Foreman v. DANOS AND CUROLE MARINE CONT.

722 So. 2d 1, 1998 WL 736457
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 25, 1998
Docket97 CA 2038
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 722 So. 2d 1 (Foreman v. DANOS AND CUROLE MARINE CONT.) 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
Foreman v. DANOS AND CUROLE MARINE CONT., 722 So. 2d 1, 1998 WL 736457 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

722 So.2d 1 (1998)

Halic James FOREMAN, Debra Sue Gaspard and Brian David Foreman
v.
DANOS AND CUROLE MARINE CONTRACTORS, INC.

No. 97 CA 2038.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 25, 1998.
Writ Denied December 18, 1998.

*2 James J. Zito, Baton Rouge, LA, and John T. Bennett, Marksville, LA, Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Appellants Halic James Foreman, Debra Sue Gaspard, and Brian David Foreman.

Philip E. Henderson, Houma, LA, Attorney for Defendant-Appellee Danos and Curole Marine Contractors, Inc.

Before SHORTESS, C.J., and CARTER and WHIPPLE, JJ.

WHIPPLE, J.

This is an appeal by two of the plaintiffs, Halic James Foreman and Brian David Foreman, from a judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of defendant, Danos and Curole Marine Contractors, Inc. Plaintiffs brought their suit for the wrongful death of their father and related damages against the defendant based on Louisiana law under a theory of respondeat superior. Finding that plaintiffs' claims were barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, the trial court granted summary judgment and dismissed defendant from plaintiffs' suit. Plaintiffs appeal.

BACKGROUND

The decedent, A.H. Foreman, ("Foreman"), was employed by Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. ("Mobil") as a field facility operator on Mobil Oil Ship Shoal 182 C platform located in the Gulf of Mexico on the Outer Continental Shelf ("OCS"). At the time of the accident, and for some time prior, Mobil had contracted with the defendant, Danos and Curole Marine Contractors, Inc. ("Danos") to supply a welder, Robert Lege, and a welder's helper, John Givens, to service a Mobil field consisting of three platforms on the OCS. This field included the Ship Shoal 182 C platform ("182 C platform").

On July 12, 1994, Foreman sustained terminal injuries when he fell through a hole in the grating of the platform while he was performing duties in the course of his employment with Mobil. On the day in question, Foreman was the direct supervisor of operations on the 182 C platform and the chief Mobil supervisor on that particular platform. The two Danos employees were working on the 182 C platform and were prefabricating new hand rails when Foreman asked the two to help install an electric motor for the pipeline pumps. Foreman told the two Danos employees to remove a piece of grating from the platform deck in order to lower the motor through the hole. The hole in the grating had been cut three or four days prior to this operation, and the grating had been bolted in place since that time. The two Danos employees complied, unbolting and removing the grating to open the pre-cut passage to the lower deck.

Foreman started the crane to lift the motor, but relinquished control of the crane to W.J. Castay, another Mobil employee. Givens began giving hand signals to Castay, a Mobil crane operator, to help in lowering the fast line through the hole in the grating. Castay and Givens were watching the crane and each other when Foreman, who had been standing by the crane and facing the hole, walked from the crane and somehow stepped off into the opening. Foreman fell fifteen feet striking equipment below, then fell another five feet to the grating on the lower deck. These injuries resulted in Foreman's untimely death later that day.

Thereafter, plaintiffs, the children of A.H. Foreman, filed suit for wrongful death and personal injuries, against Danos, alleging liability under the theory of respondeat superior. Plaintiffs allege that the two Danos employees, John Givens and Robert Lege, while in the course and scope of their employment, were negligent in their conduct surrounding the removal of the grating and in failing to adequately warn others of the danger of the hole.

Danos filed a motion for summary judgment contending that regardless of negligence, the plaintiffs' suit in tort was barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the *3 Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act ("LHWCA"), 33 U.S.C.A. § 901, et seq. Danos argued that the two Danos employees, Lege and Givens, were supplied to Mobil and had become the "borrowed employees" of Mobil. Thus, Danos contended, recovery in tort against it is barred by the provisions of 33 U.S.C.A. § 933(i).

The trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment. Two of the plaintiffs appeal, contending that the trial court erred: (1) in granting summary judgment in favor of defendant because there are genuine issues of material fact involved and (2) in finding that Robert Lege and John Givens were "borrowed employees" of Mobil. Thus, the precise issue for determination in this case is whether the decedent, Foreman, was a "person in the same employ" as Lege and Givens, pursuant to § 933(i) of the LHWCA.

THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT

Because the accident in this case occurred on the OCS off the Louisiana Gulf Coast, this case arises under and is governed by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ("OCSLA"), 43 U.S.C.A. § 1331, et seq. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act provides that the LHWCA is applicable to "[the] disability or death of an employee resulting from any injury occurring as the result of operations conducted on the outer Continental Shelf for the purpose of exploring for, developing, removing, or transporting by pipeline the natural resources ... of the subsoil and seabed of the outer Continental Shelf." 43 U.S.C.A. § 1333(b). Additionally, OCSLA declares that, to the extent that they are applicable and not inconsistent with federal laws or regulations, the civil and criminal laws of each adjacent state are to be applied as the law of the United States for artificial islands and fixed structures upon the OCS. 43 U.S.C.A. § 1333(a)(2)(A). Therefore, because the decedent was injured on a platform on the OCS, as a result of mineral exploration and/or production activities on the OCS, the issue presented by plaintiffs' action is essentially one of determining the extent of coverage under the LHWCA. 33 U.S.C.A. § 901, et seq.; Robertson v. Arco Oil and Gas Company, 766 F.Supp. 535, 537 (W.D.La.1991), aff'd, 948 F.2d 132 (5th Cir. 1991). If the present suit does not fall within the purview of the LHWCA regulation, then plaintiffs' wrongful death cause of action, based on Louisiana law, will lie, 43 U.S.C.A. § 1333(a)(2)(A).

Together, the OCSLA and the LHWCA provide a workers' compensation scheme for employees who, possibly, would not otherwise be covered by the state workers' compensation act nor by any federal compensation act. Mills v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 877 F.2d 356, 358 (5th Cir.1989)[1]. The LHWCA, like other workers' compensation acts, limits an employee's remedies for negligent injury by his employer and his fellow employees to the payments provided for under the act. 33 U.S.C.A. § 933(i).[2] Nevertheless, when a party other than the employer (or fellow employees) is liable for damages, the claimant may receive workers' compensation benefits from his employer and still bring an action against a third party. 33 U.S.C.A. § 933(i); Canty v. A. Bottacchi, S.A. de Navegacion, 849 F.Supp. *4 1552, 1556 (S.D.Fla.1994). "While `this provision limits an employee's rights, it ...

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Bluebook (online)
722 So. 2d 1, 1998 WL 736457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foreman-v-danos-and-curole-marine-cont-lactapp-1998.