Davis v. Farm Fresh Food Supplier

879 So. 2d 215, 2003 La.App. 1 Cir. 1381, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1263, 2004 WL 1077984
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 14, 2004
DocketNo. 2003 CA 1381
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 879 So. 2d 215 (Davis v. Farm Fresh Food Supplier) 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
Davis v. Farm Fresh Food Supplier, 879 So. 2d 215, 2003 La.App. 1 Cir. 1381, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1263, 2004 WL 1077984 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

| .CARTER, C.J.

Defendant, Farm Fresh Food Supplier, Inc. (Farm Fresh), suspensively appeals a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) in favor of the claimant, Jonathan Davis, for benefits, penalties, and attorney’s fees. Davis answers this appeal seeking additional attorney’s fees for appellate representation. For the following reasons, we affirm the WCJ’s decision.

BACKGROUND

Jonathan Davis worked for Farm Fresh in both its plant and as a delivery truck driver on and off for a five-year period. On February 21, 2001, Davis filed a claim with the Office of Workers’ Compensation (OWC) for an injury received January 18, 2001. According to Davis, while making deliveries for Farm Fresh, the products inside the delivery truck shifted, causing him to crash the cab of the truck into a ditch. Lionel Dufour, the owner of Farm Fresh, denied an accident occurred.

Trial was held on May 1, 2002. On May 13, 2002, the WCJ signed a purported judgment, and Farm Fresh appealed to this court. This court held that because the judgment contained reasons and a decree that contradicted one another, it was not a decision with legal certainty. Davis v. Farm Fresh Food Supplier, 2002-1401 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/28/03), 844 So.2d 352. Finding the judgment lacked the quality of a thing adjudged, the judgment was vacated, the appeal dismissed without prejudice, and the matter remanded to the OWC. Id.

Pursuant to this court’s remand order, the WCJ signed a judgment on April 4, 2003. The judgment awarded Davis temporary total disability | .benefits from January 18, 2001, through May 8, 2001, at the rate of $201.77 per week, plus medical expenses in the amount of $3,865.00, and assessed all costs against Farm Fresh. Pursuant to the applicable version of LSA-R.S. 23:1201 F,1 the judgment assessed penalties against Farm Fresh in the amount of $2,000.00 and awarded Davis $5,000.00 in attorney’s fees. Finding Farm Fresh violated the provisions of LSA-R.S. 23:1208 A, an additional $5,000.00 civil penalty was assessed pursuant to LSA-R.S. 23:1208 D.

Thereafter, Farm Fresh filed a motion for new trial. In support of its motion for new trial, Farm Fresh argued that Davis failed to prove his case by a preponderance of the evidence, that the imposition of $12,000.00 in penalties and attorney’s fees was excessive, and that LSA-R.S. 23:1208 is unconstitutional.2 The motion for new trial was denied; this appeal follows.

Farm Fresh alleges two assignments of error. First, Farm Fresh maintains the trial court erred in finding that Davis proved his ease by a preponderance of the evidence. Second, Farm Fresh challenges the assessment of penalties and attorney’s fees.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Proof by a Preponderance of the Evidence

In order for a claimant to recover workers’ compensation benefits, he [219]*219must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a work-related accident |4occurred and that an injury was sustained. Bodiford v. Robinson Bros. Lincoln Mercury, 2002-1033 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/28/03), 844 So.2d 272, 276. Farm Fresh suggests'Davis’s self-serving testimony is the only evidence that an accident occurred, and this alone is insufficient proof. However, a claimant’s testimony alone may be sufficient to discharge his burden of proof provided two elements are satisfied: (1) no other evidence discredits or casts serious doubt upon the worker’s version of the incident; and (2) the worker’s testimony is corroborated by the circumstances following the alleged incident. Bodiford, 844 So.2d at 276. The WCJ’s determinations as to whether the claimant’s testimony is credible and whether the claimant has discharged his burden of proof are factual determinations and will not be disturbed upon review in the absence of manifest error or unless clearly wrong. Bodiford, 844 So.2d at 276.

Davis testified that shortly after leaving the Farm Fresh plant on the morning of January 18, 2001, the load in the delivery truck he was driving shifted, causing the cab of the vehicle to crash into a ditch. Approximately ten minutes after the wreck, a passerby stopped and allowed Davis to use her cell phone to contact his boss, Lionel Dufour. According to Davis, an angry Dufour arranged for a wrecker to remove the truck from the ditch. The tow truck arrived approximately thirty minutes later; the delivery truck was pulled from the ditch, and Davis completed all of his deliveries for the day. Davis identified the driver of the tow truck as Chicken Gaines.

According to Davis, the next morning Gerald Solomon, an employee of Farm Fresh, stopped by Davis’s house to pick Davis up for work. Davis told Solomon that he was not feeling well and would not be going to the |Roffice. Later that afternoon, Davis went to Farm Fresh to pick up his check. According to Davis, Dufour refused to give him his paycheck until he signed a statement stating he had quit his job, an allegation Dufour confirmed. Davis’s final paycheck included a $134.60 deduction. Davis explained the deduction was for the $125.00 cost of the wrecker and miscellaneous expenses. In contrast, Dufour denied deducting a wrecker fee, saying the $125.00 was for “borrowed cash.”

Dufour confirmed that Davis delivered his route on January 18, 2001, without missing a stop. However, in direct conflict with Davis’s testimony, Dufour denies that an accident occurred. Dufour testified that he never paid a wrecker fee, and Davis never told him he had a wreck or that he injured himself. When Davis failed to report to work the next morning, Dufour assumed Davis had quit. Both men agreed that over the years Davis had quit or been fired on several occasions.

In resolving this dispute, it was necessary for the WCJ to reach a factual conclusion regarding whether an accident occurred on January 18, 2001. Before an appellate court may reverse the factual determination of a WCJ, it must find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the findings or, if there is a reasonable basis, that the record establishes that the findings are clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Teano v. Electrical Const. Co., 2002-2032 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/9/03), 849 So.2d 714, 717. When factual findings are based on witness credibility, the appellate court must give great deference to the factfinder’s decision to credit or discredit a witness’s testimony. Id. Moreover, a factfinder’s decision to credit the testimony of one of two or more witnesses can | ¡^virtually never be manifest[220]*220ly erroneous or clearly wrong. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 845 (La.1989).

The WCJ’s decision to discredit the testimony of Dufour is supported by the record. For example, when asked under oath if Farm Fresh had workers’ compensation insurance on January 18, 2001, Dufour responded: “No, sir.” Dufour then retreated from his earlier statement and admitted that Farm Fresh did have workers’ compensation insurance on the date of the accident and that he had lied under oath. Moreover, circumstances following the incident corroborated Davis’s testimony that an accident had indeed occurred.

In workers’ compensation cases, a disability is presumed to be the result of the work-related accident if the claimant was in good health before the accident and the symptoms of the disability appear after the accident and continue to manifest themselves. Bodiford, 844 So.2d at 276.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Andre Lee v. Smitty's Supply, Inc.
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2024
Shelton v. Smitty's Supply, Inc.
253 So. 3d 157 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
Conner v. Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Co.
185 So. 3d 754 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
Arretteig v. Our Lady of Lake Hospital, Inc.
142 So. 3d 1048 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
Lewis v. TEMPLE INLAND
80 So. 3d 52 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
Farm Fresh Food Supplier, Inc. v. Davis
915 So. 2d 887 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)
Barnett v. A & R Transportation
897 So. 2d 655 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
879 So. 2d 215, 2003 La.App. 1 Cir. 1381, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1263, 2004 WL 1077984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-farm-fresh-food-supplier-lactapp-2004.