Hirst v. Thieneman

905 So. 2d 343, 2005 WL 1398851
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided May 18, 2005·No. 2004-CA-0750, 2004-CA-1482·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

905 So.2d 343 (2005)

Carla HIRST, Individually and on Behalf of Her Minor Child and Son of the Decedent, Shawn Collier, Shawn J. Collier
v.
Alexander J. THIENEMAN, Jr., Viking Construction Corp., Cobblestone Development Corp., John C. Bose, Labarre Center, Entergy New Orleans, Inc., Entergy Louisiana, Inc., Ronald A. Mentel and Northside Electric, Inc.

No. 2004-CA-0750, 2004-CA-1482.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

May 18, 2005.

*345 A.J. Rebennack, Jr., Metairie, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant.

John I. Hulse, IV, Hulse & Wanek, A PLC, New Orleans, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee, Viking Construction Corporation.

Edward F. Stauss, III, Keogh, Cox & Wilson, Ltd., Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee, Valley Forge Insurance Company.

Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge CHARLES R. JONES, Judge JAMES F. MCKAY, III, Judge TERRI F. LOVE, Judge DAVID S. GORBATY.

GORBATY, J.

Plaintiffs, Carla Hirst, on behalf of the minor child, Shawn J. Collier, and the estate of Shawn Collier, seek review of a summary judgment granted by the trial court in favor of Viking Construction, Inc., and Valley Forge Insurance Company.[1] For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY:

Cobblestone Development Corporation ("Cobblestone") contracted with Viking Construction, Inc. ("Viking"), a licensed general contractor, to build a shopping center on property owned by Cobblestone. The shopping center was to be known as the Labarre Center. Viking in turn contracted with Crown Roofing Services, Inc. ("Crown Roofing") to install a roof on the center, and to furnish all labor, materials, equipment, machinery, and supervision necessary for completion of the job.

On November 1, 2000, several employees of Crown Roofing, including Shawn Collier, were unloading rolls of asphalt paper from a flatbed truck onto the ground. The unloading process involved the use of a truck-mounted crane being operated by Byron Hudson, a Crown Roofing employee certified to operate the crane, and Collier, who guided the crane cable and its load of paper to the ground. During this operation, the cable that Collier was guiding came in contact with a high voltage overhead power line maintained by Entergy Corporation (hereinafter "Entergy"), resulting in the electrocution and death of Collier.

As a result of the accident, Carla Hirst ("Hirst"), Collier's fiancée, brought a claim individually and on behalf of the minor child, Shawn J. Collier, alleging that the negligence of all named defendants was the sole and proximate cause of Collier's accident. Named as defendants were Alexander J. Thieneman, Jr. ("Thieneman"), an architect, president of Viking, and an employee of Cobblestone; Viking, the general contractor; Cobblestone, owner of the property on which the Labarre Center was being constructed; the Labarre Center; John C. Bose, consulting engineer for the project; Entergy New Orleans, Inc., and Entergy Louisiana, the companies which maintained the power line; Ronald A. Mentel, Sr.; and Northwide Electric, the electrical subcontractor for the project.

Defendants, Thieneman, Viking, and Cobblestone, among other defendants, filed exceptions of no cause of action asserting that Hirst, individually, lacked capacity as Collier's fiancée to pursue a wrongful death claim or survival action on behalf of Collier. The trial court granted *346 the exception dismissing Hirst's claims in her individual capacity, and maintained the claims of the minor child, Shawn J. Collier.

The original petition was supplemented and amended to add as defendants CNA Insurance Companies, Valley Forge Insurance Company (Valley Forge), and Transcontinental Insurance Company, liability insurance carriers for the project.

Viking, Cobblestone and Thieneman all filed motions for summary judgment. Prior to a hearing on the motions, plaintiffs supplemented and amended their petition asserting additional acts of negligence on the part of Viking, Cobblestone and Thieneman because of Viking and Thieneman's failure to properly qualify for a contractor's license. Plaintiffs again amended the petition to assert intentional acts on the part of Viking, Cobblestone and Thieneman should they be found to be the statutory employers of Collier.

Following a hearing, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of John C. Bose; Thieneman, as the architect; and Cobblestone, finding no liability on their part. However, because Viking's motion was based upon the statutory employer doctrine[2], the trial court denied Viking's motion in light of plaintiffs' allegations that Collier's injuries and death were the result of Viking's intentional acts.

Plaintiffs filed a fourth supplemental and amending petition naming Crown, and its employees, Ray Palmer, Charles Champlin, Byron Hudson, Tony Mauchard, Kerry Thomas and Jonathan Witman, as defendants. Crown filed exceptions of no cause of action and res judicata asserting that the claims were limited under the workers' compensation laws, and that the claims had been already adjudicated in the workers' compensation claim. The trial court denied both exceptions.[3]

After numerous hearings on various motions for summary judgment, the only remaining defendants were Valley Forge, Viking, and Crown and its employees.[4] Valley Forge Insurance Company filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that no genuine issues of material fact existed regarding coverage afforded under the commercial general liability policy issued to Viking for the claims asserted by Collier. Viking also filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that no genuine issue of material facts existed with regard to its commission of intentional acts. Thus, because it was Collier's statutory employer, his only remedy was pursuant to the workers' compensation *347 laws. Following hearings, the trial court granted both summary judgments dismissing all of plaintiffs' claims with respect to allegations of vicarious liability and intentional acts. It is from these judgments that plaintiffs appeal.

DISCUSSION:

Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo. Spellman v. Bizal, 99-0723 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/1/00), 755 So.2d 1013. The appellate court should affirm a summary judgment only when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 966 B.

A. Summary Judgment in favor of Viking:

In its motion, Viking argued that there were no genuine issues of material fact with respect to whether Viking committed intentional acts that resulted in the decedent's electrocution and death. Plaintiffs argued that Viking was liable in tort for Collier's injuries because it committed intentional acts, and, further, was vicariously liable as a statutory employer for the actions of Crown Roofing. The specific acts alleged by plaintiffs were that Crown Roofing employees placed or allowed the crane to be placed near a power line, and continued working in the area without requesting that the electricity be shut off. Plaintiffs argue that the actions of Crown Roofing and Viking as the statutory employer qualify as intentional acts under the law, which, if proven, make them responsible pursuant to the theory of respondeat superior and this Court's ruling in Rayford v. Angelo Iafrate Construction,

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Hirst v. Thieneman, 905 So. 2d 343, 2005 WL 1398851 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

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