Palmer v. Hamp's Construction, L.L.C.

204 So. 3d 1124
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 30, 2016
DocketNO. 2016-CA-0381, NO. 2015-C-1306
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 204 So. 3d 1124 (Palmer v. Hamp's Construction, L.L.C.) 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
Palmer v. Hamp's Construction, L.L.C., 204 So. 3d 1124 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Judge Dennis R. Bagneris, Sr.

| sRelators-defendants, Eddie Lohmann, Lohmann Fencing, and AG Security Insurance Company, filed a writ application1 with this Court on December 4,2015, seeking relief from the denial of exceptions of prescription in favor of respondent-plaintiff, Doris Palmer. Thereafter, appellant-plaintiff, Doris Palmer, lodged this appeal on April 18, 2016, alleging that the trial court erred in granting defendant’s, Hamp’s Construction, LLC’s (“Hamp’s”), motion for summary judgment and in denying her motion for new trial. On April 22, 2016, this Court consolidated the pending writ application, No. 2015-C-1306, with the instant appeal. Concerning Ms. Palmer’s appeal, we find that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment as we find there are genuine issues of material fact regarding the degree of control Hamp’s retained and/or exercised over its sub-contractor, Lohmann Fencing, and the work performed pursuant to Hamp’s contract with the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. Concerning the defendants’ [Eddie Loh-mann, Lohmann Fencing, and AG Security Insurance Company] writ application, we grant review of the writ application but deny relief as we find no 14erroi- in the trial court’s judgment, which denied defendants’ exceptions of prescription.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND FACTS

On September 20, 2007, Hamp’s entered into a contract with the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (“the Port of New Orleans”), to remove and replace an existing fence and gate components. On September 1, 2009, while working for the Port of New Orleans, Ms. Palmer alleged that she fell into a circular fence pole hole, approximately three feet deep, while picking up trash adjacent to a new fence on her employer’s property. On July 15, 2010, Ms. Palmer filed a petition for damages naming Hamp’s, and its insurer, The Gray Insurance Company, as defendants, The petition alleged that the Port of New Orleans entered into a contract with Hamp’s to construct a fence and that Hamp’s breached a contractual duty to fill holes created by the removal of the old fence posts.

On September 9, 2010, Hamp’s filed an answer to Ms. Palmer’s petition, and a third party demand against Lohmann [1127]*1127Fencing, a .foreign corporation. In the third party demand, Hamp’s alleged that it entered into a subcontract on December 15, 2007, with Lohmann Fencing,, and that pursuant thereto, Lohmann Fencing agreed to add Hamp’s as an additional insured to its general liability insurance policy, and to hold Hamp’s harmless and indemnify Hamp’s. . .

On February 16, 2011, Hamp’s filed its first supplemental and amending third party demand, adding Lohmann Fencing’s insurer, AG Security Insurance Company (“AG Security”), as a third party defendant. Hamp’s also alleged that Lohmann Fencing breached its contract by not adding Hamp’s as an additional insured.

hOn July 10, 2013, the trial court granted Ms. Palmer’s motion to substitute counsel, which ordered John B. Fox to withdraw and enrolled Mark A. Delphin and Arthur J. O’Keefe as Ms. Palmer’s new counsel of record. On July 12, 2013, John Fox & Associates, L.L.C., plaintiff in intervention, filed a petition of intervention, which the trial court granted.

On January 27, 2014, Ms. Palmer filed a motion to amend her petition, seeking to add Eddie Lohmann, Lohmann Fencing, and AG Security as defendants. Ms. Palmer argued that Lohmann Fencing and AG Security already knew about, and were participating in, the suit as third party defendants. Further, Ms. Palmer noted that Hamp’s, Eddie ' Lohmann, Lohmann Fencing, and AG Security were all represented by the same counsel. After hearing the motion for leave to amend the original petition, the trial court granted the motion in part to allow addition of Lohmann Fencing and AG Security as defendants, and denied the motion in part, preventing the addition of Eddie Lohmann as a defendant. However, on November 26, 2014, this Court reversed the trial court’s judgment in part, finding that defendant Eddie Loh-mann should also be joined, under La. C.C.P. art. 1151, as a party defendant.

On April 25, 2014, Hamp’s filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and that it, as the general contractor, is not liable for the negligence of Lohmann Fencing, the independent/subcontractor. In support of its motion for summary judgment, Hamp’s attached the following as exhibits: (1) the affidavit of Charlie Hampton, the owner and operator of Hamp’s; (2) the September 20, 2007, contract between the Port’of New Orleans and Hamp’s; and (3) the December 15, 2007, subcontract between Hamp’s and Lohmann Fencing.

I fiOn December 8, 2014, Ms. Palmer filed a second amending and supplemental petition to include Eddie Lohmann as an additional defendant as well as alleging that the defendants, Hamp’s, Eddie Lohmann, and Lohmann Fencing “jointly, severally and in solido undertook the specific duty and responsibility of removing the fence post” and that “[a]t all material times herein, it was foreseeable to defendants, and defendants knew, that the existence of the hole created by defendants’ removal of the fence post constituted a dangerous and hazardous condition to the employees of the Board of Commissioners for the Port of New Orleans as well as to the public.”

Thereafter, Hamp’s, Eddie Lohmann, Lohmann Fencing, and AG Security filed various exceptions of prescription, arguing that Ms. Palmer’s motion for leave to amend her petition in January 27, 2014, to name them as additional defendants, was filed over three years past the prescriptive period. On August 17, 2015, the defendants jointly filed a supplemental memorandum in support of their exception of prescription originally filed on January 9, 2015, and argued that (1) Hamp’s/Gray Insurance Co., and Eddie Lohmann/Lohmann [1128]*1128Fencing/AG Security, are not solidary obli-gors; (2) Ms. Palmer’s accident occurred on September 1, 2009, and only Hamp’s was sued on July 15, 2010; (3) Eddie Lohmann/Lohmann Fencing did not get served with Hamp’s third party demand until September 25, 2010, over a year after the incident; (4) Ms. Palmer did not file her first amended petition against Loh-mann Fencing and AG Security until November 2014; and (5) Ms. Palmer did not file her second amended petition naming Eddie Lohmann until December 2014. Thus, Eddie Lohmann/Lohmann Fencing/AG Security argue that Ms. Palmer’s claims against them have prescribed because they are not solidary |7obligors with Hamp’s and, the timely suit against Hamp’s does not interrupt prescription as to Eddie Lohmann/Lohmann Fencing/AG Security.

On August 17, 2015, Hamp’s filed a supplemental memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment that was originally filed on April 25, 2014, and attached, as additional exhibits, the depositions of Charlie Hampton and Eddie Loh-mann, the sole operator of Lohmann Fencing. In its supplemental memorandum, Hamp’s argues that the additional exhibits reflect that: (1) Hamp’s did not perform any of the fencing work and did not supervise the work of Lohmann Fencing; (2) Hamp’s machinery and equipment were not used by Lohmann Fencing, in performing the fencing work; and (3) Hamp’s had no knowledge as to what equipment was used by Lohmann Fencing, or what work was performed on a daily basis by Lohmann Fencing, or who supervised Lohmann Fencing’s workers. Thus, Hamp’s alleges that because it had- no operative control over Lohmann Fencing, it cannot be liable for Lohmann Fencing’s negligence. ■

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

Related

Grigsby & Assocs., Inc. v. City of Shreveport
294 F. Supp. 3d 529 (W.D. Louisiana, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
204 So. 3d 1124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/palmer-v-hamps-construction-llc-lactapp-2016.