Case Name: Jeremy Dean FOLEY and Joy Dawn Foley, Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Children, Nikolas Foley and Dylan Foley v. ENTERGY LOUISIANA, INC., Feliciana, a Louisiana Partnership in Commendam and Latter & Blum, Inc.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2006-02-15
Citations: 925 So. 2d 638
Docket Number: No. 2004-CA-1967
Parties: Jeremy Dean FOLEY and Joy Dawn Foley, Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Children, Nikolas Foley and Dylan Foley v. ENTERGY LOUISIANA, INC., Feliciana, a Louisiana Partnership in Commendam and Latter & Blum, Inc.
Judges: (Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge DAVID S. GORBATY, Judge EDWIN A. LOMBARD, and Judge ROLAND L. BELSOME).
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 925
Pages: 638–646

Head Matter:
Jeremy Dean FOLEY and Joy Dawn Foley, Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Children, Nikolas Foley and Dylan Foley v. ENTERGY LOUISIANA, INC., Feliciana, a Louisiana Partnership in Commendam and Latter & Blum, Inc.
No. 2004-CA-1967.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Feb. 15, 2006.
Rehearing Denied March 30, 2006.
William P. Con nick, Connick and Con-nick, L.L.C., Patrick G. Kehoe, Jr., New Orleans, Counsel for Plaintiffs/Appellants.
Kenneth P. Carter, Louis Leonard Gal-vis, Catharine Ohlsson Gracia, Hammond, Margaret Jenkins Savoye, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Entergy Louisiana Inc.
(Court composed of Chief Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge DAVID S. GORBATY, Judge EDWIN A. LOMBARD, and Judge ROLAND L. BELSOME).

Opinion:
JAMES F. McKAY III, Judge.
hOn November 12, 1998, Jeremy Foley was working as a roofer for Robertson Roofing and Siding, Inc. (Robertson Roofing) making roofing repairs on Building D at the Feliciana Apartments in Harvey, Louisiana when he and his co-worker, Jason Rodriguez, raised a twenty foot aluminum ladder into an uninsulated overhead power line owned and operated by Enter-gy Louisiana, Inc. (Entergy) causing substantial injury by electrocution to Jeremy Foley. At the time of the accident, Jeremy Foley was twenty-four years old and was married to Joy Foley and was the father of two young children.
The power line, which ran in front of Building D was part of an Entergy single phase line system that consisted of two separate wires: a neutral "shield" line that did not carry an electrical current and a live "phase" line that carried 8,000 volts of electricity. Entergy's sole method of insulating its live power lines at the complex of three story buildings was "insulation by isolation", which consisted of stringing the lines at a vertical height that it believed was out of reach. There were no warning signs or instrumentalities such as orange foam balls on or in the ^vicinity of the lines. At the site of the accident, the neutral shield line was strung directly above the live phase line with a distance of approximately three feet separating the lines. At 16 of the 23 identical apartment buildings in the Feliciana/Alouette complex, the neutral shield line was instead placed directly under the live phase line. At 7 of the 23 buildings, including Building D, the neutral shield was placed directly above the live phase line. Approximately twelve years before Jeremy Foley's accident, two painters, Carl and Craig Davis, were electrocuted when they raised their ladder in front of Building D just a few feet from where Jeremy Foley and Jason Rodriguez raised their ladder.
Jeremy Foley and Joy Foley, individually and on behalf of their minor children, Nikolas Foley and Dylan Foley, brought a suit for damages against Entergy, Latter & Blum Property Management, Inc. (Latter & Blum), the manager of the property, and WFMFT Real Estate Limited Partnership (WFMFT), the owner of the property. Prior to trial, Latter & Blum and WFMFT were dismissed from the case on summary judgment. A bench trial took place on January 12-16 and May 3, 2004. At the commencement of the proceedings, the trial court ruled that it would not consider any evidence Entergy wished to introduce as to the fault of co-defendants, Latter & Blum and WFMFT. The trial court found that Jeremy Foley was 20% at fault for the accident, Jason Rodriguez was 5% at fault, Robertson Roofing was 40% at fault, and Entergy was 35% at fault. Based on these findings, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and against Entergy, awarding Jeremy Foley $4,735,297.70; $105,000.00 to Joy Foley; |3and $70,000.00 to each of the minor children. In addition, Robertson Roofing was awarded $575,673.87 on its intervention claim. Both Entergy and Jeremy Foley appeal the trial court's judgment.
