Nippa v. Chevron, USA

774 So. 2d 310, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2953, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2890, 2000 WL 1716516
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 15, 2000
DocketNo. 99-CA-2953
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 774 So. 2d 310 (Nippa v. Chevron, USA) 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.

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Nippa v. Chevron, USA, 774 So. 2d 310, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2953, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2890, 2000 WL 1716516 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

hBAGNERIS, Judge.

This appeal arises out of a suit for damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained by Plaintiff-Appellant, Jeffrey E. Nippa (“Nippa”) due to an accident that occurred while Nippa, an employee of an independent contractor, was working at a facility owned by Defendant-Appellee, Chevron, USA (“Chevron”). In his lawsuit, Nippa contended that Chevron owed him a duty to provide the equipment necessary to do his job safely and that Chevron breached that duty when it failed to provide proper equipment, the lack of which was a cause of Nippa’s injuries.

On October 27, 1998, Chevron filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of Nippa’s claims against it on the basis that Chevron did not owe Nippa any duty of care. On May 3, 1999, the trial court granted Chevron’s motion for summary judgment. Nippa filed an appeal from the trial court’s ruling.

On appeal, Nippa alleges that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Chevron. Nippa contends the following:

1. The trial court erred in finding that there was no issue of material fact as to whether Chevron was or |2whether Chevron could be held liable to Nippa under a theory of independent negligence; and
2. The trial court erred in finding that there was no issue of material fact as to whether Nippa’s employer, Benbow, was an “independent contractor” and that Chevron was not liable to Nippa for any negligence on the part of Benbow or that Chevron was liable for giving express or implied permission to use unsafe practices.

After a de novo review of the record, we find that no genuine issues of material fact exist and that Chevron is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s ruling granting summary judgment.

Statement of Facts

The Romere Pass Facility (“the facility”), a processing facility owned by Chevron, was temporarily shut down in 1994 to allow for expansion of the facility’s natural gas capacity. The expansion involved the installation of new production vessels, a new dehydration unit, a pneumatic safety system and other electrical modifications. Chevron contracted with M.S. Benbow and Associates (“Benbow”) for the inspection and supervision services of the expansion of the facility. The parties signed a Master Service Agreement, which provided, in pertinent part:

[Benbow] shall provide all materials, equipment and labor required for the prompt completion of services. [Ben-bow] shall perform the services as an independent contractor and not as an employee of [Chevron] ... The equipment provided for the services shall be in first class ^operating condition ... [Benbow] warrants that it will perform its work in a workmanlike manner and guarantees the quality of its work and materials.
[Benbow] is responsible for the safe performance of the work, and shall assure that the work is performed in accordance with safe practices, and shall implement and maintain at all times safe procedures, taking all reasonable precautions to protect ... [its] personnel. The obligation to implement and maintain safe practices is that of [Benbow].

Nippa worked for Benbow as an electrical construction foreman. Nippa claims to have been injured on May 7, 1994 while attempting to manually lift and carry an electrical panel that was to be installed at the facility. At the time of the accident, the machinery ordinarily used to transport [313]*313heavy pieces of equipment was unavailable. Nippa claims that by retaining supervisory control over the job, Chevron assumed a duty of care toward him, as the employee of an independent contractor. Nippa asserts that by placing time pressure on him to complete the job, Chevron’s supervisor at the facility actually authorized the manual transport of the 200 pound piece of equipment, thereby breaching its duty to provide adequate machinery with which to safely transport the panel.

Law and Discussion

Appellate courts review summary judgment decision de novo. Godfrey v. Boston Old Colony Ins. Co., 97-2569 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/27/98), 718 So.2d 455, 457; Walker v. Kroop, 96-0618 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/24/96), 678 So.2d 580, 583. The appellate court should affirm a summary judgment ruling only when “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issues of material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” LSA-C.C.P. art 966(B). “Facts Rare material if they potentially insure or preclude recovery, affect a litigant’s ultimate success, or determine the outcome of the legal dispute.” Godfrey, supra; Walker, supra.

Article 966 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure was amended in 1996 to state that summary judgments are favored. The article was amended again in 1997 to clarify issues concerning the mov-ant’s burden of proof. Subparagraph C(2) of article 966 provides:

The burden of proof remains with the movant. However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial on the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the movant’s burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails to produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to satisfy his evidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact.

LSA-C.C.P. art. 966 C(2).

This Court explicated the 1997 Amendment to C.C.P. article 966 in Cressionnie v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 98-0534 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/8/98), 711 So.2d 364, stating as follows:

Procedurally, under the 1997 amendments to the summary judgment law, La. C.C.P. art. 966, a court’s first task on a motion for summary judgment remains the same — to determine whether the moving party’s supporting documents-pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits-are sufficient to resolve all material factual issues. La. C.C.P. art. 966(B). If the court finds that a genuine issue of material fact exists, summary judgment must be denied. Walker, supra at 584.
However, if the court finds, based on the evidence presented by the movant, that no genuine issues of material fact exist, the party opposing the motion for summary judgment is required to “produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to ^satisfy his burden of proof at trial.” La. C.C.P. art. 966(C)(2). In meeting his burden of proof, the movant is expressly not required “to negate all the essential elements of the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense,” but only “to point out to the court that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements.” Id. Once the movant has met his burden and the burden shifts to the party opposing the motion, the non-moving party is not allowed to rely on the allegations of his pleadings in opposition to a properly supported motion for summary judgment. Oakley v. Thebault, 96-0937 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/13/96), 684 So.2d 488.

Id. at 366.

In the instant case, Chevron argues that the trial court was correct in granting its [314]*314motion for summary judgment.

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774 So. 2d 310, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2953, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 2890, 2000 WL 1716516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nippa-v-chevron-usa-lactapp-2000.