Louisiana Casino Cruises, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance

88 F. App'x 721
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 17, 2004
Docket03-30927
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 88 F. App'x 721 (Louisiana Casino Cruises, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisiana Casino Cruises, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance, 88 F. App'x 721 (5th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

PER CURIAM. *

Plaintiff-Appellant Louisiana Casino Cruises, Inc. (“LCCI”) appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company (“Liberty”). Liberty’s insurance policy excluded coverage for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. The district ordered summary judgment because it found that the employee’s injury at issue arose out of and in the course of her employment. We AFFIRM.

I

The facts are undisputed. Dorothy Surratt was an employee of LCCI on February 9, 1998. LCCI is the owner of a gaming ship that operates on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While attempting to leave work, Ms. Surratt was attacked in the employees’ parking lot and raped in her car. An LCCI policy required Ms. Surratt to park in the employees’ parking lot owned by LCCI. The distance from the employees’ lot to the casino is about 400 yards.

Ms. Sarratt sued LCCI and won a judgment. LCCI and its P & I insurers eventually settled with Ms. Surratt and then demanded contribution from Liberty based on its Commercial General Liability Policy. Liberty’s CGL policy excluded injuries to employees that arise out of and occur in the course of employment. Based on this exclusion, the district court granted Liberty’s motion for summary judgment.

The question is whether Ms. Surratt’s injury “arose out of’ and occurred “in the course of’ her employment. The district court’s subject matter jurisdiction was based on diversity, and Louisiana law applies. Our review of the summary judgment is de novo. 1

II

In Louisiana, an injury occurs in the course of one’s employment when “the employee sustains an injury while actively engaged in the performance of his duties *723 during working hours, either on the employer’s premises or at other places where employment activities take the employee.” 2 Although the category has been extended to include “accidents during times for rest or lunch periods or before and after work on the employer’s premises ..., the principal criteria for determining course of employment are time, place and employment activity.” 3

To determine whether an injury arises out of employment, a court “focuses on the character or source of the risk which gives rise to the injury and on the relationship of the risk to the nature of the employment.” 4 The objective of the “arising out of’ analysis is to “separate accidents attributable to employment risks, which form the basis of the employer’s obligation under the compensation system, from accidents attributable to personal risks, for which the employer should normally not be responsible.” 5 The Louisiana Supreme Court has noted various situations where an injury arises out of employment.

An accident arises out of employment if the risk from which the injury resulted was greater for the employee than for a person not engaged in the employment. Moreover, an accident has also been held to arise out of employment if the conditions or obligations of the employment caused the employee in the course of employment to be at the place of the accident at the time the accident occurred. Thus, when the employee is squarely within the course of his employment, virtually any risk (whether an increased risk or not) has been considered as arising out of employment. 6

The inquiry, of course, is fact-intensive.

The “in the course of’ and “arising out of’ requirements are interdependent. 7 “In a close case a strong showing of ‘course of employment’ has been held to counterbalance a relatively weak showing of ‘arising out of employment.’ ” 8 And when there is a weak showing of “course of employment,” “a very strong showing by the employee that the risk arose out of the employment is necessary to establish the relationship between the injury and the employment.” 9

Both parties rely on Mundy, the Louisiana Supreme Court case explaining these principles. In Mundy, a nurse was attacked before work while riding the hospital’s elevators to her floor. 10 Louisiana law entitled the employer to tort immunity if it showed the injury occurred in the course of and arose out of employment. 11 The court reasoned that the risk of attack in a public elevator was no greater to the nurse than it was to the general public, and although “the conditions of the employment arguably caused plaintiff to be at the place of the attack at the time the attack occurred, there were other alternative routes for her to reach her work station. 12 Based on these considerations, the court found only a weak “arising out of’ showing, which required a strong “course of employment” showing for the employer to prevail. However, the court found a weak “course of employment” *724 showing because the nurse was attacked before her employment duties began, she was in a public area, and she was not under the supervision and control of the employer. 13 Weighing these considerations, the court found the employer was not entitled to immunity because the nurse’s injury did not occur in the course of and arise out of her employment. 14

Ill

LCCI asserts that Mundy is dispositive. LCCI reads Mundy as holding that when an injury occurs before or after work, it arises out of one’s employment only if the risk of injury was greater to the employee than to the general public. But Mundy is not so limited. The court also noted that an injury may arise out of employment if the conditions of employment caused the employee in the course of her employment to be at the place of the accident when it occurred. 15 Nonetheless, LCCI contends that Mundy is indistinguishable because both the nurse and Ms. Surratt were at the location of attack because of their employment, off the clock, not performing an employment activity, and not under the supervision or control of their employers. Based on these similarities, LCCI asserts that Ms. Surratt’s injury, like that of the nurse, did not arise out of and occur in the course of her employment.

LCCI’s assertions do not account for material factual distinctions between Mundy and this case. The nurse in Mundy was not required as a condition of employment to take the elevator in which she was attacked. Here, however, Ms. Surratt was required to park in the employees’ parking lot.

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Related

Harris v. State ex rel. Department of Public Safety & Corrections
950 So. 2d 795 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
88 F. App'x 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-casino-cruises-inc-v-liberty-mutual-fire-insurance-ca5-2004.