Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Andrade

964 S.W.2d 944, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 1535, 1998 WL 106138
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 12, 1998
DocketNo. 09-96-087 CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 964 S.W.2d 944 (Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Andrade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Andrade, 964 S.W.2d 944, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 1535, 1998 WL 106138 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

OPINION

BURGESS, Justice.

Luis Andrade filed suit against Kirby Forest Industries, Inc. (Kirby) and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (Louisiana-Pacific) for personal injuries sustained February 14, 1990, while working for Patton Asbestos Company. Patton Asbestos was hired to remove asbestos from a powerhouse located at Kirby’s facility in Silsbee, Texas. Kirby had merged with Louisiana-Pacific by the time of trial. The jury returned a verdict against Kirby for negligence and found Kirby grossly negligent. Andrade was awarded $2,500,000 in actual damages and $2,500,000 in puni-tives. Andrade and Louisiana-Pacific (Kirby’s successor in interest) settled the actual damages portion of the case but Louisiana-Pacific reserved the right to appeal the punitive damages and issues relating to gross negligence. Louisiana-Pacific appeals from the final judgment awarding punitive damages.

In their first point of error Louisiana-Pacific contends the trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict in their favor and in failing to grant their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict because no evidence supported the jury’s findings of gross negligence or the award of punitive damages. In order to adequately consider this point, the evidence adduced at trial regarding negligence is set forth below.

THE EVIDENCE

Lucas Martinez testified by deposition that George Chappa instructed he and Andrade to recover the windows with plastic. According to Martinez, Chappa and Don Herrin knew Martinez could not read English.1 Martinez testified Chappa told them to use a ladder to get up to all the windows but did not say anything about the rails.2 Chappa told them there was no danger, that the electricity had been cut off. Martinez said Andrade placed his ladder against the rails and climbed up. Andrade then grabbed the rails, which were live, throwing him off the ladder. Before the sheriff came, Martinez saw a Kirby employee turn off the crane. Martinez said the area where the man went to turn off the crane was covered in poly when he and Andrade arrived at work. Martinez testified there was no way to reach the windows that needed recovering except to place the ladder near the rails.

• Luis Andrade testified he put a ladder on the metal beam in order to put plastic on the windows. When he reached the beam with his right hand, he received an electric shock. Andrade did not remember anything after that until he woke up in Hermann Hospital. Andrade testified it was his first day on the job and George Chappa was his supervisor. Chappa told him to repair the windows because the plastic had come down. Andrade said the crane was supposed to be turned off and he did not know the crane was energized. Andrade testified he was hired by Chappa to work for Patton Asbestos who provided the tools needed for the job. According to Andrade, Chappa told him what work to do that morning and no one from Kirby gave him any instructions. Also, he did not see anyone from Kirby in the powerhouse before the accident. Andrade testified no one gave him any safety training that morning before he started work. Chappa told him to climb up to the windows to repair the poly that was loose but did not give him any instructions on the best way to reach those windows. Chappa was not anywhere on the second floor where Andrade was working when he started climbing the ladder. No one was holding the ladder and Andrade did not have any type of safety belt or lanyard to tie off with.

Counsel for Andrade then introduced evidence via testimony of several witnesses regarding lock-ouVtag-out procedures at other plants. The consensus was to have written lock-out/tag-out procedures and provide [947]*947training on those procedures. Additionally, contractors were not responsible for locating sources of energy and locking them out, the company for which they were working ensured the equipment that contract workers were around was de-energized. Also, Ray Loupe, a safety professional for Serv-Tech, Inc., testified at length regarding proper lock-out/tag-out procedures.

Following this testimony, Andrade’s counsel read into the record the response to an interrogatory asking what warnings were given to Andrade or Patton Asbestos regarding the danger presented by the overhead crane, Kirby said safety was the responsibility of Andrade and his employer and they had no record as to what specific warnings were given. A supplemental answer stated there are warning signs in the area of the crane rails which say “Danger, High Voltage.” Further, that (Me Pike walked through the area with the supervisor for Patton Asbestos and discussed the overhead crane; that Mike Gregory locked out the overhead crane prior to Kirby vacating the building; that the building was then in the possession and control of Patton Asbestos and safety was their responsibility during that period when Patton Asbestos was in charge of that building.

Testimony resumed with Ronald Paul, general manager and vice-president of operations for Louisiana-Pacific and former president of Kirby Forest Products. Paul testified Ollie Pike was the Kirby employee responsible for safety at the plant in February 1990. Paul was not aware of any written safety rules or regulations or lock-out procedures specifically for the power plant at the Kirby facility where Andrade was injured in February 1990. According to Paul, in February 1990 Kirby did not have any written company-wide safety rules, including company-wide written procedures for locking out electrical equipment. Paul acknowledged a lock-out procedure is a safety factor. Paul testified if it was not a Kirby employee working near the overhead crane, it was not Kirby’s responsibility to lock-out the crane. The contractors were responsible for de-energizing the crane and it was up to them to have safety rules; Kirby was not responsible for the contractor’s safety, the contractor was. According to Paul, Kirby did not have a corporate policy regarding what contractors should be told about potential safety hazards in the power plant. Paul disagreed with Pike if it were Pike’s opinion that it was Kirby’s responsibility to de-energize the crane.

Edward Kelley, employed by Louisiana-Pacific, testified that during the period of time he worked at the Kirby plant, up to February 1990, he never saw any sort of written lock-out/tag-out procedure for the power plant. Further, he never attended any safety meetings where lock-out/tag-out procedures were discussed before Andrade’s accident. In 1989, Kelley was told to lock out the crane in the power plant. After doing so, he did not check in with anybody and did not tell Pike or any of the operators he was going to be turning off the crane. To lock-out the crane, Kelley turned the circuit breaker off and put on a lock and a “Do not operate” tag with his name and date. The keys to the lock were left on the foreman’s desk in the power plant. Kelley’s testimony indicates there was no procedure to document how the key should be controlled. Kelley testified that if a man was working on the equipment, he would keep the key but if it were a long-term lock-out, whoever furnished the lock would have the key. To his knowledge, Kelley was not informed when the lock or tag was being taken off. Kelley testified that rather than using a lock, some switch gears were just turned off and wires put through them to keep them from being turned back on easily. Kelley believed it was Kirby’s responsibility to make the crane safe. Kelley never entered the powerhouse during the time the asbestos abatement contractors were there and never used the overhead crane during that time.

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Bluebook (online)
964 S.W.2d 944, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 1535, 1998 WL 106138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-pacific-corp-v-andrade-texapp-1998.