Polozola v. Garlock, Inc.

376 So. 2d 1009, 1979 La. App. LEXIS 3084
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 8, 1979
Docket12772
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 376 So. 2d 1009 (Polozola v. Garlock, 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
Polozola v. Garlock, Inc., 376 So. 2d 1009, 1979 La. App. LEXIS 3084 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

376 So.2d 1009 (1979)

Joseph POLOZOLA
v.
GARLOCK, INC., et al.

No. 12772.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

October 8, 1979.
Rehearing Denied November 29, 1979.

*1010 H. Alva Brumfield, III, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee, Joseph Polozola.

Boris F. Navratil, Baton Rouge, for defendants and third-party plaintiffs-appellees, Jon Kiggans, David F. Schneblen, Jr., Bill H. Garlington and Assoc. Indem. Corp.

Gerald L. Walter, Jr., Baton Rouge, for third-party defendants-appellants, H. E. Wiese, Inc. and Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co.

John W. Swanner, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant, National Maintenance Co.

Before COVINGTON, LOTTINGER and COLE, JJ.

COVINGTON, Judge.

This is an appeal by third party defendants, National Maintenance Corporation and H. E. Wiese, Inc., and Wiese's insurer, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, from a judgment against them in favor of third party plaintiffs, Jon (John) Kiggans, David Schneblen, Bill Garlington, and their insurer, Associated Indemnity Corporation, granting indemnification under the maintenance contracts between Dow Chemical Corporation and National Maintenance and Wiese.

The parties to this litigation have agreed to certain stipulations of fact. As explained in the stipulations, the plaintiff, Joseph Polozola, sustained an on-the-job injury at the plant of Dow Chemical Company in Plaquemine, Louisiana, on August 20, 1971, when he was struck in the face by a jet of liquid propylene oxide which shot out from a valve flange on a pipeline on which he was working, causing him to lose one eye, suffer impairment of vision to the other, and also deforming facial injuries. Polozola was a pipefitter, an hourly employee carried on the Wiese payroll, and was, at the time of the injury, working in the area of Dow's facility generally assigned to National Maintenance. Polozola's direct supervisor at that time was John R. Thibodaux, Jr., a pipefitter foreman who was also carried on the Wiese payroll. Polozola was performing the particular task at the direction of Bill Garlington, an employee of Dow. It was stipulated that the accident occurred due to the failure of the Dow employees, Garlington, Kiggans and Schneblen, to engineer the modification in the pipeline with the proper safety pressure release mechanism and that this negligence on their part was a proximate cause of the injuries to the plaintiff.

*1011 Plaintiff brought suit against Garlock, Inc., manufacturer of the valve, National Maintenance Corporation, Cecil Voth, a supervisor of National Maintenance, Jon Kiggans, David Schneblen, and Bill Garlington, Dow employees, alleging that their negligence caused his injury. The Dow employees brought third party demands seeking indemnification from National Maintenance, Wiese and Wiese's insurer.

Prior to the trial of his claim, Polozola entered into a settlement with the Dow employees and their liability insurer. Polozola's suit was dismissed and all rights were reserved to the Dow employees to pursue their indemnity action against the two maintenance contractors.

At the time of the accident, there were two maintenance contracts for the performance of maintenance work on the premises of Dow: one between Dow and National Maintenance, and the other between Dow and Wiese. The Dow facility was divided into two areas for purposes of maintenance, with one area generally assigned to National Maintenance and the other to Wiese. The accident which caused the plaintiff's injury occurred in the cellulose block located in the National Maintenance area.

In addition, it was stipulated that certain craft workers were hired by only one of the two maintenance contractors, e. g., all carpenters were hired by National Maintenance and all pipefitters, such as Polozola, were hired by Wiese. If a pipefitter was needed in the National Maintenance area, one would be supplied by Wiese, and if a carpenter was needed by Wiese, one would be supplied by National Maintenance. Even if a Wiese or National Maintenance employee was working in an area assigned to the other maintenance contractor, the employee remained on the payroll of his contractor for all purposes and that contractor would bill Dow for those services regardless of the area in which the employee actually worked. Concerning the accident giving rise to the suit, it was stipulated that Polozola was carried on the Wiese payroll and Wiese billed Dow for the work done by Polozola and derived the profit from that work.

The third party demand was submitted to Judge McGehee, Division I, Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the written stipulation and certain exhibits. On September 28, 1978, Judge McGehee rendered written reasons for judgment, finding that under their indemnity agreements, both National Maintenance and Wiese were solidarily liable to the Dow employees and their insurer. Thereafter, Judge McGehee resigned (retired) from office and a formal judgment was rendered and signed on January 26, 1979, by Judge Brown, who had succeeded Judge McGehee in office as Judge of Division I of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court. Appeals from the judgment were taken by National Maintenance and Wiese, as mentioned above.

The appellants raise the technical objection that the judgment was signed by the successor judge to the trial judge rather than by the trial judge, so that the judgment appealed from is invalid. The judgment in the record in the instant case shows that Judge Brown, successor in office to Judge McGehee, read, rendered and signed the judgment. The judgment states that the successor judge, "having considered the pleadings, the evidence submitted in the form of stipulations agreed upon by the parties, the arguments and briefs filed on behalf of the litigants and considering the law and the evidence to be in favor thereof, for reasons assigned in the written opinion handed down on September 28, 1978, rendered judgment as follows . . .". We thus find that Judge Brown, successor in office to Judge McGehee, complied with the requisites of the applicable statute, LSA-R.S. 13:4209; and, therefore, we hold that the judgment is valid. See also LSA-C.C.P. art. 1911. The instant case is clearly distinguishable from Ledoux v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, 337 So.2d 906 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1976), where a judge of one division, not a successor in office, signed a judgment in a case which had actually been decided by a judge of another division of court. LSA-R.S. *1012 13:4209 is not applicable to that situation, as the Ledoux Court properly held, but the statute does apply to the situation where a judge resigns and there is a successor judge, as in the instant case.

The next issue before the Court is whether or not Polozola remained the employee of Wiese or became a "borrowed employee" of National Maintenance. The trial court considered that Polozola remained an employee of Wiese and did not become a "borrowed employee" of National Maintenance because (1) Polozola remained on the Wiese payroll; (2) Wiese made all necessary deductions and payments for income taxes and social security; (3) Wiese's remuneration under its maintenance agreement with Dow was based in part upon Polozola's salary; and (4) only Wiese could terminate Polozola's employment. The trial court based its decision upon the following factors:

First, his general employer (Wiese) bore the burden of showing that Polozola had in fact been "borrowed" by National Maintenance, and Wiese had failed to discharge that burden. Nichols Construction Corporation v. Spell,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
376 So. 2d 1009, 1979 La. App. LEXIS 3084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/polozola-v-garlock-inc-lactapp-1979.