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Temple v. Sherman9/24/2003
Application for rehearing may be filed within the delay allowed by Art. 2166, La. C.C.P.
The plaintiffs in this personal injury suit received injuries in a one-vehicle accident while returning to their home in Monroe from a job in south Louisiana. The accident occurred when the company van, driven by a third employee, hydroplaned off an interstate highway and into a tree. During the three-month work project, the employer had provided the van to the employees who traveled to and from the job site. A jury found one employee, who was guaranteed a forty-hour work week, to have been within the course and scope of his employment and rejected his tort claim. A second employee, who was an hourly wage-earner and not entitled to compensation for the trip, was awarded tort damages for the injuries he received in the accident upon the determination that he was outside the course and scope of his employment. Finding that the Worker's Compensation Act applies to immunize the employee/driver and the employer's insurer from tort liability, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
Facts
On July 26, 2001, Giddis Leon Temple ("Leon") and his son, Steven, were equipment operators for Hartec Corporation, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana general construction company. Edward Sherman worked as a pipe layer for Hartec. The three Hartec employees from the Monroe, Louisiana area formed part of the "Monroe crew" which had been working a job in Mandeville, Louisiana, for approximately three months. Because of the 275-mile distance between the job site and their homes, the Hartec employees remained in Mandeville during the week, generally working four, ten-hour days. For their overnight accommodations, Hartec provided the employees a substantially-furnished apartment. Additionally, for travel to and from their homes and the apartment, Hartec provided the crew a company van to use for the duration of the project.
At no time during the Mandeville project had any of the three employees driven their own vehicles to the job site. Steven, an hourly-wage employee, was not paid for travel time. Leon was guaranteed a forty-hour work week even if the work time in Mandeville was shortened due to bad weather. Hartec maintained the van and paid for fuel and insurance for the vehicle. Only Sherman and Leon were authorized to drive the van and would generally split the driving responsibilities during each trip. In compliance with company policy prohibiting personal use of the van, Leon kept the van parked at his home on the weekends. In the early morning hours of every Monday morning, Leon and Steven would usually pick Sherman up at his home and the three would drive to Mandeville in time for work at 7:00 a.m. Normally, the three would return to the Monroe area after working hours on Thursday evenings unless weather necessitated work on Fridays.
On Thursday morning, July 26, 2001, inclement weather prevented the three men from going to the job site. Work was canceled for the day at approximately 7:00 a.m. After receiving their paychecks, the three men departed for Monroe in the rainy weather. Sherman drove the van, Leon sat in the front passenger seat and Steven sat behind Sherman. During the trip, both Leon and Steven fell asleep as the rain persisted at varying intensity. At approximately 10:00 a.m., the van neared the Brookhaven, Mississippi exit on Interstate 55. Although the rain had then subsided, the vehicle encountered a puddle of water on the highway that caused it to hydroplane off of the roadway into a tree. The impact caused the van door to open, throwing both Steven and Leon outside the van. Both sustained injuries as the result of the accident.
Steven and Leon and his wife, Nel
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