Parfait v. Deroche

356 So. 2d 1051, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4401
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 1977
DocketNo. 11707
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 356 So. 2d 1051 (Parfait v. Deroche) 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
Parfait v. Deroche, 356 So. 2d 1051, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4401 (La. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

CHIASSON, Judge.

This is a suit for damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while employed by Delta Shipyard, Inc. as a fitter’s helper. A negligence action was filed on August 21, 1975, in which Reggie Lirette, Jr., Dennis Lirette and Robert Deroche, as executive officers and/or co-employees, directors, agents, or shareholders of Chromal-loy, Inc. and Delta Shipyard, Inc., a division of Chromalloy, Inc. in Houma, Louisiana, were named as defendants. In May of 1976, the said defendants filed an exception of no cause of action. The exception was sustained by the trial court in its original judgment on March 29, 1977 and again in an amended judgment on May 12, 1977. Plaintiff has taken this appeal; the defendants have not answered nor have they appealed.

ON MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the appeal under the provisions of La.C.C.P. Article 2085 which provides, in part, that an appeal cannot be taken by a party who voluntarily and unconditionally acquiesced in a judgment rendered against him. Defendants assert that the plaintiff unconditionally acquiesced in the trial court’s judgment because he allowed the exception to be sustained without opposition. We cannot agree. The amended judgment of the trial court reads:

“Judgment was originally rendered, read and signed in this case on March 29,1977. However in that judgment, it was inadvertently specified that counsel for plaintiff could present no opposition to the exception of no cause of action. The Court has now fully and completely heard the pleadings, evidence and arguments of counsel, and considering the law and the evidence to be in favor of the defendants the exception of no cause of action ... is maintained, . . ”

Plaintiff thereafter appealed this decision and did not voluntarily and unconditionally acquiesced in the judgment. The defendants’ motion to dismiss is therefore denied.

ON THE MERITS

Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in sustaining the defendants’ exception of no cause of action and in dismissing his suit.

In the consideration of an exception of no cause of action, all well pleaded allegations of fact are considered as true, and it must be determined if a remedy is afforded to any one under the circumstances alleged, under any theory of the case. La.C.C.P. Articles 862, 927, 931; Economy Carpets Manufacturers and Distributors, Inc. v. Better Business Bureau of Baton Rouge, Inc., 333 So.2d 765 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1976); writ refused; Saragusa v. Dipaola, 247 So.2d 400 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1971).

In the trial court the defendants’ exception was based on the ground that plaintiff’s exclusive remedy against his employer is under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor-workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 901, et seq., and that under said Act, defendants, as employees of plaintiff’s em[1053]*1053ployer, enjoy the same immunity from tort liability as does the employer.

With respect to claims by employees against third parties the Longshoremen’s and Harborworkers’ Compensation Act provides:

“The right to compensation or benefits under this chapter shall be the exclusive remedy to an employee when he is injured, or to his eligible survivors or legal representatives if he is killed, by the negligence or wrong of any other person or persons in the same employ: Provided, That this provision shall not affect the liability of a person other than an officer or employee of the employer.”

Consequently, if the allegations of plaintiff’s petition, accepted as true, bring him under the exclusive jurisdiction of the LHCA, the judgment of the trial court sustaining defendants’ exception must be affirmed.

The Longshoremen’s and Harborworkers’ Compensation Act, as amended in 1972 provides:

“Compensation shall be payable under this chapter in respect of disability or death of an employee, but only if the disability or death results from an injury occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used by an employer in loading, unloading, repairing, or building a vessel.)” 33 U.S.C. § 903(a).

In Poche v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 339 So.2d 1212 (La.1976), rehearing denied, the Louisiana Supreme Court reviewed the United States Supreme Court’s jurisprudence concerning the LHCA. Therein the Court stated:

“In Davis v. Department of Labor & Industries, 317 U.S. 249, 63 S.Ct. 225, 87 L.Ed. 246 (1942), the Supreme Court coined the phrase ‘twilight zone’ to describe the shadowy area in which it was difficult to determine whether state or federal law should apply. In this area, if a worker elected to apply for state benefits his choice would be upheld and the application of state law presumed constitutional. In subsequent cases, the Court made it clear that an area of concurrent jurisdiction existed wherein workers injured on navigable waters, even when their occupations were traditionally maritime, could pursue remedies available under state compensation laws. Hahn v. Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co., 358 U.S. 272, 79 S.Ct. 266, 3 L.Ed.2d 292 (1959); Richard v. Lake Charles Stevedores, Inc., 95 So.2d 830 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1957), cert. denied 355 U.S. 952, 78 S.Ct. 535, 2 L.Ed.2d 529 (1958); Baskin v. Industrial Accident Commission, 338 U.S. 854, 70 S.Ct. 99, 94 L.Ed. 523 (1949); Bethlehem Steel Co. v. Moore, 335 U.S. 874, 69 S.Ct. 239, 93 L.Ed. 417 (1948).” . . .
A footnote to the above quotation states: “Both the Moore and Baskin cases involved workers engaged in the repair of completed vessels over navigable waters. It had formerly been held that such injuries were within the exclusive federal maritime jurisdiction and thus beyond the protection of state compensation remedies. John Baizley, Iron Works v. Span, 281 U.S. 222, 50 S.Ct. 306, 74 L.Ed. 819 (1930). Nevertheless, the Supreme Court affirmed the state court’s award of state benefits in Moore and reversed the denial of state benefits in Baskin, which denial had been based on the alleged exclusivity of the LHCA remedy.”

After reviewing these and other pertinent cases, the Court in Poche stated:

“What can be gleaned from an examination of these cases is that the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that state compensation laws can be constitutionally applied concurrently with the federal compensation system to some, if not all, categories of maritime workers. While the Court has never overruled Jensen [Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen,

Related

Duong v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board
169 Cal. App. 3d 980 (California Court of Appeal, 1985)

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356 So. 2d 1051, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parfait-v-deroche-lactapp-1977.