Trahan v. BP America Production Co.

209 So. 3d 166, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 267, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2224
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 7, 2016
Docket16-267
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 209 So. 3d 166 (Trahan v. BP America Production 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
Trahan v. BP America Production Co., 209 So. 3d 166, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 267, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2224 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

KEATY, Judge.

PIaintiffs/landowners in this legacy litigation 1 appeal a judgment granting a motion for summary judgment based on prescription filed by defendant, BP America Production Company (BP), and dismissing [169]*169their claims against it. Finding that numerous genuine issues of material fact remain, we reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

According to a Petition for Damages filed on March 3, 2011, Plaintiffs own property in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, (hereinafter referred to as “the property”), which had sustained both surface and subsurface contamination as a result of the historical oil and gas exploration and production activities of four named defendants, including BP, or their predecessors in interest. Plaintiffs sought remediation and other damages based on causes of action sounding in tort and in breach of contract and/or the Mineral Code.

Several months before a jury trial that was scheduled to take place in the fall of 2015, BP filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to have Plaintiffs’ claims against it dismissed on the basis of prescription. Plaintiffs opposed the motion, asserting that they lacked actual or constructive knowledge of their causes of action until less than a year before they filed suit. Following a hearing, the trial court issued written reasons for judgment, and later a Final Judgment, granting |2BP’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims against it, and designating the judgment as final and appealable under La.Code Civ.P. Art. 1915(A). Plaintiffs timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

Law

Summary judgment “shall be rendered ... if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admission, together with the affidavits, if any, admitted for purpose of the motion for summary judgment, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” La.Code Civ.P. Art. 966(B)(2).2 “A genuine issue of material fact is one as to which reasonable persons could disagree; if reasonable persons could reach only one conclusion, there is no need for trial on that issue and summary judgment is appropriate.” Smitko v. Gulf S. Shrimp, Inc., 11-2566, p. 7 (La. 7/2/12), 94 So.3d 750, 755.

As noted in La.Code Civ.P. Art. 966(A)(2), “[t]he summary judgment procedure is designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action .... The procedure is favored and shall be construed to accomplish these ends.” Nevertheless:

[t]he burden of proof remains with the movant. However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial on the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the mov-ant’s burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense, but rather to point out to the court that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails to produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to satisfy his [sevidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact.

La.Code Civ.P. Art. 966(C)(2).

The Louisiana Supreme Court has held that “[s]ummary judgment is seldom ap[170]*170propriate for determinations based on subjective facts, such as motive, intent, good faith, knowledge and malice.” Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hosp., Inc., 93-2512, p. 28 (La. 7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730, 751. In Jagneaux v. Frohn, 11-461, p. 6 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/5/11), 74 So.3d 309, 313 (quoting Johnson v. Gov’t Emps. Ins. Co., 05-476, pp. 5-6 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/2/05), 916 So.2d 451, 454), upon appellate review of a trial court’s grant of summary judgment, this court held that “it is not the function of the trial court to determine or inquire into the merits of issues raised, and the trial court may not weigh the conflicting evidence on a material fact. If evidence presented is subject to conflicting interpretations, summary judgment is not proper.”

“Although typically asserted through the procedural vehicle of the peremptory exception, the defense of prescription may also be raised by motion for summary judgment.” Hogg v. Chevron USA, Inc., 09-2632, 09-2635, p. 6 (La. 7/6/10), 45 So.3d 991, 997. “When prescription is raised by motion for summary judgment, review is de novo, using the same criteria used by the district court in determining whether summary judgment is appropriate.” Id. In Labbe Service Garage, Inc. v. LBM Distributors, Inc., 94-1043, pp. 10-11 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/1/95), 650 So.2d 824, 829 (citation omitted), this court noted:

[T]he filing of a motion for summary judgment based on the plea of prescription practically subjects the movers to a higher burden of proof than if the movers had filed only the peremptory exception of prescription. The burden of proof on the movers for summary judgment ... is particularly exacting in that they are required to prove, based solely on documentary evidence and without the benefit of | ¿testimony at a hearing, that there is no genuine material factual issue in dispute regarding the day upon which plaintiff acquired or should have acquired knowledge of the damage. On the other hand, pleading prescription alone subjects the exceptor to proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the plaintiffs claim has prescribed. Additionally, if on the face of the petition it appears that prescription has run, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to prove an interruption or suspension of the prescriptive period. At a hearing on the exception of prescription, the parties are allowed to call witnesses to testify and the factfinder is allowed to weigh credibility. On summary judgment, this is prohibited.

See also, Hogg, 45 So.3d 991. “Damage is sustained, within the meaning of prescription, only when it has manifested itself with sufficient certainty to support the accrual of a cause of action. Cole v. Celotex Corporation, 620 So.2d 1154 (La.1993). The damages suffered must at least be actual and appreciable in quality.” Labbe, 650 So.2d at 829.

In this case, Plaintiffs’ claims that derive from contracts or mineral leases fall under the ten-year liberative prescriptive period applicable to personal actions found in La. Civ.Code Art. 3499. Plaintiffs’ tori claims are governed by La.Civ.Code Art. 3493, which provides that “when damage is caused to immovable property, the one year prescription commences to run from the day the owner of the immovable acquired, or should have acquired, knowledge of the damage.”

“[T]he ultimate issue in determining whether a plaintiff had constructive knowledge sufficient to commence a prescriptive period is the reasonableness of the plaintiffs action or inaction in light of his education, intelligence, and the nature of the defendant’s conduct.” Marin, 48 So.3d [171]*171at 246. In Hogg, 45 So.3d at 997-98, the supreme court noted:

Constructive knowledge has been defined by our courts as whatever notice is enough to excite attention and put the injured party on guard or call for inquiry. Campo v. Correa, 01-2707, p. 12 (La.6/21/02), 828 So.2d 502, 510-511.

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209 So. 3d 166, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 267, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trahan-v-bp-america-production-co-lactapp-2016.