Fallo v. Tuboscope Inspection, Intracoastal Pipe Repair & Supply Co.

435 So. 2d 1033, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8737
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 6, 1983
DocketNo. 5-314
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 435 So. 2d 1033 (Fallo v. Tuboscope Inspection, Intracoastal Pipe Repair & Supply 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
Fallo v. Tuboscope Inspection, Intracoastal Pipe Repair & Supply Co., 435 So. 2d 1033, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8737 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

CURRAULT, Judge.

This case originally came before the court pursuant to. summary judgments granted to defendants by the trial court in a workmen’s compensation action. We reversed and remanded solely as to defendant Tubo-scope in Fallo v. Tuboscope Inspection, Intracoastal Pipe Repair and Supply Company, Inc., 424 So.2d 514 (La. 5th Cir.1982); Rehearing denied January 17, 1983. An application for writ of certiorari was thereafter filed in the Louisiana Supreme Court by defendant Tuboscope. The writ was granted in No. 83-C-0347, April 5,1983,434 So.2d 381, wherein this court was ordered to vacate its judgment and to either affirm the granting of the summary judgment or supplement its original opinion more specifically. Upon review and rehearing, we again reverse and remand for the following reasons.

Briefly, the basic facts reveal that AMF, a division of Tuboscope, Inc., is a corporation whose principal business involves inspection and testing of pipes used in the oil industry. On the morning of September 27, 1978, Tuboscope found itself short of labor and, as was customary, contacted P & M Oilfield Services, Inc., a labor supply pool to provide workmen. Plaintiff, Peter Fallo, was dispatched to Tuboscope and reported to the Intracoastal Pipe Repair Supply Company yard, the job site. Plaintiff was assigned to assist the crew that was inspecting and/or testing lengths of pipe approximately 40 feet long, weighing over 1,000 pounds. His particular duties consisted of manually rolling pipe stacked on a rack to a conveyor system which fed the pipe into the test equipment. The injury occurred when two Tuboscope employees, one of which was responsible for the automatic control of the conveyor, perceived that plaintiff was standing in what they considered to be a dangerous position. In going to his aid, the conveyor belt was not turned off. Consequently a pipe moving up the belt rolled back down, crushing plaintiff’s leg and ankle between it and the next pipe to be fed into the conveyor.

Plaintiff was paid workman’s compensation benefits by P & M and thereafter brought this suit in tort against the various defendants; however, on appeal, we were concerned solely with AMF Tuboscope, In-tracoastal Pipe Repair & Supply Company and Intracoastal Terminal, Inc.

Defendants filed motions for summary judgments; all of which were granted on October 19, 1981. Plaintiff appealed the judgment, but subsequently abandoned its claim as to Intracoastal Pipe Repair and Supply Company and Intracoastal Terminal, Inc. On appeal, this court rendered decision, now vacated, reversing the judgment in favor of Tuboscope and remanded the matter for further proceedings. Pursuant to the subsequent Louisiana Supreme Court mandate, argument on the issue was reset and the parties granted leave to file new briefs.

On rehearing, defendant asserts that as an employee of AMF Tuboscope, plaintiff’s sole remedy lies in workmen’s compensation. Plaintiff argues, however, that defendant’s conduct constitutes an intentional tort and is thus subject to exception in the workmen’s compensation act. In support of the allegations, plaintiff cites this court to the landmark case of Bazley v. Tortorich, 397 So.2d 475 (La.1981) and Hurst v. Massey, 411 So.2d 622 (La.App. 4th Cir.1982).

[1035]*1035As we noted in our prior opinion, the Louisiana Supreme Court in Bazley, “interpreted R.S. 23:1032, as amended by Act 147 of 1976, to mean that if an employee is to be exempted from the exclusive remedy of workmen’s compensation, the injury must have been caused by an intentional act as one where the tort-feasor consciously desires to bring about the physical result of his act, or the belief that the result of his act was substantially certain to follow from his conduct.

“Intent, the court points out, is not limited to consequences which are desired. If the actor knows the consequences are certain, or substantially certain, to result from his act, and he still goes ahead, he is treated by the law as if he had in fact desired to produce the result.” Fallo, at page 516.

In a later case involving the same plaintiff, the Fourth Circuit Court, in affirming an exception of no cause of action, noted that the Bazley court equated the words “intentional act” in the statute to “intentional tort” for civil liability. Bazley v. Silverman, 402 So.2d 228 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1981). Judge Lawrence Chehardy, writing a concurring opinion, analyzed the Bazley decision as follows:

“It thus appears that earlier courts of appeal’s interpretation of the meaning of ‘intent’ in LSA-R.S. 23:1032 as amended by Act 147 of 1976 has either been overruled by the Supreme Court in Bazley, supra, or at any rate the meaning has been so broadened as to effectively do away with the earlier definition of the courts of appeal. In doing away with the earlier definition unless we include in the definition ‘should have known that the result would follow’ there exists a distinction without a difference. Why? Under the Supreme Court definition in Bazley. one must desire the result or know that the consequences are substantially certain to result. It is imperative that a responsibility be placed on the actor, not simply that he knows the result but that he should have known the result of his action. The ‘should have known’ standard is preferable in that it is an objective standard. The desired or known result standard is subjective and thus the distinction without a difference.” At page 231.

He concluded that the objective “should have known” standard was included in the broadened definition of “intentional” as set forth in Bazley and as expressive of the view in W. Prosser, The Law of Torts, Ch. 2 § 8 (4th Ed.1971).

In the Hurst case, the Fourth Circuit Court found that the plaintiffs stated a cause of action for intentional tort under Bazley. There the plaintiffs’ husband and father, a maintenance worker, was killed as a result of a labor dispute which erupted into violence. The decedent was posted by the company as a security guard at a company gate despite the fact that he was untrained in the area of security and despite the fact that defendants were aware of the dangerous nature of the situation.

The facts herein indicate that the plaintiff was standing in a “pit” the entire workday until the accident occurred. The “pit” was located between the conveyor and the stack of pipes. The evidence indicates further that defendant’s workers, including the field supervisor, knew the plaintiff’s position was dangerous and knew that plaintiff was an untrained worker. Plaintiff alleges in brief, further, that he received no instructions prior to beginning the work as to the proper place to stand, although defendant’s supervisor indicated he routinely gave such instructions. The routine procedure utilized by defendants would have placed plaintiff or any other worker on the side as opposed to the middle of the pipe. However, plaintiff insists contrary to defendant’s assertion that with only one man doing this particular job, it was necessary to stand between the stack of pipe and the conveyor. At all times the plaintiff was within calling and viewing distance of the other two members of this particular work team, one of which was the supervisor who controlled the stop and start mechanism of the conveyor. Sometime in the afternoon, the two workers saw a potential accident in process directly due to plaintiff’s position in the pit. They then left their own positions [1036]

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Related

Fallo v. Tuboscope Inspection
439 So. 2d 1069 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
435 So. 2d 1033, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fallo-v-tuboscope-inspection-intracoastal-pipe-repair-supply-co-lactapp-1983.