 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Beard v. Grey Wolf Drilling Company11/2/2000
WOODARD, J., DISSENTS AND ASSIGNS WRITTEN REASONS.
AFFIRMED.
DECUIR, Judge.
Melissa Beard, individually and on behalf of her two minor children, filed suit against her deceased husband's employer, Grey Wolf Drilling Company (Grey Wolf), and his two supervisors alleging that his employer's intentional act caused his death. Grey Wolf and the other Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting an employer's statutory immunity defense, which the trial court granted. We affirm.
FACTS
On February 3, 1997, Daniel Beard was employed as a floor hand by Grey Wolf on its drilling rig #8. On that date, Mr. Beard, apparently, fell thirty to forty feet to his death from an unknown location on the rig. He was a married twenty-two-year-old with a one-year-old-child and expecting another child.
The rig's drilling floor was located some forty feet above the ground. The rig's air tank was located on the level below the rig's drilling floor. Workmen could not directly access the air tank from the drill floor without descending the stairs to the ground and then climbing up a ladder to the air tank level. Some time prior to the accident, the rig's workmen discovered and regularly used a shortcut to reach the air tank level from the drilling floor. It involved climbing between the handrails located near the top of the stairs and then reaching for the ladder on the substructure. While doing this, the workmen would often balance one foot on a large structural beam near the stairway and the area of the air tank. The shortcut had no protection from the height or a safe means of traverse. After the accident, the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Grey Wolf $9,000.00 and required immediate remediation of the danger from the workers' "shortcut."
On the day in question, Mr. Beard worked on the drill floor. On two occasions, his supervisor sent him to the rig's lower level to operate a valve on its air tank. He accomplished these tasks without incident and each time returned to the drilling floor. The crew's driller, Mr. Lawrence Matthews, again instructed Mr. Beard to operate the valve on the air tank. Mr. Beard departed the drilling floor and never returned. Mr. Matthews sent another worker to find him. Shortly thereafter, the crew member spotted him lying in the area below the drilling floor, dead.
Ms. Melissa Beard, individually and on behalf of her two minor children, filed a wrongful death and survival action against Grey Wolf, its predecessor, Drillers, Inc., and two of the decedent's supervisors, Mr. Joseph Arceneaux and Mr. Matthews. In an attempt to overcome an employer's statutory immunity, pursuant to La.R.S. 23:1032(A), she alleged that her husband's injuries were substantially certain to occur because Grey Wolf was aware of the rig's dangerous condition and that he must have fallen using the dangerous "shortcut." Grey Wolf and the other Defendants moved for summary judgment. Without stating any reasons, the trial court granted it for all. Ms. Beard appeals. We affirm.
LAW
At the outset, we note that appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that governed the trial court's consideration of whether or not summary judgment was appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Sup'rs of La. State Univ., 591 So.2d 342 (La.1991); Soileau v. D & J Tire, Inc., 97-318 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/8/97); 702 So.2d 818, writ denied, 97-2737 (La. 1/16/98); 706 So.2d 979. Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue of material fa
Page 1 2 3 4 Louisiana Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|