Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co.

713 So. 2d 1208, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 2232, 1998 WL 355034
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1998
Docket97 CA 2514
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 713 So. 2d 1208 (Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co.) 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
Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co., 713 So. 2d 1208, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 2232, 1998 WL 355034 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

713 So.2d 1208 (1998)

James E. PREVOST
v.
JOBBERS OIL TRANSPORT COMPANY.

No. 97 CA 2514.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 29, 1998.

*1209 Scott H. Sledge, Hammond, for Appellee James E. Prevost.

Philip Caire, Baton Rouge, for Appellant Jobbers Oil Transportation Company.

Before FOIL, WHIPPLE and KUHN, JJ.

KUHN, Judge.

This is an appeal from a ruling by the Office of Workers' Compensation ("OWC") ordering defendant-appellant, Jobbers Oil Transportation Company ("JOTCO"), to pay compensation benefits to claimant-appellee, James E. Prevost, and awarding a penalty and an attorney's fee.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In an earlier determination, OWC awarded compensation benefits to claimant against Guarantee Mutual Life Company ("Guarantee") and Aetna Casualty and Surety Company ("Aetna"). All parties appealed the OWC ruling to this court, see Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co., 95-0224 (La.App. 1st Cir. 10/6/95); 665 So.2d 400, writ denied, 96-0440 (La.4/8/96); 671 So.2d 336. After another panel of this court rendered judgment, JOTCO and Guarantee collectively filed an application for a writ with the Louisiana Supreme Court. On April 8, 1996, the writ application was denied.

The initial OWC ruling, issued on November 19, 1994, which was the subject of the earlier appeal, provides in relevant part:

Represented were: ... PETER A. KOPPINGER, attorney for the employer [JOTCO] ... and its worker's compensation insurer [Guarantee].
CONSIDERING the record, all pleadings, the evidence, the stipulations by and between the counsel for parties, and written briefs filed by counsel for the parties:
IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that there be judgment herein in favor of claimant JAMES E. PREVOST and against defendants, [Aetna] and [Guarantee] to wit:
1. Claimant is entitled to Supplemental Earnings Benefits (SEB) from February, 1992 for 520 weeks in the amount of $606.30 per month plus legal interest from date of each installment due from both defendants in solido....

In the appeal of that OWC ruling, this court determined that the OWC hearing officer had erred in finding Aetna liable to claimant for compensation benefits, reversed that portion of the OWC ruling which cast Aetna in judgment, Prevost, 95-0224 at p. 4; 665 So.2d at 403, and concluded that Guarantee was liable to claimant for monthly Supplemental Earnings Benefits ("SEB") in the amount of $1212.60. The October 6, 1995 opinion found merit in Guarantee's contention that the OWC erred in determining claimant was entitled to benefits for 520 weeks, stating:

the hearing officer erred in awarding SEB for 520 weeks because this period is the statutory maximum for which SEB may be recovered; under certain conditions, benefits may be terminated sooner than 520 weeks. Therefore, ... we amend the hearing officer's judgment to award SEB of $1212.60 monthly beginning February 1992, together with legal interest. (Citations omitted.)

Prevost, 95-0224 at p. 5; 665 So.2d at 404. JOTCO and Guarantee were represented by the same legal counsel in the earlier decision *1210 of this court. However, the OWC ruling, and this court's subsequent determination, did not expressly state that JOTCO was liable to claimant.

On July 19, 1996, claimant re-filed the disputed claim form, alleging that the compensation benefits he is entitled to, as specified in the October 6, 1995 opinion of this court, have not been paid. In "Exhibit A," attached to the disputed claim form, claimant averred that JOTCO is responsible for the $1212.60 in monthly SEB this court concluded he was entitled to receive. Additionally, claimant alleged entitlement to a penalty and an attorney's fee from JOTCO for its failure, upon claimant's demand, to tender payment in the full amount.[1]

By joint motion, the parties suggested that the hearing in this subsequent matter involved only legal issues, entered into stipulations, and requested that the matter be submitted on memoranda. The hearing officer signed an order in conformity with the parties' request. On July 15, 1997, OWC issued a ruling, ordering JOTCO to pay benefits in accordance with the court of appeal's judgment; finding JOTCO acted arbitrarily, capriciously and without probable cause in its failure to pay claimant timely; and awarding a penalty of $3,000.00 and an attorney's fee of $5,000.00 against JOTCO. From this OWC ruling, JOTCO appeals raising the following issues:

(1) Whether JOTCO was obligated to pay claimant compensation benefits in the earlier adjudication;
(2) Whether JOTCO is entitled to an offset for social security disability benefits which claimant stipulated he receives; and if so, in what amount;
(3) Whether the hearing officer erred in awarding a penalty and an attorney's fee.[2]

EMPLOYER'S OBLIGATION TO PAY BENEFITS

In Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co., this court focused its analysis on the workers' compensation insurance obligations of the two insurers alleged to have provided coverage for claimants' injuries. Prevost, 95-0224 at pp. 6-11; 665 So.2d at 405-07. Implicit in the earlier opinion of this court is a factual finding that claimant was in the course and scope of his employment with JOTCO at the time of his May 1991 accident and, based on this record, we cannot say that finding is manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.[3]

Claimant initiated this matter in accordance with La. R.S. 23:1310.3, when he refiled the disputed claim form (from the earlier matter) along with "Exhibit A," with OWC, thereby asserting "[a] claim for ... other relief under the Worker's Compensation Act." The relief he presently seeks is a judgment casting his employer liable for compensation benefits. In reliance, he asserts that the implicit finding of the OWC ruling, and the subsequent opinion of this court reviewing that OWC ruling, establishes a prima facie case that he is entitled to the requested relief. We agree.

*1211 La. R.S. 23:1031(A) states in relevant part:

If an employee ... receives personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, his employer shall pay compensation in the amounts, on the conditions, and to the person or persons hereinafter designated. (Emphasis added.)

The liability of a workers' compensation insurer is coextensive with that of the insured employer under the provision of the workers' compensation law requiring every workers' compensation policy to cover the entire liability of the employer. The worker is provided protection, superior to insurance contract rights between the employer and its insurer, and his right to recovery overrides any limitation if the worker is, as a factual matter, entitled to recover. Cline v. Pacific Marine Ins. Co., 619 So.2d 1256, 1260 (La.App. 3d Cir.), writ denied, 625 So.2d 1045 (La.1993).

It is undisputed that claimant is entitled to recover compensation benefits. Thus, it is clear that claimant is entitled to a judgment casting his employer, JOTCO, liable for workers' compensation benefits, see La. R.S. 23:1031(A), and we find no error in the OWC ruling insofar as it determines that JOTCO is liable to claimant for SEB in the monthly amount of $1212.60, as determined in Prevost v. Jobbers Oil Transport Co., 95-0224; 665 So.2d 400.[4]

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY OFFSET

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
713 So. 2d 1208, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 2232, 1998 WL 355034, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prevost-v-jobbers-oil-transport-co-lactapp-1998.