Matthews v. United Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. Doctor Pipe

213 So. 3d 502, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0389, 2017 WL 913921, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 400
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 2017
DocketNO. 2016-C-0389
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 213 So. 3d 502 (Matthews v. United Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. Doctor Pipe) 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
Matthews v. United Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. Doctor Pipe, 213 So. 3d 502, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0389, 2017 WL 913921, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 400 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

Judge Terri F. Love

| jThis instant application for supervisory review arises from injuries and damages suffered from a car accident. Plaintiff filed suit in Orleans Parish. Defendants filed an exception of improper venue. Plaintiff then amended her petition to add two additional defendants. Defendants contended that plaintiff fraudulently added a defendant to achieve proper venue status. Defendants also asserted that plaintiff sued her uninsured motorist carrier in bad faith. The trial court denied the exception and found that defendants failed to prove that the defendant was fraudulently added. Defendants sought supervisory review with this Court.

This Court originally denied writs. The Louisiana Supreme Court then granted writs and remanded the matter for briefing, argument, and opinion. After briefing and oral argument, we find that the trial court did not err by denying defendants’ exception of improper venue. Defendants failed to meet their burden of proving the defendant company owner was fraudulently added. Discussion as to other possible proper bases for venue is pretermitted.1 As such, the writ is denied and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

[ 9FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Phyllis Matthews, an Orleans Parish domiciliary,2 was involved in a vehicular accident with Dan Robert in Jefferson Parish. Mr. Robert, a Jefferson Parish domiciliary, was driving a vehicle owned by his employer, Doctor Pipe, Inc. (“Doctor Pipe”). Doctor Pipe is domiciled in St. Charles Parish and has its principal place of business in Jefferson Parish. Ms. Matthews filed a Petition for Damages in Orleans Parish against Doctor Pipe, United Fire and Casualty Insurance Company (“United”), Doctor Pipe’s insurer, and Mr. Robert (collectively “Defendants”). United is not incorporated in Louisiana, but has an East Baton Rouge Parish domicile for venue purposes.

The Defendants filed an exception of improper venue contending that Orleans Parish was not the proper parish in which to bring suit. Ms. Matthews then filed her first Amended and Supplemental Petition, which added Steven Chambers, the owner of Doctor Pipe; and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (“Liberty”), her uninsured motorist and medical pay insurer; as additional defendants. Mr. Chambers undisput-edly resides in Orleans Parish.

[505]*505The trial court denied the Defendants’ exception of improper venue. The Defendants sought supervisory review. This Court denied writs, finding that venue was proper in Orleans Parish. Matthews v. United Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 16-0389 (La. App. 4 Cir. 06/09/16). The Defendants then sought review from the Louisiana Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted writs and remanded the matter for “briefing, argument, and opinion.” Matthews v. United Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 16-1303 (La. 11/02/16), 206 So.3d 211.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Exceptions of improper venue are reviewed using the de novo standard of review, as venue is a question of law. Premier Dodge, L.L.C. v. Perrilloux, 05-0554, p. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/25/06), 926 So.2d 576, 577.

Any factual determinations made by the trial court will be reviewed with the manifest error/clearly wrong standard. Brewer v. J.B. Hunt Transp., Inc., 09-1408, 09-1428, p. 9 (La. 3/16/10), 35 So.3d 230, 237. “If the factual findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, a reviewing court may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently.” Id., 09-1408, 09-1428, pp. 12-13, 35 So.3d at 239. “Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous.” Id., 09-1408, 09-1428, p. 13, 35 So.3d at 239.

VENUE

“Venue means the parish where an action or proceeding may properly be brought and tried under the rules regulating the subject.” La. C.C.P. art. 41. La. C.C.P. art. 42, the general venue provisions, “essentially provides for venue at the ‘home base’ of the entity sued.” Underwood v. Lane Mem’l Hosp., 97-1997, p. 4 (La. 7/8/98), 714 So.2d 715, 717. “Under the general rules of venue án action against an individual domiciled in the state shall be brought in the parish of his domicile, an action against a domestic corporation shall be brought in the parish where its registered office is located, and an action against a foreign insurer shall be brought in the parish of East Baton Rouge.” Kellis v. Farber, 523 So.2d 843, 845 (La. 1988). “An action on a health and accident insurance policy may be brought in the parish where the insured is domiciled, or in the parish where the accident or illness occurred.” La. C.C.P. art. 76.

“Evidence may be introduced to support or controvert the declinatory exception of improper venue, when the grounds thereof do not appear from the petition, the citation or return thereon.” M & M Gaming, Inc. v. Storey, 01-0545, p. 3 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/30/01), 788 So.2d 1230, 1232. See also La. C.C.P. art. 930. “If grounds for an objection of improper venue do not appear on the face of plaintiffs petition, the burden is on defendant to offer evidence in support of his position,” Vital v. State, 522 So.2d 151, 152 (La. App. 4th Cir. 1988). “When no evidence is introduced at the trial of the exception the court is restricted to the allegations of the petition, which for purposes of the exception are to be accepted as true.” Id.

JOINDER OF MR. CHAMBERS

■ Defendants assert that Ms. Matthews added Mr. Chambers as a defendant in bad faith to establish proper venue in Orleans Parish. Defendants contend that the trial court erred by stating: “I don’t believe that the defendant has carried the burden of proving that the joinder of Steven Chambers was fraudulent,” and by denying their exception of improper venue. Defendants also rely upon Canter v. [506]*506Koehring Co., 283 So.2d 716, 721 (La. 1973), to aver that a fellow employee or supervisor cannot be held accountable for an employee’s negligence unless: 1) the employer owes a duty of care, which he breaches; 2) this duty is delegated to the employee; 3) the employee breaches this duty; and 4) he knew or should have known of the employee’s breach of the delegated duty.

| nit is undisputed that Mr. Chambers is domiciled in Orleans Parish. La. C.C.P. art. 42(1) mandates, in pertinent part, that an action “[ajgainst an individual who is domiciled in the state shall be brought in the parish of his domicile.” Accordingly, venue in Orleans Parish is proper for any action properly filed against Mr. Chambers. The first amended petition accuses Mr. Chambers of negligent hiring and negligent supervision of Mr. Robert, the truck driver that collided with Ms. Matthews. Negligent hiring and supervision is recognized as a cognizable tort. See Roberts v. Benoit, 605 So.2d 1032 (La. 1991); Harrington v. Louisiana State Bd. of Elementary & Secondary Educ., 97-1670 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/20/98), 714 So.2d 845; Kelley v. Dyson, 08-1202 (La.App. 5 Cir. 3/24/09), 10 So.3d 283. Ms. Matthews contends that hiring and supervision are under Mr. Chambers’ purview as the owner, registered agent, president, vice president, and director of Doctor Pipe.3

The trial court found that Defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
213 So. 3d 502, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0389, 2017 WL 913921, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-united-fire-casualty-insurance-co-doctor-pipe-lactapp-2017.