Hesse v. Champ Service Line

• Decision Date: 02 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-1259.,99-1259.
• Citation: 758 So.2d 245
• Parties: Carl Harris HESSE v. CHAMP SERVICE LINE.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

758 So.2d 245

Carl Harris HESSE v. CHAMP SERVICE LINE.

No. 99-1259.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 2, 2000.

Robert C. McCall, Erin M. Alley, Baggett, McCall & Burgess, Lake Charles, LA, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant-Carl Harris Hesse.

L. Paul Foreman, Raggio, Cappel, Chozen & Berniard, Lake Charles, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee-Investors-Ryan.

Joe A. Brame, Brame & McCain, Lake Charles, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee-The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

John R. Walker, Law Offices of Jackson B. Bolinger, Lafayette, LA, Counsel For Defend ant/Appellee-G. K. N. Parts, Inc.

Grayson H. Brown, Law Firm of Grayson H. Brown, Baton Rouge, LA, Counsel for Intervenor/Appellee-The Travelers Insurance Company.

(Court composed of HENRY L. YELVERTON, JIMMIE C. PETERS, MARC T. AMY, Judges.)

PETERS, J.

In this products liability and negligence case filed by Carl Harris Hesse,¹ the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of G.K.N. Parts, Inc. (G.K.N.), the alleged seller of a portable work light that allegedly shocked Mr. Hesse, and dismissed Mr. Hesse's suit. Mr. Hesse appeals that judgment.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

Mr. Hesse alleged in his petition that his injuries occurred on August 18, 1990, while he was working as a mechanic for Goodyear Auto Service Center, a Division of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, at its Ryan Street location in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The petition stated in part:

[I]n inspecting the underside of a vehicle for possible water pump problems, [Mr. Hesse] got underneath a vehicle for a customer and pulled a portable work light from a retractable reel underneath the vehicle, and hung the portable work light on the side of the engine block, away from the water pump. The petitioner then reached up with his right hand and grabbed the water pump and received, suddenly and without warning, a severe, tremendous electrical shock, resulting immediately in severe personal injuries ...

Mr. Hesse named several defendants in his suit, including the alleged manufacturers and/or distributors of the light, among whom G.K.N. was listed. Additionally, the petition alleged, among other things, that the accident was due to the negligence and/or strict liability of the manufacturers and/or distributors in manufacturing and/or distributing a product that was unreasonably dangerous in design; in failing to warn or adequately warn about the dangers of the product and its propensities for electrical shock; and in manufacturing, advertising, marketing, and selling a product with the knowledge that exposure to and use of the product in a mechanical garage, particularly within the zone of eighteen inches above the ground or lower, could cause severe personal injuries.

This suit has a protracted pretrial history, having originally been filed on August 9, 1991. G.K.N. filed the instant motion for summary judgment on April 8, 1999, attaching as an exhibit the affidavit of Tony Buttanshaw, the vice president of G.K.N. In the affidavit, Mr. Buttanshaw basically attested that G.K.N. was not a manufacturer but a distributor; that G.K.N. did not manufacture, modify, or evaluate the portable work light at issue; that after an investigation of the records and personnel of G.K.N., he determined that G.K.N. did not know of any defect in the design, manufacture, or assembly of any such light; that if G.K.N. had received such a portable work light, no one would have opened the shipping carton containing the light or removed the light; and that, to his knowledge, no one damaged or mishandled any portable work light while it was in the possession of G.K.N.

In his memorandum in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, Mr. Hesse conceded that G.K.N. was not a manufacturer of the light such that the Louisiana Products Liability Act (LPLA), La.R.S. 9:2800.51 et seq., did not apply to determine its liability. Rather, Mr. Hesse asserted that he was relying on theories of negligence and/or strict liability against G.K.N. for selling a product that it knew to be dangerous for use in a commercial garage. Mr. Hesse presented no evidence in opposition to the motion for summary judgment but argued at the hearing on the motion that Mr. Buttanshaw's affidavit was not based on personal knowledge in part and argued that the law-of-the-case doctrine prevented revisiting the motion. Specifically, G.K.N. originally filed a motion for summary judgment on March 16, 1993, and a hearing was held on that motion on November 4, 1993. At the hearing on that motion for summary judgment, G.K.N. filed the same affidavit of Mr. Buttanshaw in support of its motion. In a judgment signed on November 12, 1993, the trial court denied the motion, and the third circuit denied G.K.N.'s writ application on July 6, 1994, finding "no error in the trial court's ruling." Likewise, the supreme court denied writs. See Hesse v. Champ Serv. Line, 94-2091 (La.11/11/94); 644 So.2d 393.

At the hearing on the instant motion, the trial court concluded that the law-of-the-case doctrine was inapplicable and that based on the fact that the summary judgment procedure law had changed since G.K.N.'s first motion for summary judgment, the door was opened for rehearing summary judgments, "especially if, they haven't been specifically reviewed by the Supreme Court." Additionally, the trial court found problematic that Mr. Hesse had failed to present evidence in opposition to the affidavit of Mr. Buttanshaw. Thus, in a judgment signed on June 14, 1999, the trial court granted G.K.N's motion for summary judgment and dismissed Mr. Hesse's demands against it. The trial court also designated its judgment as a final judgment, and this appeal by Mr. Hesse followed.

OPINION

On appeal, Mr. Hesse first contends that the denial of G.K.N.'s first motion for summary judgment on the issue is the law of the case such that G.K.N. is precluded from reurging the same matter at this time. The law-of-the-case doctrine concerns (a) the binding force of trial court rulings during later stages of a trial; (b) the conclusive effects of appellate rulings at the trial on remand; and (c) the rule that, ordinarily, an appellate court will not reconsider its own rulings of law on a subsequent appeal in the same case. Barnett v. Jabusch, 94-819 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/1/95); 649 So.2d 1158. The doctrine is applied merely as a discretionary guide. Id. Reasons for application of the doctrine include the avoidance of indefinite relitigation of the same issue, the desirability of consistency of the result in the same litigation, and the efficiency and essential fairness to the litigants of affording a single opportunity for argument and decision of the matter at issue. Id.

La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 was amended, after G.K.N. filed its first motion for summary judgment, by Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 9, § 1, effective May 1, 1996, to provide in part that summary judgment procedure is now favored. Prior jurisprudence had held that the summary judgment was not favored and was to be used only cautiously and sparingly. Hayes v. Autin, 96-287 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/26/96); 685 So.2d 691, writ denied, 97-0281 (La.3/14/97); 690 So.2d 41. In fact, the court was required to strictly scrutinize the pleadings and supporting documents of the mover but to treat indulgently the documents submitted by the opposing party. Id. Moreover, at the time G.K.N. filed its first motion for summary judgment, any doubts were to be resolved against granting the summary judgment and in favor of a trial on the merits. See id. The amendment to La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 legislatively overruled the jurisprudential presumption against granting the summary judgment and in effect leveled the playing field between the...