Dupre v. City of New Orleans ex rel. New Orleans Fire Department

648 So. 2d 503, 94 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3578
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 1994
DocketNos. 94-CA-1185 to 94-CA-1196
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 648 So. 2d 503 (Dupre v. City of New Orleans ex rel. New Orleans Fire Department) 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
Dupre v. City of New Orleans ex rel. New Orleans Fire Department, 648 So. 2d 503, 94 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3578 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

liLOBRANO, Judge.

This consolidated case involves twelve firefighters who were injured during the course and scope of their employment with the New Orleans Fire Department. Each plaintiff has been receiving worker’s compensation benefits and benefits from a firefighters’ pension fund. Plaintiffs filed their original petitions against the City of New Orleans alleging that the City improperly reduced their compensation benefits by the amounts received from the pension fund. In their petitions, plaintiffs characterized the funds received from the pension fund as retirement rather than disability. Initially, the City argued that these funds were disability plan benefits for which the City is entitled to a credit against its compensation obligation under R.S. 23:1225 C(l).

This case was originally tried in 1989. On May 29, 1990, the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs and against the defendant reinstating full compensation benefits from the date the benefits were terminated or reduced, until further notice. Because the trial judge found that R.S. 23:1225 C(l) was inapplicable, she ruled that the City should not have reduced plaintiffs’ worker’s compensation benefits by any amounts received by them from the pension fund. In her reasons for judgment, the trial judge found that our holding in Lambert v. 2Board of Trust Employees Retirement System, City of New Orleans, 517 So.2d 1282 (La.App. 4th Cir.1987), writ denied, 519 So.2d 771 (La.1988) was controlling.

In Lambert, we held that the credit allowed in R.S. 23:1225 C(l) was applicable only when an employee received benefits from all four sources listed in that statute rather than from only one of those sources. Although R.S. 23:1225 C(l) was amended in 1989, subsequent to the date of the Lambert decision, to provide that compensation benefits can be offset if an employee receives benefits from any one of the four sources listed in that statute, the trial judge held that the amendment, which became effective on January 1, 1990, constituted a substantive change in the law and did not have retroactive effect.

Subsequent to the trial court’s May 29, 1990 judgment, but prior to submission of the appeal of that judgment to this court, we decided Blanson v. State, Dept. of Public Safety, 571 So.2d 181 (La.App. 4th Cir.1990), writ denied, 573 So.2d 1142 (La.1991), and held that the 1989 amendment should be applied retroactively.1 Relying on Blanson, [506]*506we reversed the trial court in the first appeal of this case. Dupre v. City of New Orleans, 579 So.2d 496 (La.App. 4th Cir 11991),⅞ writ denied, 584 So.2d 679 (La.1991). However, because the record in that appeal did not establish whether the benefits being received by plaintiffs, in addition to worker’s compensation benefits, were from a disability plan or a retirement plan, we remanded with the following instructions:

“[B]ecause the record in this case is unclear as to whether the benefits received by appellees other than worker’s compensation benefits are retirement plan benefits or disability plan benefits, this case must be remanded to the trial court for a determination on this issue. If the second source of benefits is from a retirement plan, then the City is not entitled to offset its payment of worker’s compensation benefits. However, if the second source of benefits is from a disability plan, then the City is entitled to offset its payment of worker’s compensation benefits under LSA-R.S. 23:1225 C(l) and the trial court must determine the amount of this offset based on the amount of disability plan benefits received by each appellee.”

On remand, evidence was presented which established that the benefits being received by all twelve plaintiffs, in addition to worker’s compensation benefits, were disability plan benefits. Plaintiffs admit that they chose to receive benefits from a disability pension.

The trial judge rendered judgment on March 14, 1994 in favor of the City and against the plaintiffs, dismissing their claims and holding that the City was entitled to offset its payment of worker’s compensation benefits under R.S. 23:1225 C(l). The trial judge did not issue written reasons for judgment and the judgment did not state the amount of the offsets due to the City for disability plan benefits received by each plaintiff. The plaintiffs now appeal that judgment.2

On appeal, the plaintiffs raise two assignments of error:

14.1) the trial judge erred in failing to abide by the remand order of this court ordering her to determine the amount of offset due to the City for the plaintiffs who are receiving disability benefits in addition to worker’s compensation benefits; and
2) the trial judge erred in failing to follow the ruling in Cousins v. City of New Orleans, 608 So.2d 978 (La.1992), which was decided during the pendency of this action, and the City was arbitrary and capricious in failing to recognize its applicability.

We discuss each assignment in reverse order.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR 2:

While the instant ease was pending on remand, Cousins v. City of New Orleans, supra, addressed, for the first time, the issue of whether the credit extended by R.S. 23:1225 C(l) is applicable when the employee is also eligible for tenure-based retirement benefits, in an equal amount as disability benefits, under the same plan that provides the disability benefits. In Cousins, a firefighter was injured on the job after working for twenty-two years for the New Orleans Fire Department. At the time of his injury, the firefighter’s right to tenure-based retirement benefits had become fully vested. Although he would have received the same amount of benefits whether he retired under the disability plan or the retirement plan, he chose to retire under the disability plan because of certain tax advantages.

[507]*507The Louisiana Supreme Court noted that there is no mention in R.S. 23:1225 C of a credit for tenure-based retirement benefits. The Court also noted that although the plaintiff chose a disability pension, he “could have taken early retirement then without prejudice to his right to receive the full amount of worker’s compensation benefits payable because of his disability.” Cousins v. City 5of New Orleans, supra, at 980. The Court held that because the R.S. 23:1225 C credit is inapplicable when an employee retires under the tenure-based retirement plan, the credit is also inapplicable when the employee chooses a disability pension even though he is eligible for retirement with the same amount of benefits under the tenure-based retirement benefit plan. Cousins v. City of New Orleans, supra at 981.

The rationale and result of the Cousins decision is clear. If the plaintiff had chosen to receive the retirement benefits, they would not have been credited against his compensation benefits. Merely because he chose disability benefits because of tax reasons is insufficient reason to apply the credit. There was no detriment to the Fund if plaintiff had transferred from receiving disability benefits to retirement benefits to which he was equally entitled. Thus, under those circumstances, the credit would not be due the City.

The City cites this court’s decision in Kelty v. Brumfield, 559 So.2d 907 (La.App. 4th Cir.1990), writ denied,

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Bluebook (online)
648 So. 2d 503, 94 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dupre-v-city-of-new-orleans-ex-rel-new-orleans-fire-department-lactapp-1994.