Denton v. Cormier

556 So. 2d 931, 1990 WL 9687
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 7, 1990
Docket88-1078
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 556 So. 2d 931 (Denton v. Cormier) 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
Denton v. Cormier, 556 So. 2d 931, 1990 WL 9687 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

556 So.2d 931 (1990)

Jay R. DENTON, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Donald R. CORMIER, et al Transportation Insurance Company-Intervenor, Defendant and Intervenor-Appellant.

No. 88-1078.

Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 7, 1990.

*932 Nick Pizzolatto, Jr., Lake Charles, for plaintiff/appellee.

Raggio, Cappel, Chozen & Berniard, Frederick Cappel, Plauche, Smith & Nieset, P.C., A.R. Johnson IV, Lake Charles, for defendant/appellant.

Before DOMENGEAUX, C.J., and FORET and LABORDE, JJ.

LABORDE, Judge.

This is an appeal brought by intervenor, Transportation Insurance Company (Transportation), from a judgment ordering it to pay plaintiff, Jay R. Denton, a portion of the litigation expenses and attorney's fees incurred as a result of the present action. We find that the trial judge erred in not following the formula set out by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Moody v. Arabie, 498 So.2d 1081 (La.1986)[1] in his calculation of the intervenor's proportionate share of the litigation expenses and attorney's fees. Utilizing the Moody formula, we amend the trial court's judgment to increase the amount of plaintiff's reimbursement from intervenor, and affirm as amended.

*933 FACTS

The central facts of this case are not in dispute. On November 12, 1985, Jay R. Denton was injured in an automobile accident while in the course and scope of his employment with W.R. Grace/Kinco. Shortly thereafter, on December 18, 1985, he filed a petition for damages, naming as defendants, Donald R. Cormier, H & H Concrete, Inc., and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company. A petition of intervention was filed on March 11, 1986, by Transportation, the worker's compensation carrier of the plaintiff's employer. The petition of intervention sought reimbursement for all compensation benefits and medical expenses it had paid to the plaintiff. Intervenor also sought a credit for any future compensation benefits or medical expenses that may be due the plaintiff.

After a trial on the merits, the trial court awarded the plaintiff $721,500.00. The trial court's judgment also provided that intervenor was entitled to recover $35,052.00 in compensation benefits and $30,919.31 in medical expenses that it had already paid the plaintiff, plus a credit of $358,000.00 and $75,000.00 for future compensation benefits and future medical expenses respectively.

Subsequent to the trial of this matter, plaintiff made demand upon intervenor for payment of litigation costs and attorney's fees pursuant to the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in Moody v. Arabie, 498 So.2d 1081 (La.1986). Intervenor conceded that it should pay its proportionate share of the litigation expenses, but opposed the plaintiff's claim for attorney's fees. As a result of intervenor's refusal to pay the attorney's fees, plaintiff filed a rule to show cause why further judgment should not be rendered against intervenor for its proportionate share of the litigation expenses and attorney's fees.

A hearing on the rule to show cause was held on July 27, 1988, wherein the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff. Judgment on the Rule was signed on August 4, 1988, ordering intervenor to pay plaintiff $813.47 in litigation expenses and 1/3 of $65,971.31 (the amount intervenor had been awarded for past paid compensation benefits and medical expenses) in attorney's fees. Intervenor now appeals from that judgment, raising two specifications of error.

SPECIFICATION OF ERROR NO. 1

In its first specification of error intervenor contends that the trial court erred in allowing the introduction of evidence of litigation expenses and attorney's fees at the hearing on the rule to show cause. Intervenor points out that the plaintiff failed to file any pleadings prior to the judgment on the merits which stated a cause of action against intervenor for either litigation expenses or attorney's fees. In the absence of any such pleadings, the intervenor argues, the introduction of evidence regarding the litigation expenses or attorney's fees amounted to an improper expansion of the pleadings. Intervenor notes that it objected to the introduction of this evidence at the hearing, which objection was overruled, and cites the case Bosworth v. New Orleans Federal Savings & Loan Association, 258 So.2d 191 (La.App. 4th Cir.1972) for the proposition that proof intended to broaden or go beyond the pleadings is inadmissible if objected to timely.

Central to intervenor's first specification of error is the novel issue of whether the recovery of litigation expenses and attorney's fees against an employer or his worker's compensation carrier authorized by the Supreme Court's decision in Moody must be specifically prayed for by the pleadings. However, before we address this issue, we find it necessary to discuss what exactly the Louisiana Supreme Court decided in Moody. Moody involved facts that are analogous to those in the case at bar. An employee, Mr. Moody, injured during the course and scope of his employment and receiving worker's compensation benefits, brought suit against various third-party tortfeasors for damages. Mr. Moody's employer's worker's compensation carrier intervened, seeking to recover compensation benefits paid to Mr. Moody. A jury found in favor of Mr. Moody and awarded him *934 substantial damages. The trial court's judgment recognized the worker's compensation carrier's claim and ordered that it be paid, in preference, out of Mr. Moody's award. Subsequently, a dispute arose between the parties over the apportionment of the proceeds of the judgment. The worker's compensation carrier argued that the amount of its compensation lien should be paid first, without deduction of any amount for the plaintiff's attorney one-third contingency fee. Conversely, the plaintiff's attorney contended that his one-third fee applied to the entire judgment.

This dispute eventually made its way up to the Louisiana Supreme Court. The Court resolved the dispute in the following manner:

"When an employer pays compensation to a worker who has been injured by the wrongful act of a third person, the employer and the worker become co-owners of a property right consisting of a right to recover damages from the third person. Since the Civil Code has not dealt in detail with co-ownership of single things, the task to construct a doctrine has fallen to the writers, using as help the statutory principles furnished by the titles on ownership, successions, and partnership contract. La.C.C. art. 480; Aubry & Rau, Property § 221, 329.
* * * * * *
Applying this doctrine to the action and right against the third person, we conclude that, with respect to any costs necessary to the maintenance and conservation of the right, each co-owner is always obliged to contribute in proportion to his interest in the right, and that, with respect to any other litigation costs, each co-owner is responsible for his proportionate part of reasonable and necessary expenses and legal services that accrue to his benefit. Under the doctrine, each co-owner is liable for necessary maintenance and conservation costs, such as those involved in filing suit and interrupting prescription, regardless of whether he consented to them. Ordinarily he would not be bound for other litigation costs incurred without his consent, but the workers' compensation law dispenses with the requirement of his consent.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
556 So. 2d 931, 1990 WL 9687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denton-v-cormier-lactapp-1990.