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Joseph v. Broussard Rice Mill10/30/2000
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT, PARISH OF CALCASIEU
At issue before us in this personal injury case is whether the lower courts properly applied the law of judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) to the jury's finding of fault, its apportionment of that fault, and award of damages
FACTS
Floyd Joseph (Joseph), an employee of Lake Charles Stevedores (Stevedores), worked as a longshoreman at the Port of Lake Charles (Port). Joseph was injured on November 3, 1994, working as a utility man port-side when numerous 110 pound sacks of rice fell on him in a warehouse. The sacks of rice came from the Broussard Rice Mill (Broussard) in Mermentau, Louisiana.
It is undisputed that Broussard originally filled the polyweave sacks with 110 pounds of rice and stacked them on pallets; there were 36 to 42 sacks of rice on each pallet, six sacks to a layer. To lessen the chance of having rice sacks fall, Broussard utilized a longstanding method of crosstying the rice sacks on each pallet and employed an automatic gluing mechanism to inject glue between the layers of rice sacks.
Broussard shipped the stacked rice sacks on pallets from Mermentau to Lake Charles on flatbed trucks. When the rice left Mermentau it was stacked one pallet high, and, as additional security, the pallets were strapped to the bed of the truck. As the rice arrived at the Port, Stevedores hired warehousemen to off-load the rice pallets from the trucks and stack the pallets three-high in the warehouse.
On the day of the accident, rice sacks had fallen in the warehouse as longshoremen were bringing the rice pallets on forklifts to a waiting cargo ship. Stevedores hired Joseph to pick up the rice sacks that had fallen from the stacked pallets in the warehouse. As Joseph was picking up these fallen sacks, two pallets of rice suddenly collapsed, completely covering him as he stood with his back to the stacked pallets. Curtis Shuff, Jr. (Shuff) was in the warehouse at the same time moving stacked pallets of rice by forklift from the warehouse to a loading area alongside a cargo ship. Shuff came to Joseph's aid, quickly removing the sacks of rice from atop Joseph. As described by Shuff, Joseph was lying face down on the concrete floor; he was pale and, except for moans, was unresponsive. Joseph was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released. Within days of the accident, Joseph felt worse and began treatment with various orthopedic specialists. Subsequently, Joseph underwent two surgeries, one to repair a hernia and another to repair several cervical discs at two levels. Later, it was determined that Joseph's bilevel cervical fusions had failed and he was further diagnosed as having thoracic outlet syndrome which may ultimately require surgical intervention. At the time of trial, Joseph had not returned to work and was suffering lower back pain as well as pain in the right knee.
Joseph filed suit against Broussard. After Broussard was placed into bankruptcy , its insurer, Mutual Service Insurance Co. (MSI), was substituted as a party defendant. MSI specifically alleged Joseph's comparative fault, as well as fault on the part of the Stevedores, an unnamed defendant. Stevedores and its Longshore/Harborworker's insurer, Signal Mutual Indemnity Associated, Ltd. (Signal Mutual), intervened to recover medical and indemnity payments made to and on behalf of Joseph.
A jury returned a verdict finding Joseph, Broussard, and the Stevedores at fault and awarding damages totaling $482,760. It allocated fault 13.6% to Broussard, 72.4% to Stevedores, and 14% to Joseph. In accordance with the allocation of fault, judgment was rendere
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