Parfait v. Transocean Offshore, Inc.
| Citation | 950 So.2d 8 |
| Decision Date | 05 January 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 2004-CA-1271.,No. 2005-CA-0174.,2004-CA-1271.,2005-CA-0174. |
| Parties | Terrell PARFAIT v. TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE, INC., and Shell Oil Products Co. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US) |
Timothy W. Cerniglia, Sean M. Casey, Colvin Weaver & Cerniglia, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellant, Shell Offshore, Inc.
(Court composed of Judge TERRI F. LOVE, Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge DAVID S. GORBATY, Judge LEON A. CANNIZZARO, JR., Judge ROLAND L. BELSOME).
The defendants, Transocean Offshore USA, Inc. and Transocean Offshore Ventures, Inc. (collectively referred to as "Transocean") and Shell Offshore, Inc. ("Shell"), appeal from a trial court judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff, Terrell Parfait, for damages he sustained in a work-related accident.
On April 23, 1999, Mr. Parfait was injured while working as a floor hand aboard the Transocean Rather ("Rather"), a semi-submersible drilling rig owned and operated by his employer, Transocean. The Rather was under contract with Shell to drill several oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, as part of Shell's deepwater Europa project. At the time of the accident, Mr. Parfait and other crewmembers were working on two elevated platforms running sections of pipe, called the inner string, through a high-pressure wellhead that would later be lowered to the seabed.
The wellhead used on the Rather was a model SS-15, which was designed and manufactured by Dril-Quip, Inc. ("Dril-Quip"). Shell engineers selected Dril-Quip's SS-15 wellhead based on its particular attributes needed for the Europa wells, particularly the ability of the wellhead to combat an underground phenomenon known as "shallow water flow." To deploy the wellhead, it had to be placed in the rotary table, a large circular opening on the floor of the drilling rig. The wellhead was supported in the rotary table by a flat, steel plate, called a wellhead support plate, which was designed and manufactured by Dril-Quip and owned by Shell. With the SS-15 wellhead sitting on the support plate, the top of the wellhead extended about 5 ½ feet above the drill floor. The inner string of pipe was run through the wellhead until enough pipe hung below the wellhead to attach the wellhead and the inner string to the drill string, which was then lowered to the seabed. Each joint of the inner string run through the wellhead was attached to the preceding joint and then tightened with two sets of tongs, which were operated by the floor hands. The tongs consisted of two large wrenches approximately 4 ½ feet long that were suspended 6 ½ and 7 ½ feet above the drill floor by steel cables. The "lead tongs" were placed on the existing joint of pipe, which protruded about a foot or more above the top of the wellhead, while the "backup tongs" were placed on the bottom of the new joint of pipe to be attached and tightened. For optimal control, the floor hands had to grip the tongs somewhere between waist high and shoulder high. In order to do so, they had to stand on elevated work platforms while running the inner string, a process that took three to five hours to complete.
Transocean had fabricated the elevated work platforms that were used on the Rather. They were made of steel and had adjustable legs, allowing the floor hands to stand a maximum of 3 feet, 11 ¼ inches above the drill floor. The surface area of the platforms measured 3 feet wide by 5 feet, 1 inch long and was made of open metal grating with serrated teeth. At the time of the accident, Mr. Parfait and Mark Age, another floor hand, were standing on one elevated platform attempting to latch and tighten the lead tongs onto the drill pipe when Mr. Parfait fell from the platform, landing on the drill floor. As a result of the fall, Mr. Parfait fractured his right wrist and injured both knees. Following the accident, he underwent multiple surgeries for the wrist injury, as well as arthroscopic surgery on each of his knees to repair a torn medial meniscus.
Mr. Parfait filed a suit for damages on August 12, 1999, under 46 U.S.C.App. § 688, commonly referred to as the Jones Act, and general maritime law pursuant to the "saving to suitors" clause in 28 U.S.C. 1333, naming Transocean and Shell as defendants. Referencing the restriction of La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6)1, Mr. Parfait did not request a jury trial at that time. However, on September 5, 2000, he filed a jury request and bond, which the trial court denied as not in accord with La. C.C.P. art. 1733 C2. Subsequently, at a pretrial conference held on May 8, 2001, the trial court signed a jury trial order and set the matter for trial on January 8, 2002. Transocean and Shell filed a joint motion to strike the request for a jury trial and to vacate the jury order. Meanwhile, Mr. Parfait filed a motion to continue the trial, which the trial court granted. He then filed a third supplemental and amended petition, adding Dril-Quip as a defendant, and a second request for a jury trial and jury bond, which the trial court granted. Shell and Transocean again filed a joint motion to strike the request for a jury trial and motion to vacate the jury order.
