Stermer v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.

186 So. 3d 319, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 811, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 361, 2016 WL 718521
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 24, 2016
DocketNo. 15-811
StatusPublished

This text of 186 So. 3d 319 (Stermer v. Archer-Daniels-Midland 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
Stermer v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., 186 So. 3d 319, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 811, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 361, 2016 WL 718521 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

CONERY, Judge.

| j Employer appeals the trial court’s award of $309,174 in attorney fees to plaintiffs attorney for work performed to secure payment of maintenance and cure to his client. In answer to appeal, employee claims attorney fees for work done on the trial on remand and on this appeal, requests ninety percent of the court costs on remand be assessed to defendant, asks for additional court costs not awarded by the trial court on remand to be assessed, and prays he be awarded attorney fees for work done on this appeal. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment in its entirety, award $10,000 in attorney fees to employee for work done on appeal, and assess all costs of this appeal to employer.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Adrienne Stermer sued her employer, ARTCO, its insurer, Agrinational Insurance Company, and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, owner of the M/V COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE and ARTCO’s parent company (hereinafter referred to collectively as “ARTCO”), alleging that she whs a seaman injured through the negligence of her employer on October 9, 2007, while working in the service of the WV COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE, and that she was entitled to damages under the Jones Act. Ms. Stermer further alleged that the vessel was unseaworthy, that she was improperly, dismissed, and that her dismissal constituted a retaliatory discharge by ARTCO. She further claimed that ARTCO unreasonably refused to pay her maintenance and cure after she was injured, and that she was thereby entitled to punitive damages and attorney fees. ARTCO rigorously defended the suit and, from the beginning, took the position that the - claim was fraudulent and that Ms. Stermer did not sustain an injury while.in the service of the |2vessel. Following a hotly contested bench .trial, the trial court made the- following awards on the Jones Act claim:

Loss of past employee benefits $ 25,740
Loss of future employee benefits $ 73,922
Loss of past wages $133,054
Loss of future wages $204,231
Past pain and suffering $100,000
Future pain and suffering $100,000

In thorough written reasons for judgment, the trial court also determined that ARTCO’s refusal to pay Ms. Stermer maintenance and cure for two and one-half years following her injury was arbitrary and capricious and awarded her $300,000 in punitive damages and $150,00*0 in attorney fees. It dismissed her claims of unseaworthiness and retaliatory discharge, finding she did not prove those claims.

On appeal, this court affirmed the trial court’s judgment on the Jones Act claim [322]*322and its determination that Ms. Stermer was entitled to $300,000 in punitive, damages for ARTCO’s, arbitrary and capricious failure to pay maintenance and cure. The original panel also affirmed the trial court’s finding, that .Ms. Stermer was entitled to attorney fees for arbitrary and capricious failure to pay maintenance and cure, but reversed the award of $150,000 in attorney fees, as no analysis was made, by the trial court as to how it arrived at the amount awarded. The original panel remanded tíie matter “for the trial court to consider the traditional'factors pertinent to an award of attorney fees arid determine the appropriate amount of attorney fees for work performed by Ms. Stermer’s counsel in the trial court.” The original panel awarded Ms. Stermer $10,000 in attorney fees for work performed by her attorneys 'on the original appeal, plus all costs of that appeal. Stermer v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., 14-147 (La.App. 3 Cir. 6/4/14), 140 So.3d 879. UARTCO filed a writ application with the supreme court which1 was denied. Stermer, 14-1434 (La.10/24/14), 151 So.3d 603. Except Tor the amount of attorney fees owed, that judgment is now final.

On remand, the trial court1 awarded Ms. Stermer $309,174 in’ attorney fees and court costs in the amount of $1,037.15, plus “all court costs assessed against [Ms. Stermer] by the Clerk of Court, subject to a credit for those costs already reimbursed or paid by [ARTCO].” ARTCO appealed the trial court’s award, and Ms. Stermer answered the appeal.

