Lyons v. Airdyne Lafayette, Inc.

558 So. 2d 277, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 601, 1990 WL 27061
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 1990
DocketNo. 88-1217
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 558 So. 2d 277 (Lyons v. Airdyne Lafayette, Inc.) 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
Lyons v. Airdyne Lafayette, Inc., 558 So. 2d 277, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 601, 1990 WL 27061 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

KING, Judge.

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether or not the trial court erred in granting defendants’ Motions For Summary Judgment dismissing plaintiff’s suit claiming damages under the intentional act exception to the Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Statute, La. R.S. 23:1032.

Dexter Phillip Lyons (hereinafter plaintiff) instituted this tort suit against his employer, Airdyne Lafayette, Inc. (hereinafter Airdyne), its insurer, Pacific Marine Insurance Company (hereinafter Pacific Marine),1 and his co-employee, Wayne Hebert (hereinafter Hebert). Plaintiff alleged that he was injured on the job when his co-employee, Hebert, knowingly and intentionally unleashed at him the compresssive force of air from a compressor unit, when plaintiff was in close proximity to the unit, knowing that the compressive force of air would hit plaintiff with such velocity as to make it substantially certain that plaintiff would suffer physical injuries as a result. All three defendants filed Motions For Summary Judgment contending that Hebert’s action was not an intentional act within the meaning of La. R.S. 23:1032 and, as a result, plaintiff’s sole remedy was in worker’s compensation. The motions were heard on June 27, 1988, at which time the trial court took the matter under advisement. On July 6, 1988, the trial court [278]*278issued written reasons for judgment and granted the motions finding that plaintiffs injuries were not sustained as the result of an intentional act performed by Hebert. A formal judgment was signed dismissing plaintiffs suit as to defendants. From this judgment plaintiff has timely appealed. We affirm.

FACTS

Plaintiff and Hebert were both employed as diesel mechanics at Airdyne. On March 25, 1985, at approximately 12:00 P.M., plaintiff was walking through the shop, on his way to lunch, when Hebert called to him asking for assistance. As he approached Hebert, plaintiff was hit by a stream of compressed air flowing from the compressor that Hebert was working on at the time. Plaintiff claims the compressed air struck him in the chest and threw his neck to the side. He complained of neck and back pain immediately following the accident but went on to lunch and was able to return to work that afternoon. As his pain worsened, plaintiff was treated by several physicians, was diagnosed as having a herniated cervical disc, and eventually underwent surgery for the herniated disc.

Immediately following the incident, Hebert and another co-worker began to laugh. Plaintiff claims they were laughing because Hebert intentionally shot the compressed air at him as a joke. Hebert, however, stated in his affidavit that was introduced into evidence in connection with his Motion For Summary Judgment, that he laughed because plaintiff “did not appear to be injured” and because “the incident, as it happened, was funny and did not appear to be serious.”

On December 26, 1985, plaintiff filed this tort suit. He alleged that Hebert’s action was an intentional tort, a recognized exception under this state’s worker’s compensation laws, which permitted him to sue Air-dyne, Pacific Marine, and Hebert in tort for damages he sustained while in the course and scope of his employment. Defendants filed Motions For Summary Judgment alleging that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether an intentional tort was committed and that, as a matter of law, they were entitled to judgment in their favor. The trial court granted the Motions For Summary Judgment and in its written reasons stated:

“The record contains Mr. Hebert’s affidavit in which he states that he did not expect that air would be released from the compressor when he opened the valve. He was in the process of repairing the unit and had called the plaintiff over to help him and did not intend for the air to be released nor did he intend any harm to Mr. Lyons.
Therefore, the Court finds that the injury allegedly sustained by plaintiff was not the result of an intentional act performed by Wayne Hebert.”

Plaintiff appeals alleging that summary judgment should not have been granted because there exists a genuine issue as to the material fact of Hebert’s knowledge and intent at the time of the incident.

LAW

La. R.S. 23:1032 reads in part:

“The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee or his dependent on account of an injury, or compensable sickness or disease for which he is entitled to compensation under this Chapter, shall be exclusive of all other rights and remedies of such employee ...
* * * * * *
Nothing in this Chapter shall affect the liability of the employer, or any officer, director, stockholder, partner or employee of such employer or principal to a fine or penalty under any other statute or the liability, civil or criminal, resulting from an intentional act.” (Emphasis added.)

Under this statute, an injured employee may seek recovery in tort for a work-related injury intentionally caused by a co-employee.

Louisiana courts have defined intentional act for purposes of the exception to the exclusivity of the Louisiana worker’s compensation statute as an act whereby the defendant either consciously desired the [279]*279physical result that followed or believed that the result was substantially certain to follow from his conduct. Bazley v. Tortorich, 397 So.2d 475 (La.1981); Bourgeois v. Jordan, 527 So.2d 603 (La.App. 3 Cir.1988).

More recently, in Caudle v. Betts, 512 So.2d 389 (La.1987), the Supreme Court further clarified the meaning of an intentional act arising in the context of a battery occurring as the result of a practical joke. The court stated that:

“... when an employee seeks to recover from his employer for an intentional tort, a court must apply the legal precepts of general tort law related to the particular intentional tort alleged in order to determine whether he has proved his cause of action and damages recoverable thereunder.” Caudle v. Betts, 512 So.2d 389, at page 391 (La.1987).

The Supreme Court found that an intentional tort, a battery, had occurred when plaintiffs employer’s principal owner and chief executive officer intentionally shocked plaintiff with an auto condenser as a practical joke. The court held the defendant liable although the serious injury to the plaintiff’s occipital nerve which resulted was neither foreseeable nor intended. The court defined intent as follows:

“The intent with which tort liability is concerned is not necessarily a hostile intent, or a desire to do any harm. Restatement (Second) of Torts, American Law Institute § 13, (comment e) (1965). Rather it is an intent to bring about a result which will invade the interests of another in a way that the law forbids. The defendant may be liable although intending nothing more than a good-natured practical joke, or honestly believing that the act would not injure the plaintiff, or even though seeking the plaintiff’s own good.” (Citations omitted.) Caudle v. Betts, 512 So.2d 389, at page 391 (La.1987).

In this case, plaintiff claims that Hebert intentionally released the compressed air in his direction, knowing that the physical injury sustained by plaintiff was substantially certain.

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Bluebook (online)
558 So. 2d 277, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 601, 1990 WL 27061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyons-v-airdyne-lafayette-inc-lactapp-1990.