Mouton v. Louisiana Power & Light Co.

545 So. 2d 1114, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1175, 1989 WL 62482
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 7, 1989
DocketNo. 89-CA-55
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 545 So. 2d 1114 (Mouton v. Louisiana Power & Light Co.) 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
Mouton v. Louisiana Power & Light Co., 545 So. 2d 1114, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1175, 1989 WL 62482 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

BOWES, Judge.

On April 27, 1985, the petitioner Ray James Mouton was employed as a nuclear security officer by The Wackenhut Corporation (hereinafter “TWC”). Since 1981, TWO had contracted with Louisiana Power and Light Company (hereinafter “LP & L”) to provide security force service personnel for the Waterford III nuclear facility owned and operated by LP & L in Taft, Louisiana. Mouton’s petition alleges that while assigned to the Waterford III facility, and during his employment, he sustained a severe back injury while manually operating a malfunctioning electrical vehicle security gate known as the “vehicle trap.” TWC’s insurer has paid worker’s compensation benefits and medical expenses.

On April 1, 1986, petitioner Ray James Mouton, individually and as administrator of his minor son Brad A. Mouton and Sherry Orgeron Mouton filed suit in tort against the defendant LP & L alleging that the injuries he sustained were caused by the negligence of LP & L. The acts of negligence complained of consisted of improperly maintaining the premises in failing to maintain or repair the electrical vehicle gate after notice thus requiring Mouton to manually operate it. Alternatively, the petitioner alleged that LP & L was strictly liable to him as the defective gate was unreasonably dangerous in normal use.

Subsequently, LP & L filed an answer in which it affirmatively pled the defense that it was Mouton’s statutory employer under La.R.S. 23:1061;1 thus, Mouton’s exclusive remedy against it was for worker’s compensation, R.S. 23:1032.2 Thereafter, LP & [1116]*1116L filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Mouton was its statutory employee on the date of his injury and, as such, LP & L is immune from liability ex delicto. In support of its motion, LP & L attached the affidavit of A.D. Haase, Security Superintendent at the Waterford III plant, with other memoranda. In opposition, the petitioner filed a memorandum and affidavit. The TWC-LP & L security force contract (hereinafter “the contract”) was also made part of the record.

The trial court granted the motion and rendered judgment on October 31, 1988, on the basis of Berry v. Holston Well Service, Inc., 488 So.2d 934 (La.1986), finding no genuine issues of material fact, and that, as a matter of law, LP & L was Mouton’s statutory employer. It is from this judgment that the petitioner has filed this de-volutive appeal.3 We affirm.

Appellant avers that it was error to grant the summary judgment because there were contested issues of material fact, namely: (1) The contract work performed by Mouton was specialized, and (2) it was not part of LP & L’s “trade, business or occupation”, thus precluding a finding of statutory employment status as a matter of law.

A summary judgment must be rendered “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 material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” LSA-C.C.P. art. 966 B.

We hold that under the facts of this case and the principles enumerated in Berry, supra, LP & L is the statutory employer of Ray James Mouton and, as such, appellant’s sole remedy against it is in worker’s compensation. LP & L is therefore not amenable to a suit in tort by Mouton in this ease.

STATUTORY EMPLOYMENT

Almost 40 years ago, in Thibodaux v. Sun Oil Co., 218 La. 453, 49 So.2d 852 (1950), the Louisiana Supreme Court announced the doctrine of the principal’s immunity in tort from claims by employees of their contractors. In certain instances, employees of contractors would be considered employees of the principal. Later codified in 19764, the doctrine of statutory employment has presented problems in delineating factors which suggest the existence of a statutory employment relationship. In interpreting the- provisions of LSA-R.S. 23:1061, notably those instances in which a contractor was performing work which was part of the principal’s “trade, business or occupation,” the courts looked to whether the contract work was an integral part of the principal’s trade, business or occupation. Thibodaux, supra; Barnes v. Sun Oil Co., 362 So.2d 761 (La.1978). As the “integral part” test led to an expansiveness in interpretation not initially envisioned by the judiciary, eventually a shift toward a more restrictive application of the doctrine of statutory employment began to appear. Lewis v. Exxon Corp., 441 So.2d 192 (La.1983); Benson v. Seagraves, 436 So.2d 525 (La.1983); Rowe v. Northwestern Nat’l. Ins. Co., 471 So.2d 226 (La.1985), (Lemmon, J. concurring).

In 1986, the Louisiana Supreme Court, in Berry v. Holston Well Service, Inc., supra, reiterated some of the principles enunciated in Benson, Lewis, and Rowe, supra, and articulated a three-tier analysis useful in determining whether a statutory employment relationship exists between an owner or principal and his contractor’s employee, and stated:

In the first level, the primary focus is on the scope of the contract work. “The [1117]*1117specific task to which an individual employee is put should not be determinative of his coverage under the Act. Instead, the entire scope of the work contract must be considered.” Lewis, supra, citing Malone, Principal’s Liability for Workmen’s Compensation to Employees of Contractors, 10 La.L.Rev. 25 (1949). The central question to be answered is whether the contract work is specialized or non-specialized. This of course is a question of fact, and courts should consider whether the contract work requires a degree of skill, training, experience, education and/or equipment not normally possessed by those outside the contract field. If it is determined that the contract work is specialized per se, as a matter of law the work is not a part of the principal’s trade, business or occupation, and the principal is not the statutory employer of the specialized contractor’s employees. Id., 488 So.2d at 987, 938. [Emphasis supplied]

In the instant case, the scope of the contract entered into by LP & L and TWC is to provide security force personnel "whose duty it is to protect the Owner’s site from sabotage and theft of nuclear materials and to implement the Owner’s site security program.” Contract Sec. 2(s). Specific duties of security force personnel, however, appear to be no greater than “security tours and inspections, access, control, searches of personnel, packages and vehicles, escort functions, record-keeping and appropriate response to security incidents.” Id. Although the specific task to which Mouton was put is not determinative of his coverage under the Act, under Berry, supra, we are not foreclosed from this factual inquiry.

LP & L, as an operator of a nuclear power plant, is obligated to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to provide a security force to protect the Waterford III nuclear power plant. In conformity with federal regulations, LP & L devised a “security plan” and entered into a contract with TWC for the purpose of implementing the plan.

Appellant argues that the contract work is specialized per se

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548 So. 2d 1254 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
545 So. 2d 1114, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1175, 1989 WL 62482, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mouton-v-louisiana-power-light-co-lactapp-1989.