AS§IGMENTS OF ERROR

ARTCO assigns two errors with the trial court’s, judgment:

1. The district court erred in awarding plaintiff [attorney fees] for time spent after - maintenance and cure benefits were commenced by ART-CO.
2. The district court erred in allocating the time spent by plaintiffs counsel on the prosecution of maintenance and cure benefits and other claims.

Ms. Stermer answered the appeal and requests that we modify and amend the trial court’s judgment as follows: '

1. The district court failed to consider, and thus the award of attorney fees below, should be increased to include the time spent by the Plaintiff-Appellee establishing and protecting her right to an attorney’s fee award;
2. The district court failed to consider, and thus the award of costs below, should be increased to include ninety percent (90%) of the costs incurred by the Plaintiff-Appellee in prosecuting this . action in the district court;
|t3. In addition, Plaintiff-Appellee requests that this Honorable Court make an award for [attorney fees] for the work performed by her attorneys on this appeal.

Standard of Review

We review the factual’ conclusions of the trial court’s judgment in this matter pursuant to the manifest error standard of review. Menard v. Lafayette Ins. Co., 09-1869 (La.3/16/10), 31 So.3d 996. In Menard, the supreme court restated the im[323]*323portance of this doctrine explaining: “The manifest error doctrine is not so easily broached. Rarely do we find a reasonable basis does not exist in eases with opposing views.” Id. at 1011. The court noted:

[I]t is not hard to prove a reasonable basis for a finding, which makes the manifest error doctrine so very difficult to breach, and this is precisely the function of the manifest error review.... [I]t should be a rare day finding a manifest error breach when two opposing views are presented to the trier of fact.”

Id.

More recently in Hayes Fund For The Frist United Methodist Church of Welsh, LLC v. Kerr-McGee Rocky Mountain, LLC, 14-2592 (La,12/08/15), — So.3d -, the supreme court reiterated the duty of appellate courts in a manifest error review and stated in pertinent part:'

In all civil cases, the appropriate standard for appellate review of factual determinations is the manifest error-clearly wrong standard, which precludes the setting aside of a trial court’s finding of fact unless that finding is clearly .wrong in light of the record reviewed in its entirety. Cenac v. Public Access Water Rights Ass’n, 02-2660, p. 9 (La.6/27/03), 851 So.2d 1006,1023. Thus, a reviewing court may not merely decide if it would have found the facts of the case differently. Hall v. Folger Coffee Co., OS-1734, p. 9 (La.4/14/04), 874 So.2d 90, 98.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Guevara v. Maritime Overseas Corp.
59 F.3d 1496 (Fifth Circuit, 1994)
Guevara v. Maritime Overseas Corp.
59 F.3d 1496 (Fifth Circuit, 1995)
Calmar Steamship Corp. v. Taylor
303 U.S. 525 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co. of NJ
318 U.S. 724 (Supreme Court, 1943)
Warren v. United States
340 U.S. 523 (Supreme Court, 1951)
Vaughan v. Atkinson
369 U.S. 527 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Hensley v. Eckerhart
461 U.S. 424 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Blum v. Stenson
465 U.S. 886 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend
557 U.S. 404 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Jesse F. McWilliams v. Texaco, Inc.
781 F.2d 514 (Fifth Circuit, 1986)
Leopoldo Morales v. Garijak, Inc.
829 F.2d 1355 (Fifth Circuit, 1987)
Williams v. Kingston Shipping Company, Inc.
925 F.2d 721 (Fourth Circuit, 1991)
Stobart v. State Through DOTD
617 So. 2d 880 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
Menard v. Lafayette Insurance Co.
31 So. 3d 996 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2010)
Kuebel v. Department of Wildlife & Fisheries
14 So. 3d 20 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
Foti v. Holliday
27 So. 3d 813 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2009)
Cenac v. Public Access Water Rights Ass'n
851 So. 2d 1006 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2003)
STATE, DOTD v. Williamson
597 So. 2d 439 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
186 So. 3d 319, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 811, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 361, 2016 WL 718521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stermer-v-archer-daniels-midland-co-lactapp-2016.