co., 610 So. 2d 883, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3706 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment granting a motion for summary judgment.

FACTS

On or about December 1, 1969, Gianfala & Son, Inc. (Gianfala) entered into a “Well and Lease Service Master Contract” with Amoco’s predecessor, Pan American Petroleum Corporation, to provide various services. Under the terms of the contract, Gian-fala assumed all liability and agreed to defend, indemnify, and hold Pan American harmless from any loss resulting from injury or death to the employees of Gianfala or its subcontractors arising out of any operations conducted under the contract.1

On November 10, 1988, pursuant to this agreement, Jeffery Daigle, a roustabout on a painting crew for Gianfala, was working at the Amoco Production Field near Char-enton, St. Mary Parish. On that day, Dai-gle and several other Gianfala employees were applying “Amoco grey” paint to a newly installed “heater treater,” a device used to separate water from oil. In order to accomplish this task, Daigle was lifted thirty-five feet in the air in a work basket, which was suspended from the boom of a [885]*885crane owned by Bayou Sales Contractors, Inc. and operated by an employee of M.J. Foster, Jr., Inc. During the course of the painting operation, the crane and boom fell, causing the basket to fall to the ground. As a result of this accident, Daigle was seriously injured.

On November 10, 1989, Daigle filed suit against Amoco; M.J. Foster, M.J. Foster Industries (Bayou Sale), Bayou Sale Contractors, and/or Bayou Sale Contractors, Inc.; Stanley Sullivan, the crane operator; and USF & G, insurer of M.J. Foster, M.J. Foster Industries (Bayou Sale), and/or Bayou Sale Contractors, and/or Bayou Sale Contractors, Inc. In his petition, Daigle sought damages for personal injuries allegedly caused by the negligence of the various defendants. Daigle subsequently amended his petition to name as additional defendants, M.J. Foster, Jr. and M.J. Foster, Jr., Inc. On December 29, 1989, Gian-fala and Gray Insurance Company, Gianfa-la’s worker’s compensation insurer, filed a petition of intervention seeking reimbursement for the worker’s compensation and medical benefits paid to Daigle.2

On August 28,1990, Amoco filed a recon-ventional demand against Gianfala claiming that, under the terms of a “Well and Lease Service Master Contract,” Gianfala had assumed all liability for and agreed to defend, indemnify, and hold Amoco harmless from and against all claims such as those asserted by Daigle. Gianfala answered Amoco’s reconventional demand contending that the provisions of the contract calling for indemnity and defense were null by operation of the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act, LSA-R.S. 9:2780.

Thereafter, Amoco filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of Gianfa-la’s obligation to defend, indemnify, and hold Amoco harmless as described in the “Well Lease Service Master Contract.” In support of its motion, Amoco attached an affidavit by Lucien Bullen, field foreman at the Amoco facility, and a copy of the “Well and Lease Service Master Contract.” In opposition to Amoco’s motion for summary judgment, Gianfala submitted the deposition of Mr. Lucien Bullen.

After a hearing, the trial court determined that the activity conducted by Gian-fala fell outside the ambit of LSA-R.S. 9:2780. Accordingly, the trial court rendered judgment granting Amoco’s motion for summary judgment and ordering Gian-fala to defend and indemnify Amoco for all claims asserted in the litigation by Daigle. From this adverse judgment, Gianfala appeals contending that the trial court erred in granting Amoco’s motion for summary judgment in that the trial court’s construction of the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act was impermissible in the following respects:

a. The Louisiana Oilfield Indemnity Act is designed to prevent the foistering of unfair indemnity obligations upon companies of inferior economic bargaining power;
b. The focus of the Louisiana Oilfield Indemnity Act should be on the contractual relationship between the oil company/producer and the contractor for the Act does not differentiate between the types of services that are provided by the contractor, as long as the contract itself relates to the exploration, development, production or transportation of oil, gas or water;
c. The painting operations conducted at the time of the accident herein were an integral part of the installation, operation and maintenance of the oil production facility, and thus within the ambit of the Act.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

It is well settled that the granting of a summary judgment is proper only when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, establish that there are no genuine issues of material fact [886]*886and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966; Caballero Planting Co., Inc. v. Hymel, 597 So.2d 35, 37 (La.App. 1st Cir.1992); Insley v. Titan Insurance Company, 589 So.2d 10, 13 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991); Robertson v. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, 574 So.2d 381, 384 (La. App. 1st Cir.1990), writ denied, 573 So.2d 1136 (La.1991). Summary judgment is appropriate only when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that, on the facts before the court, the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Insley v. Titan Insurance Company, 589 So.2d at 13.

The burden is upon the mover for summary judgment to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that, as a matter of law, summary judgment is warranted. Robertson v. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, 574 So.2d at 384. It is only after the moving party has shown that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that he is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law that the burden shifts to the party opposing the motion to come forward with specific facts establishing the existence of a genuine issue of fact for trial. Caballero Planting Co., Inc. v. Hymel, 597 So.2d at 37.

Amoco filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act, LSA-R.S. 9:2780, does not apply to the instant case and that Gian-fala owes Amoco indemnification and a defense against the claims by Daigle.

As pointed out by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Meloy v. Conoco, Inc., 504 So.2d 833, 837 (La.1987), the Louisiana legislature passed LSA-R.S. 9:2780 in response to the concern of oilfield contractors over the widespread inclusion of indemnification agreement in the master service contracts which oil companies require all contractors to sign. These indemnification agreements exposed contractors to both worker’s compensation and tort liability.

The intent and policy of the Louisiana legislature in enacting the Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act is expressly set forth in the statutory provision, which provides as follows:

The legislature finds that an inequity is foisted on certain contractors and their employees by the defense or indemnity provisions, either or both, contained in some agreements pertaining to wells for oil, gas, or water, or drilling for minerals which occur in a solid, liquid, gaseous, or other state, to the extent those provisions apply to death or bodily injury to persons.

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Related

Daigle v. US FIDELITY AND GUAR. INS. CO.
610 So. 2d 883 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)

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610 So. 2d 883, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 3706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daigle-v-united-states-fidelity-guaranty-insurance-co-lactapp-1992.