Giorgio v. Alliance Operating Corp.

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Knoll
• Citation: Giorgio v. Alliance Operating Corp., 921 So.2d 58 (La. 2006)
• Decision Date: 19 January 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2005-C-0002.,2005-C-0002.
• Parties: Leon L. GIORGIO, Jr. v. ALLIANCE OPERATING CORPORATION, Gulfstream Resources, Inc., Burlington Resources, et al., Chevron USA, Inc., Superior Oilfield Services, Inc., State of Louisiana Through Its Department of Natural Resources, Lloyds Underwriters at Lloyds, et al. Jacques A. Sanborn v. Alliance Operating Corporation, Gulfstream Resources, Inc., Burlington Resources, et al., Chevron USA, Inc., Superior Oilfield Services, Inc., State of Louisiana, Through Its Department of Natural Resources, Lloyds Underwriters at Lloyds, et al.

921 So.2d 58

Leon L. GIORGIO, Jr. v. ALLIANCE OPERATING CORPORATION, Gulfstream Resources, Inc., Burlington Resources, et al., Chevron USA, Inc., Superior Oilfield Services, Inc., State of Louisiana Through Its Department of Natural Resources, Lloyds Underwriters at Lloyds, et al.

Jacques A. Sanborn v. Alliance Operating Corporation, Gulfstream Resources, Inc., Burlington Resources, et al., Chevron USA, Inc., Superior Oilfield Services, Inc., State of Louisiana, Through Its Department of Natural Resources, Lloyds Underwriters at Lloyds, et al.

No. 2005-C-0002.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

January 19, 2006.

Rehearing Denied March 10, 2006.

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Charles C. Foti, Jr., atty. gen., Gustave A. Manthey, Jr., special asst. atty. gen., William S. Culver, Jr., asst. atty. gen., for Applicant.

Dysart & Tabary, Daniel L. Dysart, Paul A. Tabary, III, Chalmette, Jacques A. Sanborn, Leonce J. Malus, IV, Arabi, David L. Colvin & Associates, David L. Colvin, Gretna, L. Gerome Smith, for Respondent.

KNOLL, Justice.^*

This civil case addresses the legal question of whether the State of Louisiana is liable for an allision¹ that occurred when a fishing boat allided with an unlit, unmarked "orphaned" oilfield production platform in the Breton Sound area of the Gulf of Mexico. The plaintiffs, Leon L. Giorgio and Jacques A. Sanborn, sued the State through its Department of Natural Resources for property damage and injuries the men sustained when their boat allided with the unlit structure, alleging the State's failure to light the platform in question was the proximate cause of the allision. The district court found the State 100% liable for the harm occasioned by the structure. The court of appeal affirmed. We granted this writ to examine the correctness vel non of the lower courts' determination of the State's liability. Giorgio v. Alliance Operating Corp., 05-0002 (La.4/29/05), 901 So.2d 1043. For the following reasons, we find in the absence of either ownership or custody of the structure, the State had no duty to light the structure and, therefore, no liability for the harm occasioned by the unlit structure. We reverse the lower courts' determination of liability, dismissing plaintiffs' claims against the State in their entirety.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 14, 1998, around three o'clock in the afternoon, the JO-LE, a thirty-eight foot Bertram Sport Fisherman,² owned by the 38BLLC,³ left the Chalmette Gulf Outlet Marina and headed on a southerly course for the waters of Breton Sound via the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet [hereinafter "MRGO"]. Abroad the vessel was one of the members of the 38BLLC, Leon Giorgio, his good friend, Jacques Sanborn, and Sanborn's fourteen-year-old son, Brett Sanborn. The group's purpose for the trip was pleasure, and their intended course was to travel down the MRGO, across Breton Sound and into Venice where they were to meet up with Giorgio's partner and the following day "go to Cypress Cove Marina and go to the west side of the river... to go tuna fishing."⁴

As they headed east down the MRGO, Giorgio and Sanborn noted the seas were calm, and because it was still daylight and a full moon was expected, they decided around 5:30 p.m. to deviate from their intended course and continue out into the ship channel to fish the south side of Breton Island around Blocks 40-41 for snapper. The record demonstrates the vessel was well-equipped with radar, autopilot, GPS, VHF radio, compass, depth finder, a hailer, and various sea charts. During the trip Giorgio, the captain of the vessel, had his radar and GPS operational and referenced them "during the course of the evening."⁵

After fishing several locations, i.e., rigs and platforms, without success, the group decided to head toward Venice, working their way back to Breton Island on a course that "basically would go off the southwest end of Breton Island because there are buoys that go into Batiste Collete," the entrance into Venice, Louisiana.⁶ At trial, Giorgio acknowledged he "could have went directly on a more due west course that would have been a little bit shorter, but ... [he] was going to go more on a little northwesterly course to the island, which [he] was more familiar...."⁷ It was Giorgio's intention to work his way toward Venice while keeping open the option to stop at other structures they might see on the way.

