Picard v. Zeit Exploration Co., Inc.

636 So. 2d 922, 92 La.App. 1 Cir. 2242, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 766, 1994 WL 86167
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 11, 1994
DocketCW 92 2242
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 636 So. 2d 922 (Picard v. Zeit Exploration Co., Inc.) 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
Picard v. Zeit Exploration Co., Inc., 636 So. 2d 922, 92 La.App. 1 Cir. 2242, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 766, 1994 WL 86167 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

636 So.2d 922 (1994)

Roy and Tammy PICARD
v.
ZEIT EXPLORATION CO., INC.

No. CW 92 2242.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 11, 1994.
Rehearing Denied May 18, 1994.

*923 Ronald A. Johnson, Edward S. Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, Barrios & Yacoubian, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant Zeit Exploration Co., Inc.

Bob F. Wright, James H. Domengeaux, Domengeaux, Wright, Moroux & Roy, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellee Roy and Tammy Picard.

Michael E. Parker, Allen, Gooch, Bourgeois, Breaux, Robison & Theunissen, Lafayette, for intervenors Security Life Ins. Co., et al.

Ann L. Schlaak, Boehm & Associates, Alameda, CA, for lien claimant-third party Adm'rs "Fund".

Janice M. Church, Bell, Cooper & Hyman, Baton Rouge, for amicus curiae.

*924 Before CARTER, GONZALES and WHIPPLE, JJ.

WHIPPLE, Judge.

This case is before us on application for writ of review filed by Zeit Exploration Company, Inc., seeking review of the trial court's denial of Zeit's motion for summary judgment in which Zeit contended it was plaintiff's statutory employer.

The central issue presented in this case is whether the 1989 amendment to LSA-R.S. 23:1061, applicable at the time of plaintiff's alleged injury, overruled Berry v. Holston Well Service, Inc., 488 So.2d 934 (La.1986), and mandated a return to the "integral relation" test formulated in Thibodaux v. Sun Oil Co., 218 La. 453, 49 So.2d 852 (1950).

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Zeit is a company engaged in the business of exploration and production of oil and gas. These business activities necessarily require the maintenance of adequate oil storage facilities. Zeit owned a 1000-barrel oil storage tank at the East Lake Palourde Field, which it intended to use to accommodate production at that site. Zeit contracted with Sea-Lar Management Company (Sea-Lar) to oversee Zeit's operations at the East Lake Palourde Field on its behalf, and Sea-Lar discovered that the 1000-barrel tank was leaking. Sea-Lar then contracted with Cleve Frederick & Son Tank Company, Inc. (Cleve Frederick), a company which engaged in repairing oil storage tanks, for the repair of the storage tank.

On June 2, 1990, Roy Picard, while working as a crew member for Cleve Frederick, allegedly sustained bodily injury due to exposure to toxic substances in the storage tank, during the process of cleaning the storage tank before making repairs.

Picard and his wife, Tammy, filed suit against Zeit and Sea-Lar, seeking damages in tort. Cleve Frederick and Security Life Insurance Company (Security) intervened to recover worker's compensation benefits paid and/or owed to Picard.

Thereafter, Zeit filed a motion for summary judgment, contending it was entitled to be dismissed from the tort case on the basis that it was Picard's statutory employer, and therefore, his exclusive remedy against Zeit was a claim for worker's compensation benefits.

The trial court denied Zeit's motion for summary judgment on the basis that the 1989 amendment to LSA-R.S. 23:1061 had not totally eliminated the jurisprudential test set forth in Berry v. Holston Well Service, Inc., 488 So.2d 934 (La.1986). Instead, the trial court concluded that the Berry factors were still relevant to the determination of whether a principal was a statutory employer, with no single factor being determinative. While noting that the work being performed in this case was integrally related to Zeit's business, the trial court concluded that applying the Berry factors to the instant case did not lead to the conclusion that Zeit was Picard's statutory employer. Thus, the trial court denied the motion for summary judgment.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Generally, a motion for summary judgment should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with affidavits, show there is no genuine issue as to a material fact, and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966; Thompson v. South Central Bell Telephone Company, 411 So.2d 26, 27 (La.1982). The burden is upon the mover for summary judgment to show that no genuine issue as to a material fact exists, and only when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law is summary judgment warranted. Robertson v. Our Lady of Lake Regional Medical Center, 574 So.2d 381, 384 (La.App. 1st Cir.1990), writ denied, 573 So.2d 1136 (La.1991).

Summary judgments are not favored, and any reasonable doubt should be resolved against the mover. In determining whether all material issues have in fact been disposed of, any reasonable doubt is to be resolved against the granting of summary judgment and in favor of trial on the merits. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d 577, 583 (La. 1989); Sanders v. Hercules Sheet Metal, *925 Inc., 385 So.2d 772, 775 (La.1980). Because it is the applicable substantive law that determines materiality, whether or not a particular fact in dispute is material can be seen only in light of the substantive law applicable to the case. Duncan v. Balcor Property Management, Inc., 615 So.2d 985, 988 (La. App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 617 So.2d 936 (La.1993).

Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo, using the same criteria applied by the trial courts in determining whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, 591 So.2d 342, 345 (La.1991).

STATUTORY EMPLOYER IMMUNITY

Louisiana Revised Statute 23:1061 obligates a principal to pay worker's compensation benefits to the injured employee of its contractor. Prior to amendment in 1989, the statute stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

Where any person (in this section referred to as principal) undertakes to execute any work, which is a part of his trade, business, or occupation or which he had contracted to perform, and contracts with any person (in this section referred to as contractor) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of the work undertaken by the principal, the principal shall be liable to pay to any employee employed in the execution of the work ... any compensation under this Chapter which he would have been liable to pay if the employee had been immediately employed by him....

In such instances, the principal is commonly referred to as the "statutory employer." In exchange for the worker's compensation responsibility placed on statutory employers, these principals enjoy tort immunity for work-related injuries suffered by the employees of the principal's contractors. LSA-R.S. 23:1032. Thus, a finding that the work being performed by the injured employee was a part of the principal's trade, business or occupation results in a finding of statutory employer status and tort immunity.

The Louisiana Supreme Court in Thibodaux v. Sun Oil Co., 218 La. 453, 49 So.2d 852 (1950), established a test, known as the "integral relation" test, for determining whether the work performed by an employee was part of the principal's trade, business or occupation. Pursuant to the integral relation test, the principal was granted tort immunity if the injured employee was performing services "in connection with work which was part of the business, trade and occupation of [the principal], or so closely related thereto as to become an integral part thereof." Thibodaux, 49 So.2d at 854.

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Bluebook (online)
636 So. 2d 922, 92 La.App. 1 Cir. 2242, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 766, 1994 WL 86167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/picard-v-zeit-exploration-co-inc-lactapp-1994.