Sanders v. Ashland Oil, Inc.

656 So. 2d 643, 1995 WL 271837
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 21, 1995
Docket94 CA 1469
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 656 So. 2d 643 (Sanders v. Ashland Oil, 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
Sanders v. Ashland Oil, Inc., 656 So. 2d 643, 1995 WL 271837 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

656 So.2d 643 (1995)

Charles Ray SANDERS, Bobbie O. Bickford, Individually, and as Administratrix of the Estate of Jesse Wayne Bickford and Tutrix of the Minor Children, Brian Wayne Bickford, and Travis Dan Bickford,
v.
ASHLAND OIL, INC., Asbestos Design Services, Inc., Alvin Fairburn & Associates, Inc., Alvin Fairburn, Sr. Asbestos Consulting Services, Inc., Protech Environmental Services, Inc., Aetna Life & Casualty, Inc., Roy Eschette, Air Monitoring Corporation, Daybrite Lighting, Inc., F.L. Industries, Inc., Regent Lighting, Inc., Abatement Technologies, Inc., Ribando Electrical Supply, IMR Corporation, Home Depot, Inc., State of Louisiana, and Southern University.

No. 94 CA 1469.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 5, 1995.
Opinion Denying Rehearing June 21, 1995.

*645 Patrick Hufft, New Orleans, for plaintiff/second appellant-Charles Ray Sanders.

Aub Ward, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff/second appellant-Bobbie O. Bickford.

Henry Terhoeve, Baton Rouge, and Francis Touchet, Livingston, for defendants/first appellants-Roy Eschette, Protech Environmental Services, Inc., Aetna Life & Cas. Co.

Robert T. Meyers, New Orleans, for defendant/appellee-Agricultural Excess & Surplus Ins. Co.

Before LOTTINGER, C.J., and SHORTESS and CARTER, JJ.

CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment granting a motion for summary judgment.

FACTS

On or about October 3, 1990, Protech Environmental Services, Inc. (Protech) entered into a contract with the State of Louisiana to provide asbestos abatement services during the renovation of Grandison Dormitory on the campus of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On December 8, 1990, while the asbestos abatement services were being provided by two Protech employees, namely Charles Ray Sanders and Jesse *646 Wayne Bickford, a fire began at Grandison dormitory. As a result of the fire, Charles Ray Sanders sustained serious injuries, and Jesse Wayne Bickford was killed.

On December 6, 1991, petitioners[1] filed the instant suit for damages. Named in their petition were numerous defendants, including Protech, Roy Eschette, and Aetna Life & Casualty, Inc. (Aetna), liability insurer of Protech. Petitioners alleged that Eschette was at fault for failing to provide a safe place to work, requiring his employees to work under unsafe conditions, and committing an intentional tort upon Bickford and Sanders by requiring them to work under conditions which he knew were substantially certain to result in injury. Petitioners alleged that Protech was at fault for, among other things, committing an intentional tort upon Bickford and Sanders by requiring them to work under conditions which they knew were substantially certain to result in injury. Thereafter, petitioners amended their petition to name as an additional defendant, Agricultural Excess and Surplus Insurance Company (Agricultural Excess), general liability insurer of Protech. Numerous other pleadings were filed among the various parties, none of which are pertinent to the issues raised in this appeal.

On December 1, 1993, Agricultural Excess filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that its policy did not afford coverage under the allegations of the petition. Attached to Agricultural Excess's motion was a copy of the general liability insurance policy and an affidavit by Roy Eschette. In support of its motion for summary judgment, Agricultural Excess alleged that the allegations of petitioners' petition show that Sanders and Bickford were employees of Protech and that the Agricultural Excess policy specifically excludes coverage for bodily injury to an employee arising out of his employment. Petitioners filed an opposition to the motion for summary judgment, attaching to their opposition the contract between Protech and the State for the work at Southern University. By judgment, dated February 9, 1994, the trial court granted Agricultural Excess's motion for summary judgment and dismissed petitioners' claims against Agricultural Excess as the insurer of Protech and Eschette.

From this adverse judgment, petitioners and defendants, Eschette, Protech, and Aetna appeal, assigning as error the trial court's granting of the motion for summary judgment.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used to avoid a full-scale trial when there is no genuine factual dispute. Ouachita National Bank in Monroe v. Gulf States Land & Development, Inc., 579 So.2d 1115, 1120 (La.App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 587 So.2d 695 (La.1991). The motion should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to 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); Legros v. Norcen Exploration, Inc., 583 So.2d 859, 860 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writs denied, 588 So.2d 101, 109 (La.1991).

A fact is material if its existence is essential to the plaintiff's cause of action under the applicable theory of recovery and without which the plaintiff could not prevail. Material facts are those that potentially insure or preclude recovery, affect the litigant's ultimate success, or determine the outcome of a legal dispute. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d 577, 583 (La.1989).

The burden is upon the mover for summary judgment to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, and only when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that 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). To satisfy this burden, the mover must meet a strict standard by showing that it is quite clear as to what the truth is and *647 excludes any real doubt as to the existence of material fact. Ouachita National Bank in Monroe v. Gulf States Land & Development, Inc., 579 So.2d at 1120. The court must closely scrutinize the papers supporting the position of the mover, while the papers of the party opposing the motion are to be treated indulgently. Ortego v. Ortego, 425 So.2d 1292, 1297 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1982), writ denied, 429 So.2d 147 (La.1983).

Summary judgments are not favored and should be used cautiously and sparingly. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d at 583. In determining whether material facts have in fact been disposed of, any doubt is to be resolved against granting the summary judgment and in favor of trial on the merits. Sanders v. Hercules Sheet Metal, Inc., 385 So.2d 772, 775 (La.1980). This is true even if grave doubt exists as to a party's ability to establish disputed facts at trial. Equipment, Inc. v. Anderson Petroleum, Inc., 471 So.2d 1068, 1070-71 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1985). Where the trial court is presented with a choice of reasonable inferences to be drawn from the subsidiary facts contained in the affidavits, attached exhibits, and depositions, the reasonable inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Jones v. Briley, 593 So.2d 391, 393 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991).

Appellate courts are to review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the district court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v.

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Bluebook (online)
656 So. 2d 643, 1995 WL 271837, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanders-v-ashland-oil-inc-lactapp-1995.