Simoneaux v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 24 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-C-0489,85-C-0489 |
| Citation | 483 So.2d 908 |
| Parties | Mrs. Edith Margaret Granier SIMONEAUX, Widow of Richard J. Simoneaux, Sr., Individually, and as Natural Tutrix and Administratrix of the Estates of the Minors, Richard J. Simoneaux, Jr. and Marcy Margaret Simoneaux v. E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, INC. and William D. Cobb. Mrs. Patricia Donahue McCORMICK, Widow of Ralph H. McCormick, Individually, and as Natural Tutrix and Administratrix of the Estates of the Minors, Brian Patrick McCormick and Todd Hamilton M v. E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, INC. and William D. Cobb. 483 So.2d 908 |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Harry McCall, Jr., L. Harvard Scott, III, Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy, for defendant-applicant.
Virgil M. Wheeler, Jr., Antonio E. Papale, Jr., Hailey, McNamara, Hall, Larmann & Papale, for plaintiff-respondent.
These consolidated cases present the question whether a petition generally alleging a cause of action under the intentional act exception to the Louisiana Worker's Compensation Laws can be dismissed on a motion for summary judgment, before the plaintiff has been allowed to conduct discovery.
These cases were brought by the widows and survivors of two workmen who were injured in an explosion at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Pontchartrain Works in St. John the Baptist Parish. The incident occurred during the afternoon of July 12, 1983 in the area of the chloroprene producing unit. Both men were seriously burned and died several weeks later. On September 23, 1983 the first suit was brought against du Pont and William D. Cobb, the plant manager.
The petition alleged that the cause of the explosion was "the continued operation of said unit at improper and unsafe temperatures and subsequent to numerous episodes of serious malfunctions, with the full and actual knowledge and belief that the resulting explosion, fire, injury and death were certain, or substantially certain, to follow and/or result from their continued operation of the chloroprene production unit."
In the next paragraph, plaintiff alleged that defendants were "in actual possession of detailed information regarding the hazards to life and limb inherent in the design, manufacture, assembly, maintenance and operation of the said chloroprene production unit, including actual malfunctions thereof, and, further, defendants fully and actually knew and believed that its continued operation was certain, or substantially certain, to result in the explosion, fire, injury and death which, in fact, occurred, and, yet, notwithstanding such actual knowledge and belief, intentionally and deliberately went ahead with the continued operation of said unit."
The other suit (Simoneaux) was filed on December 12, 1983, with similar allegations. The suits were consolidated.
On December 20, 1983 plaintiffs filed a discovery request styled "First Request for Production of Documents and Things." This five page document sought production of a considerable amount of information relevant to the accident at the chloroprene unit and the negligence of the company in operating the unit.
du Pont filed answers on December 28, 1983, denying that it intended the harm visited upon the plaintiffs. On January 5, 1984 du Pont moved for a summary judgment on the grounds that defendants did not intend the explosion and that the plaintiffs' exclusive remedy was in workers' compensation. Also filed was the affidavit of William Cobb, the du Pont plant manager. Cobb explained that:
"1. I am now, and since 1 June 1983 have been, Plant Manager at E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company's (hereinafter 'du Pont'), Pontchartrain Works near Reserve, Louisiana; from January 1981 to 1 June 1983, I was Assistant Manager. I have personal knowledge of the matters set forth in this this (sic) affidavit, and am authorized to make it and make it on the basis of personal knowledge.
2. The basic process of manufacturing chloroprene (hereinafter 'CD') has been known to the scientific community generally and CD has been produced by du Pont and other chemical companies for approximately fifty (50) years; du Pont has manufactured CD at its Pontchartrain Works near Reserve, Louisiana for approximately thirteen (13) years.
3. On 29 June 1983, certain modifications in the CD manufacturing process were put into effect at du Pont's Pontchartrain Works, the purpose of which was to improve the efficiency of the operation by minimizing the loss of raw material and use of energy.
4. Prior to implementing these modifications, as is its consistent practice, du Pont, through its Technical and Production Groups, carefully and thoroughly considered whether they would create or affect any safety hazard to its employees, to members of the public or to any part of or location within the plant in order to eliminate entirely or at least minimize any such hazard.
