Ref-Chem Corp. v. El Paso Products Co.

506 S.W.2d 701, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 1974
DocketNo. 6353
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 506 S.W.2d 701 (Ref-Chem Corp. v. El Paso Products Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ref-Chem Corp. v. El Paso Products Co., 506 S.W.2d 701, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2159 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

OPINION

PRESLAR, Chief Justice.

This case involves an indemnity contract on which summary judgment was granted the indemnitee, El Paso Products Company, against the Ref-Chem Corporation, the indemnitor. We are of the opinion that the summary judgment was improper because a fact question exists as to whether the injured workman was an employee of Appellant, Ref-Chem Corporation, or El Paso Products Company. We will refer to the parties as “Rem-Chem,” Appellant, and the Appellee, El Paso Products Company, will be referred to as “El Paso.”

Ref-Chem, as contractor, and El Paso, as owner, were parties to a contract whereby Ref-Chem was to do certain maintenance work on premises of El Paso. The indemnity agreement is contained in that contract and the pertinent part provides:

“Contractor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Owner, its officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, demands and causes of action asserted by Contractor, its officers, agents, employees, subcontractors, or by any member of the public, and against any and all judgments in respect thereto, on account of bodily injury or death, or on account of property damage arising out of or in connection with the work done hereunder by Contractor, its officers, employees, agents, or subcontractors, howsoever caused, except for such injury, death or property damage to any member of the public caused by the negligence of Owner, its officers, employees or agents without contributory negligence on the part of Contractor, its officers, employees, agents or subcontractors.”

One Jack Bryant, a general employee of Ref-Chem, sued El Paso for personal injuries he sustained while working on the premises of El Paso. El Paso then filed a third-party action against Ref-Chem, seeking recovery under the indemnity provision over and against it for any damages which might be recovered by Bryant. El Paso subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment which was granted by the trial Court. This judgment decreed that in the event that Bryant received any judgment against El Paso, it would be entitled to indemnity over and against Ref-Chem for the amount of such judgment. Thereafter the case proceeded to trial on Bryant’s claim against El Paso, and on the second day of trial it was announced that an [703]*703agreed settlement had been arrived at by which Bryant would be paid the sum of $91,922.00, and a judgment was entered based on the settlement. This final judgment further provided that El Paso was entitled to indemnity over and against Ref-Chem for that sum. It is from this judgment that Ref-Chem has perfected this appeal.

As movant for summary judgment, El Paso had the burden to establish as a matter of law that there was no genuine issue of fact as to one or more of the essential elements of its cause of action. Gibbs v. General Motors Corporation, 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.Sup.1970). As we view the record, El Paso did not meet that burden for the summary judgment proof leaves a fact issue as to whether Bryant was a general employee of Ref-Chem at the time of the accident or a special employee of El Paso at such time.

Bryant’s suit is against El Paso only, and the only negligence alleged is that of El Paso, so that the question arises as to whether the parties by their contract intended to save the indemnitee, El Paso, harmless from liability for its own negligence. The general rule in Texas is that a contract of indemnity will not afford protection to the indemnitee against the consequences of his own negligence unless the contract clearly expresses such an obligation in unequivocal terms. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company v. Commercial Standard Insurance Company, 490 S.W.2d 818 (Tex.Sup.1972) ; K & S Oil Well Service, Inc. v. Cabot Corporation, Inc., 491 S.W.2d 733 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1973, writ ref’d n. r. e.). And see Spence & Howe Construction Company v. Gulf Oil Corporation, 365 S.W.2d 631 (Tex.Sup. 1963); Ohio Oil Company v. Smith, 365 S.W.2d 621 (Tex.Sup.1963).

We construe the contract as clearly providing indemnification for El Paso’s own negligence, but it is equally clear that such coverage is only for claims of Ref-Chem, its agents and employees, or where the claim arises out of the work being done by Ref-Chem. Indemnification is provided El Paso against claims “asserted by Contractor, its officers, agents, employees” or by “any member of the public” for claims “arising out of or in connection with the work done hereunder by Contractor, its officers, employees, agents.” The “except” clause eliminates claims of the general public where only the negligence of El Paso is involved and clarifies the above construction of the indemnity agreement.

The claim asserted in this case is based on the sole negligence of El Paso so that it was necessary for El Paso to establish either that the claim was by an employee of Ref-Chem, or that it arose out of the work being performed by Ref-Chem, in order to bring itself within the terms of the contract. Either was a necessary element of El Paso’s cause of action which it had to establish as a matter of law to be entitled to the summary judgment. Such proof was also made necessary by an affirmative defense pleading of Ref-Chem that the claimant Bryant was El Paso’s own employee under the borrowed servant doctrine. In our view there was some evidence in support of the borrowed servant affirmative defense, so it became El Paso’s burden, as movant, to overcome that defense as a matter of law.

Bryant was employed by Ref-Chem as a helper to a pipe fitter by the name of Bud Raley. As a two-man crew they did repair and maintenance work about the El Paso chemical plant complex and had been doing it for some fourteen months prior to the accident in question. Ordinarily the superintendent of the El Paso operation issued a “work order” for each job to be performed and by the chain of command of El Paso personnel that order came down to Raley and Bryant. Each testified by deposition that they had El Paso supervisors who, said Bryant, “called the shots,” and “we done what they told us to do.” [704]*704On the occasion of the accident they were called on to repair a leaking plastic pipe containing an acid. When Bryant attempted to loosen a union on the pipe, the pipe ruptured and sprayed acid in his face and caused him to fall from the elevated area in which he was working. In addition to his other testimony, claimant Bryant was asked the following question:

“Q And so far as supervision and control that was being exercised of you and at the instant of the accident, this was entirely satisfactory that you were going to do it under the supervision and control and direction of the gentleman in the chain of command with the El Paso Products Company.
A Yes sir.”

The contract between Ref-Chem and El Paso provided:

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Bluebook (online)
506 S.W.2d 701, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ref-chem-corp-v-el-paso-products-co-texapp-1974.