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Deshotel v. Guichard Operating Co.12/17/2004
is case are neither employees nor dependents. . . . The Workers' Compensation Act does not address major, non-dependent children of a decedent. The Act, therefore, does not apply. The Act does not mention nor does it exclude "non-dependent" major children who have claims for wrongful death and survival damages.
(Alteration in original).
Before the 1995 amendment to R.S. 23:1032(A)(1)(a), addressed in the majority opinion, this provision stated,
The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee or his dependent on account of an injury , or compensable sickness or disease for which he is entitled to compensation under this Chapter, shall be exclusive of all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representatives, dependents, or relations . . . .
(Emphasis added). The 1995 amendment inserted additional text immediately following "remedies" in the pre-amendment version of the statute, to clarify that claims for punitive or exemplary damages were foreclosed by the availability of the Workers' Compensation remedy.
This insertion of text had the effect of separating the specific reference to "relations" from the "shall be exclusive" language that it had followed, and moving it to a point lower in the paragraph.
However, as discussed in the majority opinion, the legislative history clearly indicates that the 1995 amendment was not intended to affect the rights of the plaintiffs in this case. The amendment simply responded to this court's decision in Billiot v. B.P. Oil Co., 645 So. 2d 604 (La. 1994), which permitted punitive or exemplary damages claims by employees under certain circumstances. Thus, the dissenting judge's suggestion that the statute only applies to claims by employees or dependents, and does not address claims by major, non-dependent children of decedents, is not supported by the post-amendment statutory text. The statute still recites, as it did before the 1995 amendment, that the Workers' Compensation remedy "shall be exclusive of all other rights remedies, and claims for damages" of the listed parties, including "relations."
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