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Young v. City of Plaquemine11/4/2005
BEFORE: KUHN, GUIDRY, AND PETTIGREW, JJ.
The matter before us is a partial summary judgment designated as a final, appealable judgment by the trial court pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B). Based on our review of the trial court's designation of the judgment as final for purposes of appeal, we find that the trial court abused its discretion in designating the partial summary judgment a final judgment, and accordingly, dismiss the appeal.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
While working for a painting subcontractor on a project in 1995, Thomas Wayne Young and Randy Joseph Sanchez learned that the interior surfaces of the building in which they were working contained lead-based paint. Claiming injuries as a result of being exposed to the lead-based paint, Young and Sanchez (plaintiffs) filed suit against the City of Plaquemine, as the owner of the building, Comeaux Brothers Contractors, Inc., as the general contractor responsible for renovating the building, and Gary J. Hebert, Jr., as the architect in charge of the project (defendants). The defendants separately answered the plaintiffs' suit generally denying liability for their alleged injuries. Each defendant later filed motions for summary judgment, basically asserting that they were not liable for the alleged injuries sustained by the plaintiffs. The trial court granted the motions for summary judgment and the plaintiffs appealed the judgments granting the motions.
On appeal, this court affirmed in part a portion of the summary judgment granted in favor of Comeaux Brothers Contractors, Inc., but reversed the remaining portion of the summary judgment granted in favor of Hebert. Young v. City of Plaquemine, 01-0063 (La. App. 1st Cir. 5/10/02), 818 So. 2d 892. This court also reversed the separate summary judgment granted in favor of the City of Plaquemine, and the entire case was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. Young v. City of Plaquemine. 02-0280 (La. App. 1st Cir. 5/10/02), 818 So. 2d 898, writ denied. 02-1601 (La. 9/30/02), 825 So. 2d 1196.
On remand, the City of Plaquemine and Hebert filed peremptory exceptions raising the objection of res judicata (issue preclusion) pursuant to La. R.S. 13:4231, based on the denial of the plaintiffs' separate workers' compensation claims by the Office of Workers' Compensation. In the same pleadings, the City of Plaquemine and Hebert alternatively moved for summary judgment, asserting that the plaintiffs would be unable to present medical proof to substantiate their claims that they sustained injuries as a result of being exposed to lead-based paint while working on the renovation project in 1995. In response, the plaintiffs filed a cross motion for summary judgment, asserting that based on legal presumptions and evidence they submitted in support of their motion, the plaintiffs unquestionably proved that they were disabled as a result of their exposure to the lead-based paint during the renovation project. Following a hearing on the exceptions and the cross motions for summary judgment, the trial court rendered judgment overruling the exceptions and denying the motions for summary judgment filed by the City of Plaquemine and Hebert. In the same judgment, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on the issue of medical causation only. The trial court designated the judgment as final pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B) on the basis that the judgment "determines a key issue in the plaintiffs' case, and there is no just reason to delay any appeal of this issue."
The City of Plaquemine and Hebert appeal, seeking reversal of (1) the partial summary judgment granted in favor of the plaintiffs, (2) the denial of th
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