Jones v. Select Oilfield Services, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJune 17, 2022
Docket2:20-cv-01177
StatusUnknown

This text of Jones v. Select Oilfield Services, LLC (Jones v. Select Oilfield Services, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Select Oilfield Services, LLC, (E.D. La. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

JAMES MICHAEL JONES, CIVIL ACTION Plaintiff

VERSUS NO. 20-1177

SELECT OILFIELD SERVICES, LLC, ET AL., SECTION: “E” (1) Defendants

ORDER AND REASONS Before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment on Intervenor’s Complaint filed by Defendant Cox Operating, LLC (“Cox”).1 Intervenor Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, London, subscribing to Cover Note (Unique Market Reference or “UMR”) B1262SM0446416, doing business as Osprey Underwriting Agency, Ltd., (“Lloyds’) has filed an opposition.2 Cox has filed a reply.3 With leave of Court, Third-party Defendant U.S. Specialty Insurance Co. (“USSIC”) has filed a response to Lloyds’s opposition.4 For the following reasons, Cox’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. BACKGROUND5 James Michael Jones was a seaman employed by Select Oilfield Services, LLC (“Select”) to work aboard a liftboat, the L/B SELECT 102.6 Select entered into a time charter with Cox for Cox’s use of the L/B SELECT 102.7 On May 21, 2017, while Jones was working in service of the time-chartered vessel, he was injured in an incident on a platform owned by Cox.8

1 R. Doc. 81. 2 R. Doc. 88. 3 R. Doc. 101. 4 R. Doc. 99. 5 The background facts are primarily taken from the Intervenor’s complaint. R. Doc. 54. 6 Id. at ¶¶ 4-5. 7 Id. at ¶ 5. 8 Id. at ¶¶ 4-5. On April 10, 2020, Jones filed a complaint against both Select and Cox, seeking damages for negligence and unseaworthiness.9 Select and Cox each filed crossclaims against each other, seeking contribution or indemnity.10 Select also filed a third-party complaint against its marine general liability insurer USSIC seeking defense, indemnity, and reimbursement under the insurance policy.11 Cox followed suit, filing a claim against

USSIC, seeking defense, indemnity, and reimbursement as a named additional insured on Select’s policy.12 Finally, Lloyds, Select’s marine protection and indemnity (“P&I”) insurer, filed an intervention, seeking to recover from Cox maintenance and cure payments Lloyds had paid to Jones.13 Lloyds asserts Cox was at fault for Jones’s injuries.14 All claims have been settled, except for Lloyds’s claim in intervention against Cox for recovery of maintenance and cure payments it made to Jones.15 Cox has filed a motion for summary judgment on Lloyds’s claim, arguing Lloyds has waived subrogation against Cox by the terms of the P&I policy between Lloyds and Select and by the terms of the Master Service Agreement (“MSA”) between Select and Cox.16 LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate only “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”17 “An issue is material if its resolution could affect the outcome of the action.”18

9 R. Doc. 1. 10 R. Docs. 23, 25. 11 R. Doc. 29. 12 R. Doc. 47. 13 R. Doc. 54. 14 Id. 15 R. Docs. 90, 91. 16 R. Doc. 81. 17 FED. R. CIV. P. 56; see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322–23 (1986). 18 DIRECTV Inc. v. Robson, 420 F.3d 532, 536 (5th Cir. 2005). When assessing whether a material factual dispute exists, the Court considers “all of the evidence in the record but refrains from making credibility determinations or weighing the evidence.”19 All reasonable inferences are drawn in favor of the nonmoving party.20 There is no genuine issue of material fact if, even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, no reasonable trier of fact could find for the nonmoving

party, thus entitling the moving party to judgment as a matter of law.21 “[A] party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of [the record] which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.”22 If the dispositive issue is one on which the nonmoving party will bear the burden of persuasion at trial, the moving party may satisfy its burden of production by either (1) submitting affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the nonmovant’s claim, or (2) demonstrating there is no evidence in the record to establish an essential element of the nonmovant’s claim.23 When proceeding under the first option, if the nonmoving party cannot muster sufficient evidence to dispute the movant’s contention that there are no disputed facts, a

trial would be useless, and the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter

19 Delta & Pine Land Co. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Ins. Co., 530 F.3d 395, 398 (5th Cir. 2008); see also Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150–51 (2000). 20 Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir. 1994). 21 Smith v. Amedisys, Inc., 298 F.3d 434, 440 (5th Cir. 2002). 22 Celtic Marine Corp. v. James C. Justice Cos., 760 F.3d 477, 481 (5th Cir. 2014) (quoting Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323). 23 Celotex, 477 U.S. at 331–32 (Brennan, J., dissenting); see also St. Amant v. Benoit, 806 F.2d 1294, 1297 (5th Cir. 1987) (citing Justice Brennan’s statement of the summary judgment standard in Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322–24, and requiring the movants to submit affirmative evidence to negate an essential element of the nonmovant’s claim or, alternatively, demonstrate the nonmovant’s evidence is insufficient to establish an essential element); 10A CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER & MARY KAY KANE, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 2727.1 (2016) (“Although the Court issued a five-to-four decision, the majority and dissent both agreed as to how the summary-judgment burden of proof operates; they disagreed as to how the standard was applied to the facts of the case.” (internal citations omitted)). of law.24 When proceeding under the second option, the nonmoving party may defeat a motion for summary judgment by “calling the Court’s attention to supporting evidence already in the record that was overlooked or ignored by the moving party.”25 The burden then shifts back to the movant to demonstrate the inadequacy of the evidence relied upon by the nonmovant.26 If the movant meets this burden, “the burden of production shifts

[back again] to the nonmoving party, who must either (1) rehabilitate the evidence attacked in the moving party’s papers, (2) produce additional evidence showing the existence of a genuine issue for trial as provided in Rule 56(e), or (3) submit an affidavit explaining why further discovery is necessary as provided in Rule 56(f).”27 “Summary judgment should be granted if the nonmoving party fails to respond in one or more of these ways, or if, after the nonmoving party responds, the court determines that the moving party has met its ultimate burden of persuading the court that there is no genuine issue of material fact for trial.”28 “[U]nsubstantiated assertions are not competent summary judgment evidence.”29 The opposing party must “identify specific evidence in the record and to articulate the precise manner in which that evidence supports his or her claim. ‘Rule 56 does not impose

upon the district court a duty to sift through the record in search of evidence to support a party’s opposition to summary judgment.’”30

24 First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v.

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Jones v. Select Oilfield Services, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-select-oilfield-services-llc-laed-2022.