Haydel v. Hercules Transport, Inc.

654 So. 2d 408, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 0016, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 991, 1995 WL 239617
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 7, 1995·No. No. 94 CA 0016·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

|2CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment granting a motion for summary judgment in an action for damages.

FACTS

On October 18, 1990, plaintiff, Kathy C. Haydel, was standing outside of her home in Schriever, Louisiana, when she was overcome by a cloud of anhydrous ammonia (a chemical used as a fertilizer). The cloud allegedly enveloped her home, forcing plaintiff and her children to evacuate and allegedly causing them injuries.

On March 19, 1991, plaintiff, individually and on behalf of her two minor children, Nikki Richard and Michelle Haydel, filed an action against Tri-State Delta Chemicals, Inc. d/b/a Cropmate Company (Cropmate) and other defendants for damages arising out of the anhydrous ammonia-release on October 18, 1990.1 The petition alleged that the anhydrous ammonia was released into the air by employees of Hercules Transport, Inc. (Hercules) while attempting to transfer the chemical from a tank truck to a storage facility operated by Cropmate. The Hercules employee determined that the tank truck’s pump was not operating properly and attempted to use the pump of another truck to accomplish the transfer to the storage facility. The Hercules employee misconnect-ed the hose running from his truck to the pump of the other truck, necessitating a re[411]*411lease of the contents of the hose. The Hercules employee then released the contents of the hose into the air through a bleeder valve located on top of his tank truck.

In the petition, plaintiffs alleged that, as a result of the chemical release, they sustained personal injuries including, but not limited to, injuries to their eyes, skin, bronchial passages, sinus and nasal cavities, throat, and lungs, as well as psychological injuries. Plaintiffs also alleged special and exemplary damages under LSA-C.C. art. I32315.3.2 The following defendants were alleged to be solidarity liable for plaintiffs’ injuries: Hercules Transport, Inc. (Hercules); O’Neal Gas, Inc. (O’Neal Gas); LPG Risk Retention Group Insurance Company (LPG); Cropmate; and Reliance Insurance Company.

On August 16, 1991, plaintiffs filed a first amended petition, alleging the following: (1) that the tractor units involved in the release were owned by O’Neal Gas and operated by Hercules employees;3 (2) that the tank/trailer units were owned by Cropmate and leased to Hercules;4 (3) that Hercules and O’Neal Gas were insured by LPG; and (4) that Cropmate was insured by Reliance Insurance Company.5

Plaintiffs alleged that the cause of their injuries and damages were the following nonexclusive acts of negligence and/or strict liability on the part of Cropmate: (1) custody of a defective thing posing an unreasonable risk of harm to others; (2) failure to warn others of the dangerous propensities of the equipment it owned; (3) failure to warn residents near the storage facility of the dangers inherent in the operations; (4) negligent design and construction of the tanks involved; and (5) any and all acts of negligence and/or strict liability which may be proven at trial.

On January 21, 1992, Cropmate filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that it had no employees or equipment involved in the release of anhydrous ammonia and that it had no personnel at the storage facility at the time of the mishap. Cropmate argued that its only involvement was the “mere happenstance of owning the |4storage facility next to the Hercules trucks.” Crop-mate indicated further that the location of its storage facility was in compliance with the regulations set forth by the Anhydrous Ammonia Commission of Louisiana.

Attached to Cropmate’s motion for summary judgment were, among other things, portions of various depositions, the rules and regulations governing the sale, storage, transportation, and handling of anhydrous ammonia, and the affidavit of Joseph Champagne. In his affidavit, Champagne stated that Cropmate’s storage facility is located at a distance greater than all of the minimum distances listed for inhabited dwellings in the regulations of the Anhydrous Ammonia Commission of Louisiana.

On September 29, 1992, the trial court denied Cropmate’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court indicated that Crop-mate had no involvement in the accident and that, normally, it would grant Cropmate’s motion for summary judgment. However, the trial court reasoned that, because Crop-mate owned the tank/trailer units involved in the release of anhydrous ammonia and because the pump on one of the tank/trailer units failed to function properly prior to the release, there were issues of material fact in dispute with regard to whether there was a defect in the tank/trailer unit and Cropmate’s liability therefor.

On August 10, 1993, O’Neal Gas filed a motion for summary judgment based on the undisputed fact that its tank/trailer units [412]*412were not involved in the release of the anhydrous ammonia. The trial court subsequently granted O’Neal Gas’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing plaintiffs’ claims against it.

On August 13, 1993, Cropmate filed a second motion for summary judgment, urging that the anhydrous ammonia was released by the mere inadvertence of the Hercules employee and not through any “defect” in Crop-mate’s tank/trailer units. On September 20, 1993, the trial court granted Cropmate’s motion for summary judgment.6 Plaintiffs appealed from this adverse judgment, assigning as error the trial court’s granting of Crop-mate’s motion for summary judgment.

|5SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used to avoid a full-scale trial when there is no genuine factual dispute. Ouachita National Bank in Monroe v. Gulf States Land & Development Inc., 579 So.2d 1115, 1120 (La.App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 587 So.2d 695 (La.1991). The motion should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966; Thompson v. South Central Bell Telephone Company, 411 So.2d 26, 27 (La.1982); Legros v. Norcen Exploration, Inc., 583 So.2d 859, 860 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writs denied, 588 So.2d 101, 109 (La.1991).

A fact is material if it is essential to the plaintiffs cause of action under the applicable theory of recovery and without which the plaintiff could not prevail. Material facts are those that potentially insure or preclude recovery, affect the litigant’s ultimate success, or determine the outcome of a legal dispute. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d 577, 583 (La.1989).

The burden is upon the mover for summary judgment to show that no genuine issues of material fact exist, and only when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law is summary judgment warranted. Robertson v. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, 574 So.2d 381, 384 (La.App. 1st Cir.1990), writ denied, 573 So.2d 1136 (La.1991). In determining whether material facts have in fact been disposed of, any doubt is to be resolved against granting the summary judgment and in favor of trial on the merits. Sanders v. Hercules Sheet Metal, Inc., 385 So.2d 772, 775 (La.1980).

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Haydel v. Hercules Transport, Inc., 654 So. 2d 408, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 0016, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 991, 1995 WL 239617 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

654 So. 2d 408 (Haydel v. Hercules Transport, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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