Hesse v. Champ Service Line

828 So. 2d 687, 2002 La.App. 3 Cir. 284, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 2959, 2002 WL 31207214
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided October 2, 2002·No. No. 02-284·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

h GREMILLION, Judge.

The third-party plaintiffs, Investors Ryan and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the third-party defendants, Snap On Tools Corporation and Alert Stamping & Manufacturing Company, Inc., dismissing claims of indemnity against them with prejudice. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

This matter has a prolonged history dating back to August 18, 1990. On that date, Carl Hesse, an employee of Goodyear, was electrocuted when he grabbed a vehicle’s water pump after hanging a portable work light on its engine block. Goodyear leased the premises where the accident occurred from Investors-Ryan. Hesse and his wife, Gwendolyn, filed suit seeking damages naming several defendants in the suit and adding others along the way. Those pertinent to this appeal are Goodyear, Investors-Ryan, Snap-On, and Alert Stamping. The Hesses based their claims on two distinct acts of strict liability and/or negligence. The first involved the manufacture and/or distribution of the alleged defective [689] work light by Snap On and Alert Stamping, while the second concerned the alleged liability of Investors-Ryan and Goodyear based on premises liability. In a third-party demand, Investors-Ryan sought indemnity from Goodyear based on a provision in its lease requiring Goodyear to indemnify and hold it harmless from any loss, damage, or injury to persons resulting from Goodyear’s use of the premises. The Hesses’ claims against Goodyear, which were also based on premises liability, were later dismissed by summary judgment based on its employer immunity pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation I ¡.Act.

The only issue in this appeal concerns the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Snap-On and Alert Stamping dismissing with prejudice the indemnity claims of Investors-Ryan and Goodyear. On June 14, 1999, Goodyear filed a third-party petition naming as third-party defendants Snap-On and Alert Stamping, arguing that, if Investors-Ryan was held to be strictly liable to the Hesses, then it would owe indemnity to Investors-Ryan pursuant to an indemnity provision contained in its lease. However, if Investors-Ryan was found to be strictly liable, then Goodyear argued that this liability would only be passive as opposed to the active negligence of Snap-On and Alert, the manufacturers of the work light. Thus, it claimed that, if it was called upon to indemnify Investors-Ryan, it would be entitled to indemnity from Snap-On and Alert Stamping. On September 5, 2000, Investors-Ryan filed a third-party demand seeking indemnity from Snap-On and Alert Stamping, also arguing that, if it was held strictly liable to the Hesses, its liability would be passive as compared to the active negligence of Snap-On and Alert Stamping.

On November 30, 2001, Snap-On and Alert Stamping were dismissed by the Hesses and the compensation intervenor, The Travelers Insurance Company, based on an out of court settlement between the parties. On June 28, 2001, Snap-On and Alert Stamping filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of the indemnity claims. Following a hearing, the trial court granted judgment in favor of Snap-On and Alert Stamping dismissing the indemnity claims of Investors-Ryan and Goodyear with prejudice. This appeal followed.

I «ISSUES

On appeal, Investors-Ryan and Goodyear raise two assignments of error. They claim that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Snap-On and Alert Stamping since there was a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether they were the manufacturers of the work light and whether the work light was defective. They further argue that the trial court erred in granting judgment in favor of Snap-On and Alert Stamping on the issue of the indemnity claims.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The law with regard to the appellate review of summary judgment is well settled. Magnon v. Collins, 98-2822 (La.7/7/99), 739 So.2d 191. La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B) provides that summary judgment shall be rendered if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Accordingly, we will conduct a de novo review of this matter.

INDEMNITY

In Nassif v. Sunrise Homes, Inc., 98-3193, pp. 2-4 (La.6/29/99), 739 So.2d 183, [690]*690185-86, the supreme court discussed the action for indemnity:

Indemnity in its most basic sense means reimbursement, and may lie when one party discharges a liability which another rightfully should have assumed. Black’s Law Dictionary 769 (6th ed.1990); 42 C.J.S Indemnity § 2 (1991). It is based on the principle that everyone is responsible for his own wrongdoing, and if another person has been compelled to pay a judgment which ought to have been paid by the wrongdoer, then the loss should be shifted to the party whose negligence or tortious act caused the loss. 42 C.J.S. Indemnity at § 32. The obligation to indemnify may be express, as in a contractual provision, or may be implied in law, even in the absence of an indemnity | ¿agreement. Id. at § 29. An implied contract of indemnity arises only where the liability of the person seeking indemnification is solely constructive or derivative and only against one who, because of his act, has caused such constructive liability to be imposed. Bewley Furniture Co., Inc. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 285 So.2d 216, 219 (La.1973). Thus, because the party seeking indemnification must be without fault, a weighing of the relative fault of tortfeasors has no place in the concept of indemnity. Id.
In Minyard v. Curtis Prods., Inc., 251 La. 624, 205 So.2d 422, 431 (1967), this court considered the theoretical basis for recovery in an action for indemnity. In that case, a subcontractor installed a defectively manufactured caulking compound that he purchased through a distributor. Because of the defectiveness of the compound, remedial work was later required, and the subcontractor was bound to indemnify the general contractor for the amount of the additional costs incurred. Subsequently, the subcontractor filed suit against the manufacturer of the defective product, seeking indemnity for the amounts he had been compelled to pay the general contractor. Although there was no contract of indemnification between the subcontractor and the manufacturer, the court allowed the subcontractor’s claim for indemnity to proceed under the theory that the manufacturer, whose fault actually caused the loss, would be unjustly enriched if the loss remained upon the subcontractor. The court reasoned that an indemnity claim is a quasi-contractual obligation. As such, it is based upon the equitable principle that “where there is an unjust enrichment of one at the expense or impoverishment of another, then the value of that enrichment or else, in some cases, the amount of impoverishment must be restituted.” Id. at 432.
The concept of indemnity and the equitable principles upon which such an action is based were further explained by this court in Bewley Furniture Co., Inc. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 285 So.2d 216, 219 (La.1973):

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Hesse v. Champ Service Line, 828 So. 2d 687, 2002 La.App. 3 Cir. 284, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 2959, 2002 WL 31207214 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

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