Wilson v. Jacobs
| Decision Date | 20 September 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 15626-CA,15626-CA |
| Citation | 438 So.2d 1119 |
| Parties | Freddie Lee WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. L.C. JACOBS, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Brittain & Williams by Joe Payne Williams, Natchitoches, for plaintiff-appellant.
Culpepper, Teat & Caldwell by Bobby L. Culpepper, Jonesboro, for Mrs. E.L. Mobley, Bruce Allen Pulpwood, and Southern Cas. Ins. Co.
D.G. Brunson, Jonesboro, for James Lowe, et ux.
Before MARVIN, JASPER E. JONES, and FRED W. JONES, JJ.
Freddie Lee Wilson, the plaintiff in this action for workers' compensation benefits, medical expenses, penalties, interest and attorney's fees, appeals a judgment, rendered after a trial on the merits, rejecting his demands against James Lowe, d/b/a Lowe Manufacturing, Allen Pulpwood, Inc., Southern Casualty Insurance Company and Mrs. E.L. Mobley. We affirm in part and reverse in part and amend to award plaintiff medical benefits and weekly compensation from Allen Pulpwood and Southern.
The following facts were stipulated before trial. Freddie Lee Wilson was the direct employee of L.C. Jacobs on August 19, 1980. On that date, while cutting timber on a tract owned by defendant Mobley, Wilson was serious injured by a falling tree. Due to those injuries Freddie Lee Wilson is totally and permanently disabled. It was also stipulated that Allen Pulpwood was insured against claims for workers' compensation benefits by Southern Casualty.
This appeal poses the following primary issues:
1) what type of tree injured the plaintiff;
2) was Wilson a statutory employee of either Lowe or Allen Pulpwood; and
3) was Wilson a statutory employee of Mobley.
Wilson, who had worked for Jacobs as a cutter for about a year, was injured in the following manner. He was cutting down a tree with a gasoline chain saw when it ran out of gas and became stuck in the tree. Wilson, with the help of Jacobs, removed the saw from the tree and went to the truck, parked nearby, to refuel his saw. While he was doing so, a gust of wind toppled the partially sawed tree and it struck him. Jacobs obtained assistance from three other men who were working in the area and together they freed Wilson from the fallen tree and Jacobs then drove him to a hospital.
The type of tree which injured Wilson is important because of Jacobs' relationship with defendants Allen Pulpwood and Lowe. Jacobs sold all the pine and some of the hardwood he produced to Allen Pulpwood and he sold the remaining hardwood he produced to Lowe. Thus, the type of tree involved determines which of the two defendants might have been plaintiff's statutory employer.
The testimony on this issue was conflicting. Wilson and Jacobs testified that the tree was a pine but the trial judge found their credibility "unacceptable" and further found that the tree was a hardwood. The crux of this issue is whether the trial judge's determination as to the credibility of Wilson and Jacobs was proper.
An appellate court cannot disturb the trial judge's reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact. Pierre v. Landry, 341 So.2d 891 (La.1977). The trial judge's findings as to the credibility of witnesses and his findings of fact cannot be disturbed unless clearly wrong. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978); Steib v. Schwegmann Bros. Giant Supermarkets, 396 So.2d 464 (La.App. 4th Cir.1981).
Wilson and Jacobs were the only witnesses to the accident. Their testimony was contradicted by that of Luther Walker, Mobley's land manager. The trial judge's written reasons for judgment do not refer to any basis for his findings of credibility but apparently he preferred the testimony of Walker and found Wilson and Jacobs incredible because their testimony conflicted with his.
Wilson stated that the tree was a pine. However, his testimony is rambling and confused. He admitted that his memory had been damages by his head injuries.
Jacobs also testified that the tree which fell on Wilson was a pine. Jacobs is the only unimpaired witness who actually observed the accident. His testimony as to the number of loads of pine produced from the Mobley tract is contradicted slightly by the testimony of Bruce Allen, owner of Allen Pulpwood. Though Jacobs was a defendant in this action his interest in it at the time of trial was minimal as the judgment by default against him was already final.
