Jones v. Stewart

203 So. 3d 384, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0329, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1813
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 5, 2016
DocketNO. 2016-CA-0329
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 203 So. 3d 384 (Jones v. Stewart) 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. Stewart, 203 So. 3d 384, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0329, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1813 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Judge Rosemary Ledet

11 This is a personal injury suit arising out of a slip and fall in an unlit, unfinished, wet attic of a house. The plaintiff, Glenn Jones, commenced this suit against two groups of defendants: (i) the “Homeowner Defendants” — the homeowner, Tammy Stewart; and Ms. Stewart’s insurer, Access Home Insurance Company; and (ii) The “Contractor Defendants” — the seller of the new, leaking roof on Ms. Stewart’s house, Sears Home Improvement Products, Inc. (“SHIP”); the installer of the [386]*386roof, Magnolia Roofing and Exteriors, Inc. (“Magnolia”); and the inspector of the roof, Crawford & Company, doing business as Strategic Warranty Services (“Crawford”). From the trial court’s judgment granting the Contractor Defendants’ motions for summary judgment and denying Mr. Jones’ motion for new trial, Mr. Jones appeals.1 One of the Contractor Defendants, Magnolia, answered the appeal. For the reasons that follow, we decline the relief requested in Magnolia’s answer, reverse the trial court’s judgment, and remand for further proceedings.

I {.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On August 19, 2011, Ms. Stewart contracted with SHIP to replace the roof on her house located at 4611 Lennox Boulevard in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, SHIP’S subcontractor, Magnolia, installed the new roof. On September 30, 2011, Ms. Stewart signed a Certificate of Completion of Installation of the Roof, attesting that Magnolia had completed the job. Precisely when water began leaking into the attic of Ms. Stewart’s house is unclear. Nonetheless, Ms. Stewart expressed dissatisfaction with the roof from the outset. In response, in October and November 2011, SHIP sent another subcontractor, Crawford, to inspect the roof. Crawford found only cosmetic issues, and SHIP sent Magnolia to correct those issues. On August 2012, Hurricane Isaac struck the New Orleans area.

In early January 2013, Ms. Stewart noticed that water was leaking through the light fixture of a chandelier located in the entrance foyer of her house. She also noticed that one or more shingles were missing on her roof. Believing the leak in her roof was covered under warranty, she contacted SHIP and requested that it inspect and repair the roof. SHIP scheduled an inspection for the morning of January 10, 2013. Because Ms. Stewart had to work that day, she requested that her personal friend, Mr. Jones, meet the SHIP inspectors at her house. As a personal favor, Mr. Jones agreed to do so. In preparation for the inspection, Ms. Stewart showed Mr. Jones where the attic access was located on .the second floor of her house.

|aOn the morning of January 10, 2013, Mr. Jones met Ms. Stewart at her house; and Ms. Stewart left to work. At that time, water was still dripping from the chandelier; and water damage was visible on thé ceiling area surrounding the chandelier. According to Mr. Jones’ deposition testimony, two Hispanic males, neither of whom he could identify by name, arrived at about 9:00 a.m. The men identified themselves as SHIP’S representatives. The men informed Mr. Jones that they did not have the shingles to repair the roof and that they would have to come back. Nonetheless, the men informed him that they would put a tarp on the roof. One of the men went to get the tarp; the other man (later identified as Moisés Silva) accompanied Mr. Jones to the attic.

The attic access was a pull down stair type located on the second floor of Ms. Stewart’s house. The attic itself was unfinished; it did not have floorboards. The spacing between the attic joists was twenty-four inches, and the attic floor was sprayed with insulation. Mr. Jones indicated that all the joists he walked on appeared to be the same distance apart. The precise height of the attic is unknown; however, Mr. Jones indicated that he was able to stand up the entire time when he [387]*387was walking in the attic. The attic did not have any lighting.

Mr. Jones entered the attic first. Although Mr. Jones understood that Mr. Silva was going to follow him into the attic, Mr. Silva failed to do so. Instead, Mr. Silva stayed at the entrance access to the attic the entire time. Mr. Jones explained that he had to walk on the attic joists to get from the back of the house, where the attic access was located, to the front of the house, where the leak was located^ He | .[further explained that he slipped when he pivoted to point out to Mr. Silva where the leak was located. According to Mr. Jones, he had both his feet on one joist, one hand under the decking' of the roof, and the other hand holding his cell phone when he slipped. Mr. Jones testified that he was “pretty sure” that he did not misstep and actually step on the sheetrock. Rather, he testified that he slipped and fell off the joist through the sheetrock and onto the foyer floor sixteen feet below.

As noted at the outset, Mr. Jones filed suit against multiple defendants, including the Contractor Defendants.2 Mr. Jones alleged that the accident and his resulting injuries were caused by, among other things, “[t]he premature failure of the roof causing] the attic joists to be wet, slippery and unreasonably dangerous.”3 After filing an answer to the petition denying liability and conducting discovery, each of the three Contractor Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of their direct liability to Mr. Jones. The trial court granted each of their motions and denied Mr. Jones’ motion for new trial. This appeal followed. Before addressing the merits of this appeal, we first address two issues regarding the decretal language in the trial court’s judgment granting the Contractor Defendants’ motions for summary judgment.

JjjDECRETAL LANGUAGE

“Decretal language” is defined as “the portion of a court’s judgment or order that officially states (‘decrees’) what the court is ordering” and generally starts with “the formula ‘It is hereby ordered, adjudged, and decreed that ....’” Hon. Jon O. Newman, Decretal Language: Last Words of an Appellate Opinion, 70 Brook. L. Rev. 727 (2005). Here, the decretal language that requires special consideration states as follows:

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED THAT the Motions for Summary Judgment as to liability on the main demand filed by [the Contractor Defendants] ... are each granted on the basis that no duty exists to protect the plaintiff from, an open and obvious condition. For this reason alone, all claims and causes of action asserted by the Plaintiff in this proceeding against [the Contractor Defendants] are dismissed with prejudice, each party to bear his/her/its own costs of court. All other arguments for Summary Judg-[388]*388merit as to liability are deferred. (Emphasis supplied.)4

The first issue presented by the decretal language arises from the limitation on the scope of the summary judgment on liability. to the issue of the application of the open and obvious doctrine. A review of the record reflects that the trial court, at the request of one of the Contractor Defendants (Magnolia), included the limitation in the judgment itself, as opposed to only in the reasons for judgment. The intent, [fias evidenced by Magnolia’s motion seeking such a limitation, was to preclude any other issue supporting the granting of the motions for summary judgment on liability from being considered on appeal, especially the issue of ease of association.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
203 So. 3d 384, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0329, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-stewart-lactapp-2016.