Ross v. Conoco, Inc.

• Decision Date: 15 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2002-C-0299.,2002-C-0299.
• Citation: 828 So.2d 546
• Parties: Daniel ROSS, et al. v. CONOCO, INC., et al. Clarence Landon, et ux. v. Conoco, Inc., et al.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

828 So.2d 546

Daniel ROSS, et al. v. CONOCO, INC., et al.

Clarence Landon, et ux. v. Conoco, Inc., et al.

No. 2002-C-0299.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 15, 2002.

Charles N. Harper, Kenneth R. Spears, Michael K. Powell, Swift, Spears & Harper; James B. Doyle, Richard J. Lorenz, Woodley, Williams, Boudreau, Norman, Brown & Doyle; David L. Hoskins, Arthur D. Garrett, III, Michael Hochman, Douglas Behr, Kelly & Heckman; Stephen C. Carleton, Joseph R. Ballard, Erny & Garcia; Celeste R. Coco-Ewing, Stone, Pigman, Walther, Wittman & Hutchinson, Lake Charles; Robert E. Caraway, III, Plauche, Maselli, Landry & Parkerson, New Orleans, Counsel for Applicant.

William B. Baggett, William B. Baggett, Jr., Baggett, McCall, Burgess & Watson; Wells T. Watson, Lake Charles, Lawrence E. Abbott, New Orleans, Sarah E. Iiams, Deborah D. Kuchler; Abbott, Simses, Album, Knister & Kuchler; Andrew R. Johnson, IV, Plauche, Smith & Nieset, Lake Charles; Amanda Leigh Cheek Bradley, New Orleans, Milling, Benson & Woodward, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Respondent.

Tyson B. Shofstahl, New Orleans, Counsel for American Chemistry Council f/k/a Chemical Manufacturers Association (Amicus Curiae).

James A. Babst, New Orleans, Counsel for Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (Amicus Curiae).

CALOGERO, Chief Justice.

Former Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315.3 granted injured plaintiffs the right to seek punitive damages against parties who wantonly or recklessly disregard public safety in the storage, handling, or transportation of hazardous or toxic substances. We granted defendants' writ application to consider whether parties who have had no physical possession of or control over a hazardous or toxic substance can nonetheless be held responsible for punitive damages based on the acts of alleged co-conspirators.

Even assuming plaintiffs in this case can successfully prove that the defendant relators engaged in a conspiracy to harm the injured workers by misrepresenting the harmful effects of vinyl chloride, summary judgment in favor of defendants on the issue of punitive damages is appropriate. Although plaintiffs remain free to seek compensatory damages against defendant relators, alleged conspirators, we hold that only parties directly engaged in the storage, handling, or transportation of a hazardous substance, who actually possess or control that substance prior to the plaintiff's injury, may be liable for punitive damages under former Article 2315.3.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In these consolidated chemical exposure cases, plaintiffs are the survivors of Mr. Daniel Ross and Mr. Clarence Landon, each of whom worked at chemical facilities in Calcasieu Parish owned by Conoco Chemical, Inc., and later by Vista Chemical Co. Ross was employed from 1965 to 1990, and Landon from 1950 to 1987. Plaintiffs allege that Ross and Landon suffered occupational exposures to various toxic carcinogenic chemicals, including vinyl chloride. As a result of these exposures, the workers contracted the diseases that claimed their lives.¹

Plaintiffs filed suit against the workers' employers, Conoco and Vista (hereinafter "employer defendants") and thirty-four "non-employer" defendants, generally alleging that these parties conspired among themselves, and with and through their trade associations, to conceal from the government and general public the nature and extent of the hazards posed by vinyl chloride.² Specifically, both plaintiffs in their respective lawsuits contend that the employer and non-employer defendants conspired to commit the intentional tort of battery by overexposing Ross and Landon to vinyl chloride without their knowing consent. Plaintiffs thereafter settled with the employer defendants and a number of the non-employer defendants. The only non-employer defendants who have not settled and who remain in the lawsuit are: The Society of Plastics Industry, Inc.; Tenneco Oil Co. and Tenneco, Inc.; Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. ("3M"); The BF Goodrich Co.; and Chevron U.S.A., Inc., as successor to Gulf Oil Corp.