Walker was not present when this accident occurred. He never went to the exact site of the accident and he admitted at trial he had no personal knowledge of the accident.
However, Walker testified at trial that the tree which injured Wilson was not a pine because no pines were cut from the Mobley tract until after the date upon which Wilson was injured. When deposed prior to trial Walker testified that the tree which injured Wilson was not a pine because all pines which were cut from the Mobley tract were cut before the date upon which Wilson was injured. Finally, we note that Walker is the father-in-law of counsel for Mobley, Allen Pulpwood and Southern Casualty.
The three other men who were also working on the Mobley tract on the day of the accident also testified at trial. W.D. Daniel, Obie Blankenship and Nobie Blankenship arrived on the scene shortly after the accident when summoned by Jacobs. Daniel and Obie Blankenship testified that there was both a pine and a gum (hardwood) top on Wilson. Nobie Blankenship recalled only hardwood limbs on Wilson.
While we owe great deference to the trial judge's conclusions as to credibility and facts, we are not required to accept his unreasoned and unreasonable findings as to either. Walker had no knowledge of the facts of the accident and the sincerity of his conclusion that it was not a pine tree that injured Wilson is placed in grave doubt by his totally inconsistent testimony at deposition and trial and his relationship to the interests of Allen Pulpwood and Southern Casualty. The testimony of Jacobs is based on personal knowledge and is corroborated by that of Obie Blankenship, Daniel and Wilson.
We hold that the trial judge was clearly wrong in accepting the testimony of a witness who had no personal knowledge and who had given totally inconsistent sworn testimony over the cogent and corroborated testimony of a witness who actually observed the accident. The trial judge's conclusion that the tree which injured Wilson was a hardwood is not supported by substantial evidence and is clearly wrong. We find that the tree involved was a pine.
As we have determined that the tree which injured Freddie Wilson was a pine, our inquiry is now whether he was a statutory employee of Allen Pulpwood under R.S. 23:1061. Allen Pulpwood contends that its only relationship with Jacobs, Wilson's direct employer, was buyer-seller and that, as such, it is not liable for compensation benefits to Jacobs' employees. Wilson argues that the relationship between Allen Pulpwood and Jacobs was one of principal-contractor and that, therefore, he is a statutory employee of Allen Pulpwood.
We have reviewed the numerous authorities cited by the parties on this issue and find the controlling principles to be those set out by our supreme court in Hart v. Richardson, 272 So.2d 316 (La.1973), Bellard v. Tri-State Insurance Company, 282 So.2d 453 (La.1973) and Woodard v. Southern Casualty Insurance Co., 305 So.2d 528 (La.1974). See Malone and Johnson, Workers' Compensation § 123 for a full discussion of the evolution of the law on the issue of buyer-seller relationships.
A party whose only relationship to the injured worker is that of buyer or vendee of the product he produces is not liable to him for workers' compensation benefits, however, if the requirements for coverage are present the mere fact that the relationship also contains the elements of a sale will not defeat recovery. Hart v. Richardson, supra.
In a continuing timber producing arrangement the determinative issue is whether the producer who cuts, hauls and delivers the timber to the dealer is processing the timber for the open market or is instead doing so on behalf of the dealer as part of the latter's trade, business or...
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...find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. See, Wilson v. Jacobs, 438 So.2d 1119 (La.App. 2d Cir.1983), writ denied, 443 So.2d 586 (La.1983). Cf. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La.1988); Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, ......
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Hopes v. Domtar Industries
...find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. See, Wilson v. Jacobs, 438 So.2d 1119 (La.App. 2d Cir.1982), writ denied, 443 So.2d 586 (La.1983). Cf. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La.1988); Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, ......
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93-1497 La.App. 3 Cir. 6/1/94, Menard v. Winn Dixie Louisiana, Inc.
...find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. See, Wilson v. Jacobs, 438 So.2d 1119 (La.App. 2d Cir.1982), writ denied, 443 So.2d 586 (La.1983). Cf. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La.1988); Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, ......
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95-1236 La.App. 3 Cir. 8/7/96, Faul v. Bonin
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