Whiting v. Aadvance Insulation Services

738 So. 2d 685, 1999 WL 346226
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 1, 1999
DocketNo. 98-CA-1238
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 738 So. 2d 685 (Whiting v. Aadvance Insulation Services) 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
Whiting v. Aadvance Insulation Services, 738 So. 2d 685, 1999 WL 346226 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

CHEHARDY, Judge.

Aadvance [sic] Insulation Services appeals a determination by the Office of Worker’s Compensation that Harry Whiting, Jr. is entitled to worker’s compensation benefits for temporary total disability from December 7, 1996 through July 31, 1997. The issue on appeal concerns the presumption of intoxication. We affirm the OWC judge’s determination that plaintiff is entitled to the benefits.

The parties stipulated that Whiting was employed by Aadvance, that he was injured in the course and scope of his employment on December 7, 1996, that his injury was a closed fracture of the right proximal humerus, and that the fracture resulted in open reduction internal fixation surgery on December 8, 1996. They also stipulated to the medical treatment administered, to the amounts of the medical expenses, to the amount of Whiting’s average weekly wage, and to the amount of benefits payable if benefits were found warranted.

However, Aadvance contested plaintiffs right to recover benefits, raising the intoxication defense. The basis for the defense was that a urine screen performed while plaintiff was in the hospital emergency room following the accident indicated a positive result for cocaine.

laUnder La. R.S. 23:1081(l)(b), an employee is not entitled to worker’s compensation benefits for an injury which is caused by his intoxication at the time of the injury. There is a presumption that the employee was intoxicated if there is evidence at the time of the accident of either on- or off-the-job use of a non-prescribed controlled substance. La. R.S. 23:1081(5).

The worker’s compensation judge found that defendant had “failed to establish the requisites for [the] intoxication defense or that intoxication had any connexity to the accident.” The judge also found that defendant had “failed to conform to the drug testing scientific and technical requirements required by the statute.”

On appeal defendant asserts the worker’s compensation judge was clearly wrong in finding that the defendant did not meet its burden of proving the intoxication defense, when the statute establishes a presumption of intoxication and causation once the defendant establishes the use of cocaine by the plaintiff. Further, defendant argues, the plaintiff did not rebut the presumption established in favor of the employer.

In response plaintiff argues that the court applied the appropriate standard of law in determining that there was no evidence of drug use, because the hospital records were not conclusive as to the identity of the urine sample. Further, he asserts, even if the trial judge used the incorrect standard of law and the presumption of intoxication applies, the trial judge was correct in awarding benefits to plaintiff because the evidence at trial rebutted that presumption.

It is uncontested that Whiting was injured by electrical shock while installing insulation under a house. The testimony was as follows:

Kim Jackson was acting foreman and supervisor for the Aadvance Insulation crew on the day of the accident. He had worked with Harry Whiting in the past, considered him a good worker, and had never seen him use alcohol or drugs on the job. He had never known him to be under [687]*687the influence of alcohol while at work. On that morning he picked up Harry from his house between eight and nine o’clock and dropped him off at [¿the job site. He said Harry was “as usual, calm,” and he observed nothing out of the ordinary about him. He observed nothing that would have kept Harry from performing his work. He would not have allowed him to work if he had seen anything, but would have informed the manager. He did not work directly with Harry that day, but simply dropped him off at the job site.

Joel Cooper, who had worked for Aad-vanee for four years, was on the job with Harry Whiting that day. He had worked with Whiting before, considered him a good worker, and had never had any problems with him. He had never known him to work under the influence of alcohol or drugs. On the day of the accident Harry performed his duties in the usual manner. They were working on opposite sides of the house.

Cooper said the job involved going under the house, putting the insulation material under the floor between the rafters and putting “tiger claws” or rods under it. He noted there are often all kinds of wires-“phone wires, electric wires, alarm wires”-under the rafters. The workers have to place the insulation material between the wire and the flooring. They push it up to the floor, then put up the “tiger claws” to keep the material from falling out. Their hands touch everything, including the wiring.

Cooper said they had been working less than 10 minutes before the accident happened. Whiting had probably installed only a few of pieces of insulation. He called Cooper, who ran to him and got under the house as fast as he could to get to Whiting’s section. Waiting was underneath the fence, with his leg hitting the fence and his hand on a wire.

[I]t was hitting right here and he was shaking. He didn’t call my name so I ran under there and I grabbed his boots, and I kind of shoved with all my might, you know, and pushed the boots, pushed them off the wire. He was unconscious and I slapped him. I slapped him a couple of times to regain his stamina. He came back to, and I pulled him out and then I called the home owner and they called the paramedics.

Cooper testified he would have reported it to his superiors if he thought a coworker was under the influence of drugs or alcohol on the job. It was his policy as a | ¡foreman. Whiting seemed normal to him. He admitted he had no knowledge of Whiting’s personal life and only knew what he saw of him that morning when he got to the job. He denied knowing that Whiting had cocaine in his system. Cooper stated he would not touch an uninsulated wire because he was aware he could get shocked.

Cooper testified on redirect examination that the job they were on that day was a difficult one because there was a lot of wire hanging under the house, it was dark, and there were a lot of ducts. In addition, he said, “They had fences under there, fences that aren’t supposed to be under a house.”

Dr. Francis Avery Ragan, Jr. testified as an expert in the field of toxicology. He is the director of the clinical pharmacology toxicology laboratory at Charity Hospital, which now encompasses the whole of the Medical Center of Louisiana. He also is the director of the toxicology lab of the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office and a consultant toxicologist with the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office. He testified his lab at the Medical Center is not certified as a forensic laboratory and the tests performed there are for medical purposes only.

Dr. Ragan admitted the medical records indicated that tests were ordered on patient number 96970173, named “Unknown Dundee” on the record. The diagnosis was listed as electrocution. A urine sample was taken as is routine in trauma cases. The result of the testing on that [688]*688urine was positive for guaifenesin, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which are common ingredients in cough syrup; urine alcohol; and cocaine.

The cocaine findings consisted of a metabolite of cocaine as well as unmetabol-ized “parent” cocaine in the urine. Dr. Ragan stated the presence of the parent cocaine indicated it probably would have ingested within six hours prior to admission to the emergency room.

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Bluebook (online)
738 So. 2d 685, 1999 WL 346226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whiting-v-aadvance-insulation-services-lactapp-1999.