Hurst v. Massey

570 So. 2d 560, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2573, 1990 WL 176989
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 15, 1990
DocketNo. 89-CA-2342
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 570 So. 2d 560 (Hurst v. Massey) 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
Hurst v. Massey, 570 So. 2d 560, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2573, 1990 WL 176989 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The issues are: 1) whether Tenneco, Inc. and Tenneco Oil Company can be sued for wrongful death under the intentional acts exclusion of the worker’s compensation law found in LSA-R.S. 23:1032, and 2) whether the award in favor of plaintiffs and against defendant Audrey E. Massey ($875,000.00) is too low. The trial court judgment dismissed any and all claims against Tenneco Oil Company, Tenneco, Inc., and two managers of the Tenneco Refinery in St. Bernard Parish, Albert Caldwell, Jr. and William E. Heck. The trial court found Audrey E. Massey liable in the amount of $875,000.00. Plaintiffs appeal. For the reasons assigned, the judgment is affirmed.

Facts

On January 8, 1980, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union and its Local 4,522 (“OCAW”) began a strike of the Tenneco Refinery in Chal-mette, Louisiana. The strikers set up picket lines and various acts of picket line misconduct began immediately: shots were fired, flares were fired, automobiles were damaged by nails scattered on the street, and persons were harassed and intimidated as they attempted to enter or exit the refinery.

On January 9, 1980, Tenneco filed a petition to enjoin all unlawful Union activities. OCAW and Tenneco entered into a consent decree which was signed by Judge Thomas McBride on the evening of January 9, 1980. The consent order limited the number of pickets, prohibited the use of both the Foster-Wheeler gate on Paris Road and the Broadmoor gate off of St. Bernard Highway by anyone other than those engaged in new capital construction, and enjoined any unlawful activity. Despite the consent decree, picket line misconduct continued.

On January 14, 1980, Tenneco filed further pleadings with the court asking for judicial relief and an immediate hearing. The court conducted a trial of the matter on January 15 and 16, 1980. Evidence presented by Tenneco included picket line harassment, shooting of flares and telephone disconnection. The Union alleged that Tenneco had violated the consent order by permitting its employees to enter the refinery via Contractor’s Road, an un-picketed entrance, thereby avoiding the Union’s informational pickets at the main gate on River Road.

After the injunctive pleadings were filed on January 14, 1980, there were no reports of picket line misconduct to Tenneco management. On January 17, 1980, Judge McBride rendered judgment limiting the number of pickets, setting forth specific entrances to the plant at which picketing would be permitted and ordering all other gates allowing access to the refinery closed and locked for the duration of the strike. [562]*562Because of the increasingly hostile situation at Tenneco, the trial judge also specified that any weapons or instrumentalities that could be used to inflict bodily harm could not be carried or displayed. Tenneco was ordered to refrain from stationing more guards than picketers and from arming its guards. The judgment further prohibited Tenneco, under penalty of contempt, from allowing anyone but capital construction personnel from using the Poster-Wheeler gate and the Tenneco construction gate on Contractor’s Road.

In order to ensure compliance with the court order, Tenneco managers A1 Caldwell, William Heck and Jerry Singletary decided to bar all access to Contractor’s Road by erecting a barricade across the road where it intersected Paris Road. The capital construction personnel would be required to enter the refinery at the Poster-Wheeler gate. It was decided that Jerry Singletary, manager of the Maintenance Department, would take responsibility for the barricade project. He instructed one of the maintenance personnel to construct a barricade on the evening of January 17, 1980 so that it could be placed early the next morning before the contractors began reporting for work.

On January 18, 1980, at approximately 6:00 a.m., Jerry Singletary met with the Maintenance personnel for a general meeting during which duties for the day were assigned. Singletary was informed at this time that the barricade had been constructed. Singletary made a general request for someone to assist him in installing the barricade. Bud Hurst, one of the Maintenance Department supervisors, replied that he would accompany Singletary as soon as he lined up work assignments for his group. Neither Caldwell nor Heck were present at this meeting and they did not know who would be assigned the duty of erecting and/or installing the barricade or whether Singletary would handle the task alone.

Hurst and Singletary loaded the barricade onto the back of a pickup truck and proceeded to exit the main gate toward Contractor’s Road. At the main gate, they stopped to inform the picketers of their intentions. The picketers were very friendly. Singletary and Hurst then drove down Paris Road to Contractor’s Road where they unloaded the barricade at approximately 7:00 a.m.

When he realized the barricade was too small, Bud Hurst went back to the plant facility to have another barricade constructed. Singletary remained on Contractor’s Road to insure that no unauthorized vehicles entered the Refinery. Singletary testified that he did not feel concerned for his safety, nor did Mr. Hurst.

While Singletary was waiting for Mr. Hurst to return, he noticed that traffic was building up on Paris Road as the construction crew began arriving and the ferry unloaded. Singletary observed two near-rearend collisions and a number of vehicles driving on the shoulder of the road. The slow processing of contractors by the security guard and the discharge of ferry traffic added to the traffic jam at Paris Road. Singletary decided to speed up the identification process at the Foster-Wheeler gate. On the way, Singletary eneoun-. tered Jill Tagliavore and instructed her to walk to Contractor’s Road to insure that no one drove around the barricade. Single-tary then instructed the guard at the Foster-Wheeler gate to expedite the processing of contractors. He then joined Jill Tag-liavore at Contractor’s Road. Shortly thereafter, Bud Hurst returned with the second barricade. Tagliavore, Hurst and Singletary then set up the second barricade: there was no apprehension that they might be injured.

As Singletary, Tagliavore and Hurst stood talking by the tailgate side of the truck, they noticed a pickup truck with a camper speed into the area and pull onto the shoulder of the shell road in front of a car parked across Paris road. A large man then got out of the pickup and proceeded toward the car. The car suddenly backed into the shell area opposite Paris Road. As the man approached the car, it again suddenly moved forward and then backwards erratically. Tagliavore, Hurst and Single-tary felt that a fight was about to begin. Just before the large man reached the car, [563]*563Singletary noticed that the man inside the car appeared to be holding a camera. A shot suddenly rang out and Singletary heard a thump as the bullet struck Bud Hurst. Singletary and Tagliavore dove behind the truck and ran away down a large ditch. Mr. Hurst had been shot and killed by a striking union member, Aubrey E. Massey. Mr. Massey has subsequently been tried and convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mr. Hurst’s widow and children brought this suit in tort against Mr. Massey, Albert P. Caldwell, the General Manager of the Tenneco Refinery, William Heck, the Refinery’s Operations Manager, and Jerry Sin-gletary, the Refinery Maintenance Manager. Tenneco Oil Company was also named as a defendant under the theory of respon-deat superior.

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Related

Hurst v. Massey
573 So. 2d 1123 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
570 So. 2d 560, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2573, 1990 WL 176989, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hurst-v-massey-lactapp-1990.