5. The conclusion reached by these Groups was that putting the modifications proposed into effect would not create any hazard or have any adverse effect on the safety of employees or others; as Assistant Plant Manager and in the discharge of my responsibility for safety at the Pontchartrain Works, I personally reviewed the report of these Groups and accepted their conclusions that no safety hazard would be created by or any adverse effect on the safety of employees or others would result from implementation of these modifications.
6. In particular, I asked for a review of the process safety features of the manufacturing process as modified in a way that covered prior test work and similar modifications at other du Pont sites; upon conclusion of this review, it was my considered opinion that putting the proposed modifications into effect would not create or increase any safety hazard.
7. Consistent with du Pont's standard practice to insure, as far as possible, against occurrence of any unforeseen accident or other untoward occurrence, I authorized provision for and institution of round-the-clock monitoring procedures to make certain that any problem or unforeseen complication in the functioning of the process would be promptly observed and corrected.
8. Subsequent to implementation of the modifications specified in paragraph three (3) hereinabove, there were minor functional difficulties in elements of the chloroprene production unit of the nature and to the extent normally experienced in start-up operations of chemical processes generally, but at no time were there any malfunctions or problems which might suggest a belief that the explosion which occurred on 12 July 1983 was certain to, substantially certain to or even might occur.
9. I have read the petitions in both of these cases ( McCormick and Simoneaux ), and particularly paragraphs XI and XII thereof; contrary to the allegations of these paragraphs,
(a) At no time prior to occurrence of the explosion on 12 July 1983 was there any evidence that the design, manufacture, assembly, maintenance or operation of the chloroprene unit at du Pont's Pontchartrain Works was improper, inadequate, unsafe or defective, and
(b) Although there were brief and intermittent episodes of operation at a temperature lower than that prescribed incident to starting or stopping the process, the consequence of such operation was inefficient functioning of the unit in that product was not processed, but there was no problem or indication of any safety hazard and no reason to believe that a safety hazard was thereby created.
10. From the time of implementation of the modifications to the process of producing chloroprene at du Pont's Pontchartrain Works on 29 June 1983 and at all times up to and including the date of the explosion herein at issue, I did not believe nor did I or anyone else at the Pontchartrain Works have any reason to believe that an explosion such as that which occurred on 12 July 1983 was certain to, was substantially certain to, or even might occur."
The plaintiffs responded with a second request for production of documents and things, this time tailored to the functioning of the chloroprene unit. Approximately a week later, on February 2, 1984, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel discovery. The next day the plaintiffs filed with the court a twenty-two page document styled "First Set of Interrogatories." This document contained forty-two questions, many with subparts, and questioned almost every aspect of the functioning of the chloroprene unit, the circumstances surrounding the explosion and several topics covered in William Cobb's affidavit.
On February 6, 1984 the plaintiffs filed several more documents. In a motion to strike the plaintiffs asked the court to throw out the affidavit of William Cobb because it was improper in form and substance. Two affidavits were filed--one by plaintiffs' attorneys and one plaintiff and one by plaintiffs' attorneys. These affidavits contained conclusory statements contending that material issues of fact remained. 1 Judgment was rendered on March 5, 1984 granting the summary judgment in favor of the defendants, declaring that there were no genuine issues of material fact and the remaining motions were moot. The trial judge found that the plaintiffs failed to show an intentional tort.
The court of appeal, 464 So.2d 826, reversed the trial court and denied the motion for summary judgment because the plaintiffs had "been completely denied the opportunity for discovery," and because defendant's affidavit was insufficient to "lay to rest all of the genuine issues of material fact." We granted certiorari to review the appropriateness of the court of appeal decision. 466 So.2d 1294 (La.1985).
Summary judgment is an appropriate method for disposing of a case wherein intent is a critical question. Mayer v. Valentine Sugars, Inc., 444 So.2d 618, 620 (La.1984); see also Mashburn v. Collin, 355 So.2d 879, 890 (La.1977).
A summary judgment should be granted when it is clear there...
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