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Buford v. Cardinal Services12/12/2001
As amended January 17, 2002.
HEATH BUFORD
v.
CARDINAL SERVICES, INC. AND B. T. OPERATING CO.
APPEAL FROM THE SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF IBERIA, NO. 90,901, HONORABLE GERARD B. WATTIGNY, DISTRICT JUDGE
Elton F. Duncan, III, Kelley A. Sevin Duncan & Courington, L.L.C. 322 Lafayette Street New Orleans, LA 70130 Telephone: (504) 524-5566. Counsel For Defendant/appellee: Cardinal Services, Inc. n/k/a Superior Energy Service, L.L.C. Anthony F. Salario, Brian M. Caubarreaux Brian Caubarreaux and Associates 144 West Tunica Drive P. O. Box 129 Marksville, LA 71351 Telephone: (318) 253-0900. Counsel For Plaintiff/appellant: Heath Buford.
Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Billie Colombaro Woodard, and Glenn B. Gremillion, Judges.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Thibodeaux, Judge.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR TRIAL ON THE MERITS.
Heath Buford, plaintiff, sustained a knee injury at an offshore work site in the course of his employment with defendant, Cardinal Services, Inc. (now known as Superior Energy Services, L.L.C.), as a wireline helper on a 150 foot self-elevating lift boat. Mr. Buford filed suit against his employer and B.T. Operating Company. Cardinal Services, Inc. moved for summary judgment, challenging Mr. Buford's seaman status under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. ยง 688. The trial court granted the motion.
Mr. Buford appeals. The sole issue is his seaman status under the Jones Act. We reverse and remand for trial on the merits. For the reasons which follow, there are genuine issues of material fact relative to Mr. Buford's status as a seaman.
I. ISSUE
We shall consider whether the trial court erred in concluding that genuine issues of material fact did not exist and Cardinal Services, Inc. was entitled to judgment as a matter of law regarding Mr. Buford's seaman status under the Jones Act.
II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Cardinal Services, Inc. (now known as Superior Energy Services, L.L.C. and hereinafter referred to as "Cardinal") services oil and gas industry operations in Louisiana, Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico. Wireline operations is one of many services the company provides. When hired by Cardinal in February 1998, Mr. Buford was assigned to the company's wireline department as a wireline helper.
While employed at Cardinal, Mr. Buford worked on five different Cardinal-owned and controlled vessels exclusively, namely, the M/V Cardinal III, the L/B R.E. Johnson, the L/B J.W. Collins, the L/B T.C. Holleman, and the L/B J.A. Holleman. He did not work upon any vessel owned by any company or business other than Cardinal. Mr. Buford's responsibilities to his employer were varied and, as a wireline helper in the service of oil wells, often at the request of the wireline operator. He maintained both the wireline and the down hole equipment. He also cleaned the work area and platform, lubricated, and painted. Some of these tasks were performed on land, some on fixed platforms and some on vessels.
Depending on agreements with and requests from Cardinal's oil company customers, wireline operations were often performed at a number of different job locations owned and operated by those customers. Cardinal's daily operation reports document Mr. Buford's work and his working hours. Cardinal submits that according to these reports and according to Mr. Buford's pre-trial deposition, over 55 percent of Mr. Buford's work was performed either in the Cardinal shop (22
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