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Barnett v. Meridian Resources & Exploration Co.2/6/2002
Thibodeaux, J., concurs in part and dissents in part and assigns written reasons.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED.
The plaintiff filed suit against an oil exploration company seeking damages related to injuries he sustained in a fire while working in the company's oilfield. In response, the defendant filed motions for summary judgment seeking a determination that the plaintiff was a borrowed employee at the time of the fire and that his injuries were not sustained from an intentional tort. Both motions were granted by the trial court. The plaintiff appeals. For the following reasons, we reverse the summary judgment granted with regard to the plaintiff's status as a borrowed employee, but affirm the determination that the plaintiff's injuries were not the result of an intentional tort. We remand the matter for further proceedings.
Factual and Procedural Background
The plaintiff, Paul Barnett, performed oilfield production hook-up work through Tri-Con Environmental Services, Inc. Following years of working in the oilfield, Mr. Barnett purchased his own truck and tools and began performing hook-up work for various oilfield companies. He had an arrangement with Tri-Con whereby he would obtain the work and use his truck and tools, but the client oilfield company would be billed through Tri-Con. Tri-Con would retain a percentage of Mr. Barnett's billings and would provide Mr. Barnett with insurance coverage. Mr. Barnett previously enjoyed this type of arrangement with DACI, also an oilfield contractor.
On October 13, 1999, Mr. Barnett and his assistant, Stacy Landreneaux, were performing work at a Meridian Resource and Exploration oilfield in Cameron Parish. The two were installing a dump line on a heater treater or separator at the facility. The plaintiff contends that, on the afternoon of October 13, Wayne Sturlese, a Meridian employee, joined the pair and in an attempt to accelerate the process of bleeding gas from the line, broke a two-inch hammer union. The plaintiff contends that gas began escaping from the line creating a cloud of natural gas around him and Mr. Landreneaux. The gas ignited, burning Mr. Barnett and Mr. Landreneaux.
Mr. Barnett filed suit against Meridian alleging fault for "care, custody, and control of an unreasonably dangerous thing, i.e., a heater treater that did not have a blow -down valve . . . ." The plaintiff contended that Meridian knew or should have known of the condition and the danger posed to those performing construction work in the area.
Additionally, the plaintiff named the designers of the facility, Petroleum Engineers, Inc., as a defendant alleging that they constructed the defective heater treater. Zurich American Insurance Company, Tri- Con's workers' compensation insurer, filed a Petition of Intervention due to benefits provided to Mr. Barnett. Meridian answered, alleging that Mr. Barnett was a borrowed servant and/or statutory employee who was barred from recovery in tort. This defense was followed by a motion for summary judgment wherein Meridian sought a declaration that Mr. Barnett was working as a borrowed servant. In a supplemental and amending petition, Mr. Barnett alleged that Mr. Sturlese's action in breaking the hammer union "was an intentional and grossly negligent act. . . ." Following this amendment, Meridian filed an additional motion for summary judgment seeking a determination that any actions did not constitute an intentional tort.
Both the summary judgment regarding borrowed servant status and that related to intentional tort were granted by the trial court. Additionally, the trial court granted a motion for summary judgment filed by Pet
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