Texaco, Inc. v. Lirette
| Decision Date | 02 May 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 26239. Summary Calendar.,26239. Summary Calendar. |
| Citation | 410 F.2d 1064 |
| Parties | TEXACO, INC., and McCullough Tool Co., Appellants, v. Olen LIRETTE et al., Appellees. EMPLOYERS MUTUAL LIABILITY INSURANCE COMPANY OF WISCONSIN, Appellant, v. TEXACO, INC., et al., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
L. Howard McCurdy, Jr., Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, Robert B. Acomb, Jr., New Orleans, La., for appellant, Texaco, Inc.
Monte J. Ducote, Schoemann, Gomes & Ducote, Ralph E. Orpys, George M. Leppert, New Orleans, La., for appellees.
Before WISDOM, COLEMAN, and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.
Pursuant to new Rule 18 of the Rules of this Court, we have concluded on the merits that this case is of such character as not to justify oral argument and have directed the clerk to place the case on the Summary Calendar and to notify the parties in writing. See Murphy v. Houma Well Service, 5 Cir. 1969, 409 F.2d 804, Part I.
Owen Lirette and George Spencer worked for South Louisiana Drilling Co. as roustabouts. On the day of the accident, June 29, 1964, they were aboard one of the Company's drilling barges in Lake Barre reworking a well belonging to defendant, Texaco, Inc. Texaco had contracted with the co-defendant McCullough Tool Co. for McCullough to "back-off" the tubing, that is, to extricate casing that was stuck in the well. McCullough furnished a crew and certain equipment necessary to detonate a "string shot", an explosive charge dropped on a line into the well to sever the pipe. Lirette and Spencer suffered injuries when they removed "slips" that held the casing in place laterally: pentup torque within the hole caused the pipe to spin around suddenly, and protruding valves struck the heads of the men, who were bending over to reach the slips.
In this diversity action Spencer and Lirette alleged that Texaco and McCullough, through their agents, negligently set the pipe so that the protruding valves were at an unsafe height from the floor. Safety, they said, required that the valves be set five or six feet above the floor so as to spin around above the heads of men leaning over to release the stays. The companies answered that the rig had been set up safely and according to custom. They also claimed that the men had released the slips on their own initiative, and against the warnings of a fellow employee. Thus, said the companies, any injuries resulted from contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiffs.
Texaco and McCullough also filed a third-party complaint against South Louisiana Drilling Co., which employed Lirette and Spencer. The complaint alleged that the drilling company had undertaken to indemnify the third-party plaintiffs for any recovery against them caused by its failure to fulfill its contractual obligations; the complaint alleged that if any negligence on the employers' part had occurred, it was attributable to Goldman, South Louisiana's foreman.
A sixth party, Employers Mutual Liability Co. of Wisconsin intervened in the case as South Louisiana's liability insurer. The insurer alleged that it had made certain payments to Lirette and Spencer for medical expenses and, as subrogee, sought recovery over against Texaco and McCullough for the amounts paid out.
The jury found in favor of both employees as against Texaco and McCullough. It awarded $8,500 to Lirette, of which $6,576.51 was owed to the intervenor, Employers Mutual. It awarded $22,200 to Spencer, of which $6,750.43 was owed to Employers Mutual.
The district judge, on facts stipulated by the parties, further held that Texaco and McCullough were not entitled to indemnity from the third-party defendant, South Louisiana. The court ordered interest on the awards to the employees to run from the date of the entry of judgment, rather than from the time that the complaint was filed.
Texaco and McCullough appeal first "from the verdict of the jury" because of insufficient supporting evidence. That of course is not a proper specification of error. Legal errors are committed by courts in acting upon motions and in ordering the entry of judgment, not by juries. The record discloses no motion for a directed verdict or for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. In any event, the record would not justify a directed verdict or a judgment...
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