Derouen v. C & D PRODUCTION SPECIALIST

718 So. 2d 460, 1998 WL 283068
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 3, 1998
Docket98-57
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 718 So. 2d 460 (Derouen v. C & D PRODUCTION SPECIALIST) 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
Derouen v. C & D PRODUCTION SPECIALIST, 718 So. 2d 460, 1998 WL 283068 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

718 So.2d 460 (1998)

Ricky J. DEROUEN, Claimant-Appellant,
v.
C & D PRODUCTION SPECIALIST, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-57.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 3, 1998.

*461 Lee Andrew Gallaspy, Lafayette, for Ricky J. Derouen.

Jeffrey John Warrens, Baton Rouge, for C & D Production Specialist.

Before WOODARD, AMY and GREMILLION, JJ.

AMY, Judge.

Claimant appeals from a judgment of the Office of Workers' Compensation disqualifying him from receiving workers' compensation benefits based on violations of La.R.S. 23:1208, which governs misrepresentations concerning benefits. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Claimant, Ricky Derouen, began working for C & D Production Specialists Co., Inc. in August 1994. Derouen described the work as construction and production work which required heavy lifting. At the time of the work-related accident, Derouen's services had been contracted out by C & D to Environmental Resources in Sulphur, Louisiana, to clean up after an oil spill. While in the course and scope of this employment, claimant reportedly injured his back on February 26, 1996, and again, on February 27, 1996. Following the second work-related accident, Derouen notified his employer and was transported immediately to a physician to receive medical attention. Derouen never returned to work at C & D.

Initially, C & D paid weekly benefits in the amount of $213.33 per week and all medicals to Derouen. However, on October 29, 1996, it discontinued payment of weekly benefits, alleging Derouen had committed workers' compensation fraud and, thereby, forfeited all rights to benefits pursuant to La.R.S. 23:1208. Derouen filed a claim with the Office of Workers' Compensation seeking additional compensation benefits.[1]

*462 Following a hearing on the merits, the workers' compensation judge found that Derouen had forfeited his rights to further compensation benefits by returning to work for an undisclosed employer, and for knowingly making false statements and misrepresentations to David Lorino, a claims representative employed by Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation, C & D's workers' compensation carrier, and to the workers' compensation tribunal during the hearing. Derouen appeals, assigning the following errors: (1) the workers' compensation judge erred in denying claimant workers' compensation benefits under the provisions of La. R.S. 23:1208; (2) the workers' compensation judge erred when it incorrectly applied La. R.S. 23:1208, ignoring jurisprudence, in particular Grant v. Natchitoches Manor Nursing Home, 96-1546 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/14/97); 696 So.2d 73, writ denied, 97-1582 (La.10/17/97); 701 So.2d 1330; (3) the workers' compensation judge lacked jurisdiction over the alleged violation of La.R.S. 23:1208; and, (4) the workers' compensation judge "improperly ruled and/or applied and/or interpreted 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 — 12213 [Americans with Disabilities Act], particularly the peremptive provisions of that statute."

Merits

We will treat claimant's first three assignments together, as the focal point of his argument is whether the workers' compensation tribunal is a forum of proper jurisdiction over alleged violations of La.R.S. 23:1208. In Cajun Bag and Supply v. Baptiste, 94-1218 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/1/95); 651 So.2d 943, this court discussed, generally, the subject matter jurisdiction afforded the Office of Workers' Compensation and that remaining with the district courts of this state. In that case, we stated:

Pursuant to Article 5, Section 16 of the Louisiana Constitution, the district courts are vested with original jurisdiction over all civil matters unless the Constitution provides otherwise or the Louisiana Legislature has "provided by law for administrative agency determinations in worker's compensation matters." The Louisiana Legislature has vested worker's compensation hearing officers with "exclusive jurisdiction over all claims or disputes arising out" of the Worker's Compensation Chapter. LSA-R.S. 23:1310.3(E) (emphasis added). LSA-R.S. 23:1310.3 provides that hearing officers have the authority to adjudicate claims for benefits and the controversion of entitlement to benefits; therefore, these matters are clearly "worker's compensation matters" which arise under the act.... We believe LSA-R.S. 23:1310.3 requires that a claim actually "arise out" of the Worker's Compensation Act, rather than merely relate to worker's compensation in general, for hearing officers to enjoy original jurisdiction over it.

Id. at p. 9; 948.

In support of his main contention that the workers' compensation judge did not have the legal power and authority to hear and determine whether he had forfeited benefits pursuant to La.R.S. 23:1208, Derouen cites the Grant case rendered by another panel of this court. In Grant, after deciding the case based on substantive errors made by the workers' compensation judge, that panel, on its own motion, noticed that the lower tribunal lacked "subject matter jurisdiction as it pertains to a claim for forfeiture of benefits as provided for in La.R.S. 23:1208." Grant, 96-1546, p. 5; 696 So.2d at 76. That panel went on to conclude that forfeiture of benefits on account of fraud fell beyond "`benefit and penalties directly associated with the employee's work-related injury and his receipt of workers' compensation benefits....'" Id. at p. 6; 76 (quoting Sampson v. Wendy's Management, Inc., 593 So.2d 336, 339 (La.1992)); but see Jones v. Trendsetter Production Co., Inc., 97-299 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/25/98); 707 So.2d 1341; Cenla Steel Erectors v. McDonald, 98-15 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/12/98). We respectfully disagree with the conclusion reached by our esteemed colleagues in Grant. Instead, our opinion is that the statutory language and the relevant jurisprudence support the view that the workers' compensation judge does indeed have subject matter jurisdiction to determine whether a forfeiture of benefits has occurred pursuant to La.R.S. 23:1208.

Section 1208, as it existed at the time of Derouen's alleged false statements and *463 employment by an undisclosed employer,[2] provided:

A. It shall be unlawful for any person, for the purpose of obtaining or defeating any benefit or payment under the provisions of this Chapter, either for himself or for any other person, to willfully make a false statement or representation.
....
E. Any employee violating this Section shall, upon determination by hearing officer, forfeit any right to compensation benefits under this Chapter.

(Emphasis added).

The Louisiana Supreme Court, considering the appropriate interpretation and application La.R.S. 23:1208, stated, as follows:

Section 1208 is clear and unambiguous and as such will be applied as written. La.Civ.Code art. 9; La.R.S. 1:4. Section 1208 clearly applies to any willful false statements or representations made "for the purpose of obtaining or defeating any benefit or payment." Section 1208 has no language limiting it to only certain types of false statements, i.e., statements other than those relating to prior injuries.

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Bluebook (online)
718 So. 2d 460, 1998 WL 283068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/derouen-v-c-d-production-specialist-lactapp-1998.