On July 30, 2002, with leave of court and over the defendants' objections, Mr. Parfait filed a fourth supplemental and amending petition deleting the specific reference to La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6) in the second paragraph of his petition, but still maintaining his action as one under the Jones Act and general maritime law. Shortly thereafter, the trial court denied Shell and Transocean's joint motion to strike the jury request and motion to vacate the jury order.
The case proceeded to trial before the jury on January 20, 2004. At the close of the plaintiff's case, Shell and Dril-Quip moved for directed verdicts. The trial court granted a directed verdict in favor of Dril-Quip, dismissing it from the suit, but denied Shell's motion. Following the trial, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff finding Transocean 75% negligent under the Jones Act and Shell 25% negligent under general maritime law. The jury also found the Rather was not unseaworthy. In accord with the jury's verdict, the trial court rendered a judgment awarding Mr. Parfait damages of $125,035.00 in past lost wages; $300,000.00 in loss of future earning capacity; $5,994.11 in past medical expenses; $250,000.00 in future medical expenses; $20,000.00 in future lost benefits; and $1,000,000.00 in general damages for a total award of $1,701,029.11.3 Transocean and Shell filed a joint motion for a new trial, or alternatively motion for remittitur on the issue of general damages awarded by the jury, and Shell filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV). The trial court denied the post trial motions. Transocean and Shell appealed. Mr. Parfait neither appealed not answered the defendants' appeal.
Transocean and Shell raise the following assignments of error on appeal.
1. The trial court erred in granting Mr. Parfait a jury trial.
2. The jury's finding of Jones Act negligence was not supported by the evidence and conflicts with its finding of no unseaworthiness.
3. The trial court erred by allowing the expert testimony of David Williams and Robert Borison4.
4. The trial court erred in prohibiting the questioning of Mr. Parfait's expert witnesses on never having inspected the vessel.
5. The trial court erred in allowing evidence of other unrelated projects regarding the use of wellhead support plates.
6. The trial court erred in refusing to allow evidence of Mr. Parfait's previous disability, medical treatment, and claim for and award of lost future earning capacity resulting from his prior accident and lawsuit.
7. The jury's award of general damages was unreasonably excessive.
8. The trial court erred in not granting Shell's motion for a directed verdict or motion for the JNOV.
Jury trial
In the first assignment of error, Transocean and Shell contend that the trial court erred in granting Mr. Parfait a jury trial. Specifically, they argue that even though Mr. Parfait initially designated his suit "as an admiralty claim brought pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6)" and subsequently amended his petition to delete the La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6) designation, he was not entitled to a jury trial as his case remained one brought pursuant to the savings to suitors clause of 28 U.S.C. § 1333 and the Jones Act and general maritime law. Thus, the defendants contend that pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6), as in effect at the time of the accident, Mr. Parfait was not entitled to a jury trial. The defendants further contend that Mr. Parfait's amended pleading requesting a jury trial was not timely under La. C.C.P. art. 1733 C.
The right to a trial by jury is recognized in all cases, except as limited by article 1732 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure. La. C.C.P. art. 1731(A). Before its amendment in 1999, La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6) stated that a trial by jury was not available in a suit on an admiralty or general maritime claim under federal law brought in state court under a federal saving to suitors clause, if the plaintiff designated that suit as an admiralty or general maritime claim.5 Article 1732(6) was still in effect when Mr. Parfait's causes of action arose on April 23, 1999.
In Parker v. Rowan Companies, Inc., 599 So.2d 296 (La.1992) (on rehearing), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 871, 113 S.Ct. 203, 121 L.Ed.2d 145 (1992), the Louisiana Supreme Court examined the history of La. C.C.P. art. 1732(6) and concluded its purpose was...
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