Armstrong v. Farm Equipment Co.
| Decision Date | 01 October 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-3513,83-3513 |
| Citation | 742 F.2d 883 |
| Parties | Doris Bray ARMSTRONG, Individually, as Administratrix of the estate of Larry Armstrong and as tutrix of her minor children, Kenneth Douglas Armstrong and Sharon Ann Armstrong, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. FARM EQUIPMENT COMPANY and the Hartford Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy, Kenneth W. Jacques, Kenneth J. Servay, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Daniel A. Webb, Michael J. Navitsky, New Orleans, La., for Farm equipment co.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before REAVLEY, JOHNSON, and JOLLY, Circuit Judges.
On December 6, 1980, Larry Armstrong, a thirty-five year old resident of Jones, Louisiana, was crushed to death when the tractor he and his farm hands were jump starting leaped into gear and pinned him against his pickup. The decedent's wife, Doris Armstrong, filed this diversity action on her own behalf and on the behalf of the decedent's minor children, Kenneth and Sharon, alleging survival and wrongful death causes of action against Farm Equipment Company, seller of the tractor, Deere & Company manufacturer of the tractor, and their respective insurers. Plaintiff settled with Deere & Company prior to trial but proceeded to a jury verdict against Farm Equipment Company. In response to special interrogatories, the jury found Farm Equipment negligent and assessed its fault at fifty percent and, further, found the decedent and his farm hands negligent and assessed their combined fault at fifty percent. The jury assessed damages at $50,000 for the decedent's survival cause of action, $100,000 to each of the surviving children for their wrongful death causes of action, and $300,000 for the widow's wrongful death recovery, for a total damage award of $550,000. However, over plaintiff's objection, the trial court reduced the survival and wrongful death recoveries by fifty percent due to the decedent's and his farm hands' combined negligence and rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff in an amount totalling $275,000. Plaintiff appeals to this Court alleging that the trial court erred by allowing the jury to impute the decedent's employees' negligence to the decedent and that the trial court erred by reducing the surviving widow's and children's wrongful death recoveries in proportion to the decedent's and farm hands' combined negligence. This Court affirms the district court's judgment.
The Armstrongs own a north Louisiana farm consisting of approximately 375 acres. In addition to the Armstrong's farm, the decedent, Larry Armstrong, leased additional farm land, which brought the total acreage of his farm in 1980 to over 1,000 acres. As part of his farming operations, decedent employed several farm hands, including two brothers, Dennis and L.C. Martin.
Armstrong purchased the used John Deere tractor that caused his death in April 1977 from defendant, Farm Equipment. However, Armstrong did not operate the tractor himself, leaving the day-to-day farming activities to his farm hands. This left Armstrong free to tend to the administrative functions of the farm.
The testimony of L.C. Martin, decedent's employee, indicated that from the time the tractor was delivered to Mr. Armstrong's farm, it would start in gear since the neutral "out-off" switch had been rendered inoperative prior to the tractor's delivery. Although L.C. Martin was aware of this defect, he did not inform Mr. Armstrong since, in his opinion, there was no need to bother Mr. Armstrong as he never operated the tractor. While L.C. Martin was operating the tractor in May or June 1980, an axle broke and damaged the rear gear box and gear shift linkage. Farm Equipment was called to pick up and repair the tractor and, several days later when the tractor was repaired, Farm Equipment redelivered the tractor to the Armstrong farm.
After the repair of the axle linkage, however, the tractor allegedly did not shift properly; it occasionally would jump into gear from the neutral position and was hard to shift. L.C. Martin testified that while the tractor was assigned to him, it jumped into gear on about three occasions. Larry Armstrong, however, was never told by L.C. Martin that the tractor jumped into gear, again due to Mr. Martin's belief that there was no need to tell Mr. Armstrong since he never operated the tractor.
At one time during farm operations, L.C. Martin assigned the John Deere tractor in question to his brother, Dennis Martin. Dennis was the only other person that L.C. Martin told about the tractor's propensity to jump into gear. As did his brother, Dennis Martin experienced the tractor slipping into gear from neutral on at least one occasion. However, Dennis never informed Larry Armstrong regarding this defect, also being of the opinion that there was no need to tell him since the tractor was driven only by himself and his brother.