The JO-LE was on course toward Breton Island when the vessel crashed into a set of pilings adjacent to a large, unlit⁸ oilfield production platform in Block 52 of Breton Sound. At the time of the accident, Giorgio had a visual fix on the lighted Kerr-McGee tower located on Breton Island and had just adjusted the vessel's radar from short range (1/4 to ½ miles) to long range (24 miles)⁹ to get a fix on his destination, "to pick up the shoreline to where Batiste Collete was, to see if we were in range of that as of yet."¹⁰ The district court found that immediately prior to the allision, the vessel was traveling about half speed, between ten and fifteen miles per hour, as testified to by Giorgio and corroborated by Jacques Sanborn.

As a result of the allision, Giorgio and Sanborn were seriously injured, and the vessel, which was almost impaled on the pilings on the northeast corner of the platform,¹¹ was taking on water and sinking. Giorgio sent a "mayday" signal over his VHF radio to which the Massive Runner, a 152-foot crew boat responded. The injured men were rushed to Venice, where they were transported by ambulance to Meadowcrest Hospital for treatment. The JO-LE ultimately sank and was declared a total loss by the marine surveyor assigned by the insurer of the vessel.

The site of the accident was at a structure put on State Lease 8342, granted to the Gulf Oil Corporation [hereinafter "Gulf Oil"] by the State Mineral Board on October 10, 1979. Gulf Oil received a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana State Department of Conservation to drill three wells and erect a production platform. The wells were drilled in 1981, and the platform was installed in 1982 by Chevron U.S.A., Inc., [hereinafter "Chevron"], Gulf Oil's successor in title to the lease. Effective July 1, 1988, the lease was assigned to Alliance Operating Corporation [hereinafter "Alliance"], which in turn sold the lease to Superior Oil Services, Inc., [hereinafter "Superior"] effective August 1, 1992. As of February 1993, the State Mineral Board considered the lease "expired by its terms"¹² and accordingly authorized the release of the lease on December 8, 1993. The release in favor of the State of Louisiana was executed by Superior on April 28, 1994, and recorded on May 3, 1994.

The release provided that Superior release, relinquish, surrender, and forever quitclaim to the State Mineral Board any and all right, title, and interest whatsoever presently owned by Superior in and to the lands covered by State Lease 8342. On January 20, 1995, the lease was declared "orphaned" by the State of Louisiana pursuant to Act 404 of the 1993 Legislature, the "Louisiana Oilfield Site Restoration Law," La.Rev.Stat. 30:80, et seq. In the present case, the site was orphaned based on paperwork, not on inspection or lack of compliance with any State 29-B Compliance Order to plug and abandoned as the files do not contain any such order issued relative to the orphaned status.

Giorgio and Sanborn filed petitions for damages against several defendants that had at one time owned, operated or were otherwise responsible for the abandoned drilling structure with which the plaintiffs allided the JO-LE.¹³ All the defendants except the State were dismissed as a result of settlement before trial; trial proceeded against the State only.¹⁴ Trial commenced on August 19, 2002, and after three days of testimony and receiving evidence, the district court took this matter under advisement.

On January 28, 2003, the district court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and against the State. Finding the State's responsibility for the platform and for the injuries suffered by the plaintiffs to be established by virtue of the release of the original lease and the declaration of the site as orphaned by the State, the district court, relying on Anderson v. Tenneco Oil Company, 01-0295 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/22/02), 826 So.2d 1143, writ denied, 02-2035 (La.11/1/02), 828 So.2d 585, and Melerine v. State, 00-0162 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/8/00), 773 So.2d 831, writs denied, 01-0382, 01-0480 (La.4/12/01), 789 So.2d 595, 599,¹⁵ held the State 100% liable for the harm occasioned by the structure.

As authority for the application of state law in the present case, the district court relied on "a long-standing and well-defined body of law which allows the use of state law to supplement federal maritime law when not in an area reserved exclusively to the federal body of law."

The district court awarded Sanborn: $100,000 for past physical pain, suffering, and mental anguish; $125,000 for future physical pain, suffering, mental anguish, and permanent disability; $10,414.72 for past medical expenses; $70,000 for future medical expenses; and $125,000 for property damage. The district court awarded Giorgio: $75,000 for past physical pain, suffering, and mental anguish; $100,000 for future physical pain, suffering, mental anguish, and permanent disability; and $3,851.50 for past medical expenses. In addition, the plaintiffs were awarded legal interest from the date of judicial demand until paid for all past damages awarded, and interest from the date of judgment on all future damages awarded, plus all costs of the proceedings.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment. Giorgio v. Alliance Operating Corp., 03-1832 (La. App. 4 Cir. 11/10/04), 886 So.2d 1283. The court of appeal addressed the State's four assignments of error in turn. First, as to district court's failure to...