Hernandez v. Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corp.

166 So. 3d 456, 2015 La.App. 3 Cir. 118, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1158
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 3, 2015
DocketNo. 15-118
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 166 So. 3d 456 (Hernandez v. Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corp.) 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
Hernandez v. Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corp., 166 So. 3d 456, 2015 La.App. 3 Cir. 118, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1158 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

COOKS, Judge.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

|3In this case, Plaintiff, Luis Hernandez, suffered an injury while cutting timber to be used in the construction of a boat ramp. This ramp was being built on Bayou Teche in Loreauville, Louisiana. Bayou Teche is a navigable waterway and the ramp was to be used to launch boats into the waterway. The uncontested facts establish Plaintiff was not injured while on the ramp, but while working in a grassy area between thirty and one hundred feet from the ramp.

Plaintiff was an employee of UNO Enterprises, LLC, who assigned him to work [458]*458under the direction and control of M. Matt Durand, LLC. Durand, a heavy construction company, was hired by Breaux’s Bay Craft to build the ramp.

As a result of sustaining his injury, On January 30, 2014, Plaintiff filed a 1008 disputed claim for compensation with the Office of Workers’ Compensation (OWC). UNO Enterprises was named as his employer, and Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (LWCC) as UNO’s workers’ compensation insurer. LWCC answered the 1008 claim, admitting it was UNO’s workers’ compensation carrier. However, LWCC denied coverage for Plaintiffs claim, asserting Plaintiff was a longshoreman under the Longshoreman & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. 901-950, and thus, LWCC’s policy did not provide coverage for LHWCA benefits.

UNO subsequently filed a third party demand, naming Durand as the statutory employer of Plaintiff. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff amended his 1008 claim to add Durand as an additional employer. Du-rand filed a cross-claim against UNO and LWCC, alleging if it was liable as the borrowing employer for benefits, then UNO and LWCC were liable for half.

On July 9, 2014, Durand filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the issue of whether the OWC possessed subject matter jurisdiction. LWCC also |4filed an Exception of Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction. The motion and exception were heard together in a single hearing before the OWC, after which the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) granted Durand’s motion for partial summary judgment and denied LWCC’s exception of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The WCJ found Plaintiffs claims were not governed by the LHWCA, but were compensable under Louisiana’s workers’ compensation laws. A review of the WCJ’s oral reasons, rendered in open court, reveal she relied on the fact that Plaintiff “was hired for construction purposes and he was doing construction work.... What is clear is that the work this employee was doing was on land.”

LWCC then filed a writ application with this court to review the ruling on the exception, which was the proper procedural vehicle to challenge the ruling on the exception. This court denied the writ application, “finding] no error in the Workers’ Compensation court’s ruling.”

LWCC then filed the present appeal on the granting of Durand’s motion for partial summary judgment, asserting that the WCJ erred in finding the LHWCA does not apply in this case.

ANALYSIS

I. Law of the Case.

In response to LWCC’s appeal, Durand filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. It based the motion on this Court’s previous denial of LWCC’s writ application seeking reversal of the trial court’s denial of their exception of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Hernandez v. La. Workers’ Comp. Corp., 14-1055 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/13/14) (unpublished opinion). Arguing the record on appeal is identical to that of the writ application, and the same arguments were advanced again, Durand contends our previous writ application should be considered the “law of the case,” and the appeal dismissed.

|fiA prior denial of supervisory writs does not preclude reconsideration of an issue on appeal, nor does it prevent the appellate court from reaching a different conclusion. State v. Castleberry, 98-1388, p. 5 (La.4/13/99), 758 So.2d 749, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 893, 120 S.Ct. 220, 145 L.Ed.2d 185 (1999). Under the doctrine of [459]*459“law of the case,” an appellate court will generally refuse to reconsider its own rulings of law on a subsequent appeal in the same case. Clement v. Reeves, 07-1154, 07-1155 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/30/08), 975 So.2d 170, writ denied, 08-0482 (La.4/18/08), 978 So.2d 355; State v. Pettus, 11-862 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/22/12), 96 So.3d 1240. The law of the case doctrine is discretionary. Id. Reconsideration of a prior ruling is warranted when, in light of a subsequent trial record, it is apparent that the determination was patently erroneous and produced unjust results. Id. Although, we find no error in the decision by this court on the writ, and acknowledge there has been no new evidence presented, we feel it in the best interests of justice that a written discussion of the parties’ arguments be undertaken. Thus, in our discretion, we decline to apply the law of the case doctrine in this instance, and will entertain LWCC’s appeal.

II. Is Plaintiff’s Injury Within the Confínes of the LHWCA?

In the present case, there are no significant factual disputes. Instead, this matter involves a question of law, i.e., whether the WCJ properly applied the LHWCA to the facts herein in determining it had jurisdiction over Plaintiffs claim. “[Wjhen there are errors of law asserted on appeal, the appellate court must make a determination whether the workers’ compensation judge’s ruling was legally correct.” Miller v. Blacktype Farms, 06-1202, p. 4 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/7/07), 952 So.2d 867, 870 (citing McClain v. Pinecrest Dev. Ctr., 00-1622 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/28/01), 779 So.2d 1112).

The sole issue before this court is whether Plaintiff was within the jurisdictional confines of the LHWCA at the time of his injury. For the LHWCA to cover an |ñempIoyee, the employee must meet the “situs” and “status” requirements listed in the LHWCA. See Julien v. Dynamic Industries, Inc., 10-520 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/3/10), 52 So.3d 174, (citing Herb’s Welding, Inc. v. Gray, 470 U.S. 414, 105 S.Ct. 1421, 84 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985)). The “situs” requirement involves the location where the employee’s work is performed, and is found in 33 U.S.C. § 903(a), and provides:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, compensation shall be payable under this chapter in respect of disability or death of an employee, but only if the disability or death • results from an injury occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used by an employer in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel).

The “status” requirement is found in 33 U.S.C. §§ 902(3) and 902(4), which provide, in pertinent part:

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Bluebook (online)
166 So. 3d 456, 2015 La.App. 3 Cir. 118, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hernandez-v-louisiana-workers-compensation-corp-lactapp-2015.