Jones v. Compression Coat Corp.

776 So. 2d 505, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 0333, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2744, 2000 WL 1693059
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 2, 2000
DocketNo. 00-0333
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 776 So. 2d 505 (Jones v. Compression Coat 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
Jones v. Compression Coat Corp., 776 So. 2d 505, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 0333, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2744, 2000 WL 1693059 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

| JETERS, Judge.

This appeal involves the issue of borrowed employee status in the context of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C.A. § 901, et seq. The plaintiff, Louis Jones, appeals from an adverse summary judgment on the issue in favor of Lena Laine d/b/a Paul Laine Company, a defendant in the case.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

Lena Laine d/b/a Paul Laine Company (PLC) was in the business of leasing cranes and barges to companies and providing bulkhead and erosion control services. Compression Coat Corporation (Compression Coat), an oilfield-related business, was in the business of coating pipes. In connection with its operations, Compression Coat leased a barge and crane from PLC. Pursuant to that lease, PLC provided Compression Coat with an LS-418 barge-mounted crane and an operator, Mark Hanks. Hanks’ duties included using the crane to load pipe from a dock onto barges.

Louis Jones, who was working at the Compression Coat facility, claims he sustained injuries on July 25, 1994, when he became entangled in a tag line used in connection with the crane operations. He filed the instant suit for personal injury damages against Compression Coat and PLC. In his petition, Jones alleged that he was employed by Link Personnel Concepts, Inc. d/b/a Link Staffing Services (Link Staffing) as a longshoreman, that Link Staffing had assigned him to load the pipe onto the barge, and that he injured his back “when [Hanks] picked up on a pipe and caught [him] in the sling which threw him into the water.”

Link Staffing and The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Link Staffing’s workers’ compensation carrier, (hereafter referred to collectively as inter-venors) intervened in the suit, seeking reimbursement for payment of 12compensation benefits, medical expenses, mileage, and other expenses and a credit against the payment of any such items in the future.

Compression Coat filed a motion for summary judgment contending that Jones was its borrowed employee and that, therefore, he had no tort claim against it. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed Jones’ claim and the petition for intervention against Compression Coat. Neither Jones nor the intervenors appealed that judgment.

Subsequently, PLC filed a motion for summary judgment contending that Hanks, its “nominal” employee, was also the borrowed employee of Compression Coat such that Jones and Hanks were co-employees. PLC contended, therefore, that Jones was precluded under the [508]*508LHWCA from maintaining a tort action against it as the “nominal” employer of Hanks. The trial court granted PLC’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Jones’ claim and the petition of intervention against it. It is from this judgment that Jones and the intervenors appeal.

OPINION

On appeal, the intervenors contend that the trial court erred in finding that Hanks was a borrowed employee of Compression Coat. Jones raises the same issue on appeal. However, Jones further contends that, even if Hanks were a borrowed employee of Compression Coat, the trial court still erred in dismissing his complaint against PLC because, under Morgan v. ABC Manufacturer, 97-0956 (La.5/1/98); 710 So.2d 1077, the “dual employer” doctrine, which allows both the general employer and special employer to be solidarily liable for the torts of the borrowed employee, prevents PLC from asserting immunity for the negligence of Hanks.

In Morgan, Worktec Temporaries, Inc., which was in the business of hiring out |3temporary employees to other businesses, provided one of its employees, Daryl Hines, to Goldin Industries of Louisiana, Inc. to work in Goldin’s yard. Gol-din’s employee, Edward Morgan, was severely injured when he was struck by a large piece of scrap iron that fell from a crane, which Morgan alleged was negligently hooked to the crane by Hines. Morgan sued Worktec in tort under the theory of respondeat superior, but Work-tec asserted that it was not liable as Hines’ employer because Hines had become the borrowed employee of Goldin.

A jury found that Hines was the borrowed employee of Goldin, and the trial court entered judgment in favor of Work-tec, dismissing Morgan’s suit. The court of appeal affirmed. The supreme court reversed, rejecting the idea that an employee could have only one employer at a time for purposes of tort liability. In so doing, the supreme court reaffirmed its prior jurisprudence which had held that both the special and general employers may be solidarily liable for the torts of a borrowed employee. Further, the supreme court expanded on that rule and concluded that, “where a general employer is engaged in the business of hiring out its employees under the supervision of another employer, the general employer remains liable for the torts of the ‘borrowed’ employees.” Id. at 1078.

Importantly, Morgan did not involve the LHWCA but involved state workers’ compensation law. This distinction is critical in the instant case.1

Specifically, Jones admitted in his petition that he was a longshoreman at the time of the accident, and PLC affirms in its appellate brief that the case is governed |4by the LHWCA. Section 933(i) of the LHWCA provides:

The right to compensation or benefits under this chapter shall be the exclusive remedy to an employee when he is injured, or to his eligible survivors or legal representatives if he is killed, by the negligence or wrong of any other person or persons in the same employ: Provided, That this provision shall not affect the liability of a person other than an officer or employee of the employer.

(Emphasis added.)

Borrowed servants/co-employees of the same employer are “persons in the [509]*509same employ” for purposes of the LHWCA. Perron v. Bell Maintenance & Fabricators, Inc., 970 F.2d 1409 (5th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 913, 113 S.Ct. 1264, 122 L.Ed.2d 660 (1993). Under 33 U.S.C.A. § 933(i), payment under the LHWCA is the injured co-employee’s exclusive remedy. Id. Further, the prohibition against suits between co-employees under the LHWCA is not merely a personal defense but may be claimed by the negligent co-employee’s solidary obligors. Id. A vicariously liable nominal employer and its negligent nominal employee who was a borrowed servant/co-employee to the injured party are solidary obligors. Id. Consequently, the injured employee may not assert against the nominal employer of his injuring co-employee his right to sue in tort because that right is nonexistent against the injuring co-employee. Id.

In Perron, Winston Perron and Michael Lee were borrowed co-employees of Gulf Oil and nominal employees of different employers. Perron allegedly slipped and fell due to oil left on a production platform by Lee. Perron sued Lee’s nominal employer, Bell Maintenance & Fabricators Co., under a theory of respondeat superior. The Fifth Circuit held that, consistent with the LHWCA’s comprehensive scheme, Perron was prohibited from doing so. The court explained that “the LHWCA payments are substituted for any right Perron might have had to sue Lee’s employer 15under respondeat superior.... Perron cannot assert against Bell, the employer, his non-existent right against Lee, its employee.” Id. at 1413 (emphasis added).

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Bluebook (online)
776 So. 2d 505, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 0333, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2744, 2000 WL 1693059, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-compression-coat-corp-lactapp-2000.