Aguillard v. Lake Charles Stevedores, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 September 1973
• Docket Number: No. 4291,4291
• Citation: 284 So.2d 124
• Parties: Rayford AGUILLARD, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. LAKE CHARLES STEVEDORES, INC., Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 124

284 So.2d 124

Rayford AGUILLARD, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. LAKE CHARLES STEVEDORES, INC., Defendant and Appellant.

No. 4291.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

Sept. 18, 1973.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 2, 1973.

Writ Refused Dec. 19, 1973.

Holt & Woodley, by Meredith T. Holt, Lake Charles, for defendant and appellant.

Raleigh Newman, Lake Charles, for plaintiff and appellee.

Before FRUGE , SAVOY and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

DOMENGEAUX, Judge.

Plaintiff, who was employed by defendant as a crane operator, sustained a disabiling injury resulting from an on-the-job accident which occurred on February 25, 1970. On that date he was engaged in testing the hold of a ship for gases when he slipped and fell some sixteen to twenty feet, crushing his left ankle. The ankle never healed properly and after three unsuccessful surgical procedures it appears that an amputation thereof will probably be necessary.

Defendant continued to pay plaintiff his full wages, $174.00 per week including $70.00 per week in Longshoremen's and Habor Worker's Compensation payments, and afforded him all medical and insurance benefits available to its employees until May 21, 1971. On that date defendant discharged plaintiff due to an economic depression that it was then experiencing, and to the opinion of its officers that plaintiff had failed to demonstrate an attitude of interest in and loyalty to his employer.

Alleging that defendant had no right to discharge him and terminate his benefits plaintiff filed suit against it seeking the return of his weekly pay and employment benefits. Trial was had in the District Court before a jury and a verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff. Judgment was rendered in accordance therewith ordering defendant to pay to plaintiff the sum of $13,520.00 and to furnish him with hospitalization and life insurance policies providing the same benefits as he had while in the employ of defendant, such policies to remain in effect through November 20, 1973. Defendant appealed to this court.

The basis of the dispute revolves around the terms under which plaintiff was employed by defendant. At the time of his employment an oral contract was entered into whereby he was guaranteed forty hours of work per week plus hospitalization and life insurance at the company's expense, and paid vacations. Plaintiff interprets those terms as meaning that he would be paid for forty hours of work each week while unable to work due to a physical infirmity, and under a physician's care, for an unlimited length of time. Defendant, on the other hand, contends that no such guarantee of unlimited sick leave at full pay was ever intended or offered to plaintiff, and that it had the right to terminate his employment at any time that such should be warranted. Also in dispute is the question of whether plaintiff's discharge was warranted, even under defendant's interpretation of the employment contract.

The evidence shows that plaintiff had been hired nearly ten years earlier as a crane operator, by Walter B. Austin, Jr., Vice-President and General Manager of the defendant corporation, and T. E. Lundy, defendant's general superintendent. Besides the operation of cranes, his duties included testing for gases in the holds of ships, welding, and truck driving. Thus if at any given time there was no work available in his primary field of crane operation, plaintiff was expected to work in one of the other areas mentioned to earn his forty hours of weekly pay. Nevertheless it was shown to be the practice of defendant to pay such employees as had been given this forty hour guarantee their full wages, minus the amount paid them under the Longshoremen and Habor Workers Compensation Act, whenever they were absent from work due to injury or illness, until such time as they were able to return to work.

In this connection, four of plaintiff's fellow employees testified that it was their understanding that should they become injured or ill they would be paid their full wages and would retain their other employment benefits for so long as they remained under a physician's care and were unable to return to work. Their testimony further shows that a number of defendant's employees were off work due to such causes and were paid their full salary for several months.

In opposition to the foregoing, defendant presented, besides that of Austin and Lundy, the testimony of James C. Hickman, the head crane operator. He testified that he understood the forty hour per week guarantee to mean that he would be paid for that number of hours each week for as long as he was able to work. He professed to know nothing of any sick leave benefits and did not think that any employee of defendant was entitled to...