On the day of the accident, Dennis Martin used the John Deere tractor from about 7:30 a.m. until about 12:30 p.m. During that time period, he had no problems with the tractor. However, when he returned to the tractor after a lunch break, it would not start. Larry Armstrong, who was passing nearby in his pickup truck, saw the disabled tractor and stopped to render assistance. Mr. Armstrong pulled his truck with its front grill facing the front of the rear tire of the tractor in preparation to jump start the tractor. Mr. Armstrong connected the jumper cables to the battery in his truck while Dennis Martin connected the other end of the cables to the tractor's battery. Dennis Martin, at Mr. Armstrong's request, got into the cab of the tractor and made sure that the tractor was in the neutral position; Dennis placed the ignition key in the on position. He then got down from the tractor and stood with Mr. Armstrong between the tractor and the pickup truck. Mr. Armstrong then jump started the tractor while standing by its side. The tractor started, ran for a few seconds, and then jumped into gear. Dennis Martin managed to jump out of the way of the tractor, but Larry Armstrong was crushed between the tractor's rear wheel and the front of his pickup truck. Dennis Martin then jumped into the tractor and stopped it. Mr. Armstrong was rushed to the hospital by Dennis Martin and two passers-by while still conscious, however, he was pronounced dead a short time later.
At trial, over plaintiff's objection, the trial court instructed the jury that the negligence of Armstrong's employees, the Martin brothers, should be imputed to their employer, the decedent, and further required the jury to answer an interrogatory determining the combined amount of the decedent's and the farm hands' negligence. As noted previously, the jury attributed fifty percent of the fault for the accident to Armstrong and his farm hands and fifty percent to Farm Equipment. In accordance with the jury's findings in this regard, the trial court reduced the plaintiff's survival and wrongful death recoveries by fifty percent. This appeal followed.
In its instructions to the jury, the trial court instructed the jurors that any negligence found to have been committed by Armstrong's employees, the Martin brothers, should be imputed to the decedent. 1 Plaintiff-Appellant maintains that the trial court's instruction is inconsistent with Louisiana law and that the decedent should not have been held responsible for his employees' negligence. We disagree.
Numerous cases in Louisiana jurisprudence hold that the negligence of an employee, while acting in the scope of his employment, is imputed to the employer. See, Geeck v. Jahncke Service, Inc., 249 So.2d 241, 243 (La.App. 4th Cir.1971); Leson Chevrolet v. Phoenix Insurance Co., 195 So.2d 444 (La.App. 4th Cir.1967); Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co. v. Texas and Pacific Railroad Co., 145 So.2d 342 (La.App. 4th Cir.1962); and Emmco Insurance Co. v. California Co., 101 So.2d 628 (Orl., La.App.1958). 2 In light of these decisions, we find no error in the trial court's instruction. Indeed, the trial court's instruction clearly states well settled principles of Louisiana jurisprudence and it is equally well settled that this Court will accord great weight to the district court's interpretation of state law when exercising diversity jurisdiction. Halpern v. Lexington Insurance Co., 715 F.2d 191, 192 (5th Cir.1983).
The final and most perplexing issue presented requires this Court to determine whether the district court erred by reducing the wrongful death beneficiaries' recoveries by the amount of the decedent's negligence. While the jurisprudence of Louisiana is not entirely clear on this point, we are persuaded that the district court correctly interpreted Louisiana law and properly reduced the beneficiaries' recoveries in proportion to the decedent's negligence.
In 1928, the Louisiana courts first addressed the issue of whether a beneficiary's wrongful death recovery 3 would be barred under the then existing contributory negligence rule when the decedent's death was caused by the concurrent negligence of the decedent and a third party. See Vitale v. Checker Cab Co., 166 La. 527, 117 So. 579 (1929). 4 While contributory negligence acted as a complete bar to recovery in 1928, the Vitale decision clearly reflects the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision to inquire into the propriety of the decedent's conduct in determining whether the beneficiaries can recover wrongful death damages. Simply put, the supreme court held that the beneficiaries were barred from recovery if the concurrent negligence of the decedent and a third party joined to cause the...
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