In addition to compensatory damages, plaintiffs seek punitive damages against these remaining non-employer defendants under former La. Civil Code Article 2315.3,³ which had provided for an award of punitive damages against a defendant if a plaintiff can prove injury "caused by the defendant's wanton or reckless disregard for public safety in the storage, handling, or transportation of hazardous or toxic substances." Plaintiffs allege that, although the non-employer defendants did not themselves physically possess the hazardous vinyl chloride that harmed Ross and Landon, they can, nonetheless, be held liable for punitive damages based on the actual physical handling by their co-conspirators, the employer defendants. Once a conspiracy is successfully proved, the act of one co-conspirator is deemed to be the act of all co-conspirators, they contend.

Alternatively, plaintiffs submit that the individual acts of the non-employer defendants, including misrepresentation of the effects of vinyl chloride and failure to warn, amount to "storage, handling, or transportation" under the meaning of repealed Article 2315.3. In other words, plaintiffs allege in their alternative argument that these non-employer defendants are subject to being cast for punitive damages in their own right, not based on the acts of the employer defendants.

The non-employer defendants moved for partial summary judgment in the trial court, seeking to dismiss plaintiffs' claims for punitive damages. These defendants, asserting the established rule that strict construction must be given to punitive statutes, argued that former Article 2315.3 cannot be interpreted to include parties who never physically stored, handled, or transported a hazardous or toxic substance. They argue that a party must have control or possession of the substance to come within the ambit of former Article 2315.3. They cite Dumas v. Angus Chem. Co., 31-398,4 p. 8 (La.App.2d Cir.12/9/98), 728 So.2d 434, 438, writ denied, 99-0397 (La.4/9/99), 740 So.2d 631, and In re New Orleans Train Car Leakage Fire Litig., 95-2710, p. 9 (La.App. 4th Cir.3/20/96), 671 So.2d 540, 547, writ denied, 96-0972, 96-0984, 96-0978, 96-0977, 96-1287, 96-1311 (La.6/28/96), 675 So.2d 1120, 1121. The trial judge agreed with the non-employer defendants and granted their motion for summary judgment, reasoning that the court was "not at liberty to enlarge upon the law." The Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment and found that punitive damages may be assessed against the non-employer defendants for their individual involvement in events "integrally related to" the storage, handling, or transportation of hazardous or toxic substances in violation of former Article 2315.3. Ross v. Conoco, XXXX-XXXX, p. 3-4 (La.App. 3d Cir.12/26/01), 805 So.2d 352, 357. The court of appeal began by noting that when a civil conspiracy is alleged and proven, the injured party may recover against all participants in solido, and not merely against those who physically committed the injury. Id. (citing Rush v. Town of Farmerville, 156 La. 857, 101 So. 243 (1924)).

The court of appeal reasoned that, although a court cannot treat conspirators as one when assessing monetary liability for the harm occasioned by a violation of former Article 2315.3, a court can assess punitive damages against each conspirator based on individual culpability. Id. at 16, 805 So.2d at 366. The court then cited New Orleans Train Car for the proposition that a defendant involved in the "series of events related" to the handling, storage, or transportation of a hazardous substance can be liable for punitive damages if he performs his duties in a wanton or reckless manner. Id. The court found that it is this "series of events related" to the handling, storage, and transportation of vinyl chloride that potentially subjects the non-employer defendants to liability under former Article 2315.3. Accordingly, the court of appeal reversed the action of the trial court and found that the non-employer defendants acted in concert with the employer defendants and others to influence deliberately the manner in which vinyl chloride was handled, stored, and transported.

We granted the writ application to determine whether the court of appeal erred when it reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the non-employer defendants. Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the district court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors, 591 So.2d 342 (La. 1992). A court must grant a motion for summary judgment "if the depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 966(B). The summary judgment procedure is favored under our law. Id.

For the reasons set forth below, we find plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of showing a genuine issue of material fact to defeat summary judgment by pointing to conduct of the non-employer defendants that is sufficient to invoke liability for punitive damages under former Article 2315.3. The non-employer defendants are, therefore, entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

From its passage in 1984 until its repeal in 1996, Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315.3 granted the right to seek punitive damages to any person injured by a defendant's wanton or reckless disregard for public safety in the storage, handling, or transportation of hazardous or toxic substances. This court has stated that the purpose of Article 2315.3 is threefold:

(1) to penalize and punish defendants for engaging in wanton or reckless disregard for public safety in the storage, handling, or

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