Louis v. Caneel Bay, Inc.

50 V.I. 7, 2008 WL 4372941, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 10
CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedJuly 21, 2008
DocketCivil No. 339/2000
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 50 V.I. 7 (Louis v. Caneel Bay, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louis v. Caneel Bay, Inc., 50 V.I. 7, 2008 WL 4372941, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 10 (visuper 2008).

Opinion

KENDALL, Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(July 21, 2008)

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiffs have not responded to the Motion. Based upon the reasons set forth below, the Motion will be GRANTED.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are a group of firefighters who responded to reports of a fire at a housekeeping building at the Caneel Bay Resorts (“Caneel Bay”) in St. John, U.S.V.I, on September 20, 1999. Plaintiffs, who appear not to have worn any protective equipment, arrived at 9:15 p.m. and noticed several multi-colored flames in the building, which indicated that unknown substances were burning. Plaintiffs contend that they asked Defendant’s representatives whether there were any hazardous substances in the building but they simply stated that there were some cleaning substances inside. While fighting the blaze, Plaintiffs and Defendant’s employees broke the back wall of the building with a backhoe. After the fire was extinguished, it was discovered that the walls of this building contained particles of asbestos which Plaintiffs may have inhaled.

After learning that they may have been exposed to asbestos, Plaintiffs filed a three (3) Count Complaint seeking damages from Defendant for: (1) “Negligently Failing to Abate a Hazardous Substance as required by Title 12 V.I.C. §§201, 215”; (2) “Medical Monitoring” and (3) “Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.”

Defendant Caneel Bay denied the allegations in the Complaint and raised several affirmative defenses, including Plaintiff’s entitlement to damages and failure to establish any liability.

[11]*11II. ANALYSIS

(1) Standard for granting a Motion for Summary Judgment

Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c) states that summary judgment is proper “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”

The moving party bears the initial burden of proving that there is no genuine issue of material fact. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S. Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L. Ed. 2d 538 (1986). To avoid Summary Judgment, the adverse party “must set forth specific facts to show that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e).

In deciding the Motion, “all reasonable inferences to be drawn from the presented evidence . . . must be examined in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S. Ct. 993, 994, 8 L. Ed. 2d 176 (1962)). The Court should grant summary judgment if it concludes that no reasonable jury could find in the non-moving party’s favor on the basis of the record as a whole. Matsushita, supra, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S. Ct. at 1356.

(2) Motion for Summary Judgment

Defendant raises three major contentions. First, Defendant argues that Plaintiffs’ claims for “Negligence” and “Medical Monitoring” fail as a matter of law because of the “Firefighter’s Rule,” which generally bars firefighters from recovering damages for ordinary negligence and known risks that they encounter in the line of their duty as firefighters. See, e.g., Carson v. Headrick, 900 S.W.2d 685, 691 (Tenn. 1995); Phillips v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 722 S.W.2d 86, 89 (Miss. 1987). Defendant further argues that Plaintiffs cannot assert a claim under the Virgin Islands Air Pollution statute because they are not in the statute’s zone of interest. Defendant also contends that the statute, codified at Title 12 V.I.C. § 201, protects the public generally and does not mention firefighters specifically, thereby excluding them from its zone of interest.

Second, Defendant argues that there is no genuine issue of material fact with respect to injury and causation because Plaintiffs have failed to show [12]*12any injuries due to their exposure to asbestos. Defendant contends that “Medical Monitoring” does not satisfy the injury requirement because it is speculative harm rather than the concrete harm that Courts normally require to establish an injury. See, e.g., Temple-Inland Forest Products Corp. v. Carter, 993 S.W.2d 88, 91 (Tex. 1999); McClenathan v. Rhone-Poulenc Corp., Inc., 926 F. Supp. 1272, 1275-76 (S.D. W. Va. 1996).

Finally, Defendant contends that no reasonable jury could find that its conduct rose to the level of “Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress” because it did not “knowingly and intentionally” fail to disclose the presence of asbestos in the building. Moreover, Defendant contends that if its employees acted “knowingly and intentionally,” their conduct could not be imputed to Defendant.

Plaintiffs did not file an Opposition to the Motion and Defendant subsequently filed a “Motion to Deem Motion for Summary Judgment Conceded” pursuant to LRCl 7.1(j).

(3) Firefighters are not barred from recovering damages for injuries caused by negligently created conditions if they were not warned about those conditions.

A firefighter’s right to recovery is a matter of first impression in this jurisdiction. As such, this lawsuit raises two fundamental questions, i.e. (a) Can firefighters recover damages for injuries they sustained in the scope of their duty? and (b) if they are allowed to recover for injuries they sustained in the scope of their duty, under what circumstances can they recover damages?

Defendant contends that the “Firefighter’s Rule” bars firefighters from recovering damages for risks “peculiar to their employment.”1 The justification for application of the common law “Firefighter’s Rule” includes assumption of the risk, public policy considerations and the undue burdens that would result from allowing firefighters to recover damages for injuries. See, e.g., Keith Benjamin v. Sodus Cold Storage Company, 149 A.D.2d 937, 937-38, 540 N.Y.S.2d 70, 540 N.Y.S.2d 230 (N.Y.A.D. 1989); Phillips v. Hallmark Cards, 722 S.W.2d 86, 87-88 [13]*13(Miss. 1987); Bay Area Rapid Transit v. Superior Court of Alameda County, 113 Cal.App.3d 1018, 1020, 170 Cal. Rptr. 390 (Cal. Ct. App. 1980). The strictest form of this rule bars firefighters from recovering damages for any injuries they incur in the scope of employment.

In the absence of local law, the Court is required to apply the Restatements of the law. Title 1 V.I.C. § 4.

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Bluebook (online)
50 V.I. 7, 2008 WL 4372941, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louis-v-caneel-bay-inc-visuper-2008.