On appeal, Entergy contends that the trial court erred in finding that it was negligent in any manner that caused or contributed to the plaintiffs' damages and the trial court erred and abused its discretion in denying Entergy the right to introduce at the trial of this matter evidence of the fault of Latter & Blum and WFMFT. The plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in its determination of the percentages of fault of the various parties and actors involved.
An appellate court's review of a trial court's findings is governed by the manifest error (clearly erroneous) standard. Stobart v. State of La. Through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993); Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). Where there is conflict in testimony, reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed on review even if the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are just as reasonable. If the trial court's findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse even if it is convinced that it would have weighed the evidence differently if it had been sitting as the trier of fact. Id.
As with other factual determinations, a trier of fact is vested with much discretion in its allocation of fault. Thonn v. Cook, 2003-0763 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/10/03), 863 So.2d 628. Therefore, an appeals court should only disturb the trier of fact's allocation of fault when it is manifestly erroneous.
|4In the instant case, Entergy specifically pled the fault of third parties as a cause of the plaintiffs accident and injuries as an affirmative defense in its answer to plaintiffs' petition for damages. Pursuant to Louisiana Civil Code Article 2323 and the Louisiana Supreme Court's holdings in Keith v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 96-2075 (La.5/9/97), 694 So.2d 180, 182-84 and Dumas v. State ex rel. Dept. of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, 2002-0563 (La.10/15/02), 828 So.2d 530, Entergy was entitled to present evidence of the negligence and fault of third parties at the trial of this matter. The trial court denied Entergy that right on the grounds that the parties against whom Entergy wanted to offer such evidence had been dismissed on summary judgment as statutory employers of Jeremy Foley. However, a party's status as a plaintiffs employer, immune from any claim by the plaintiff for damages, cannot prohibit a defendant from introducing evidence as to the employer's fault for the accident and injuries sustained by the plaintiff. Thus, there is no basis for excluding such evidence offered against a party who is the plaintiffs statutory employer. On the contrary, Article 2323 requires that the fault of every person responsible for plaintiffs injuries be compared, whether or nor such person is a party, and regardless of the legal theory of liability asserted against such person. The trial court erred in depriving Entergy the opportunity to present such evidence. As such we reverse this ruling.
We have examined the evidence proffered by Entergy regarding the fault of third parties. Harry Jackson, the maintenance supervisor at the Feliciana Apartments, testified that he did not warn the roofers about the wire at Building D, |Bor that a prior accident had occurred. Andrew Lawyer, who performed an accident reconstruction, opined that the management or employees of the Feliciana Apartments should have pointed out the wires to the roofers, and advised them of the prior accident. Although we have found that the trial court erred in not allowing Enter-gy the opportunity to present evidence of third party fault, based on the proffered evidence, we conclude that Latter & Blum and WFMFT were not at fault in this accident in any way. As such, we assign no percentage of fault to these parties.
In determining percentages of fault, various factors should be considered, including: (1) whether the conduct resulted from inadvertence or an awareness of the danger, (2) how great a risk was created by the conduct, (3) the significance of what was sought by the conduct, (4) the capacities of the actor, whether superior or inferior, and (5) any extenuating circumstances which might require the actor to proceed in haste, without proper thought. Watson v. State Farm Fire and Cas., Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967 (La.1985). In the instant case, Entergy was clearly aware of the danger; an electrocution had taken place at the same location some twelve years earlier. See Davis v. Louisiana Power & Light Co., 612 So.2d 235 (La.App. 4 Cir.1993). In its reasons for judgment, the trial court recognized that "Entergy did little if anything to take any corrective action during the 12 year interim between the two accidents such as adequately inspect its lines, raise its lines, adjust the final sag in the line and/or invert the neutral shield line with the live phase line so that the former would provide an additional buffer of safety that would have | (¡eliminated this catastrophic accident." Entergy was also the superior actor under the facts and circumstances of this case. This likewise was recognized by the trial court when it pointed out that the facts and circumstances of Dobson v. LP & L, 567 So.2d 569 (La.1990) bear a notable resemblance to the present matter. In that case, the Supreme Court held that a live power line is one of the most dangerous things known to man. Id. at 572. The Supreme Court further noted that "[n]ot only is the current deadly, but the danger is hidden away in an innocent looking wire ready at all times to kill or injure anyone who touches it or comes near to it. For the average citizen, there is no way of knowing whether the wire is harmless or lethal until it is too late to do anything about it." Id. at 572 citing Godesky v. Provo City, Corp., 690 P.2d 541, 548 (Utah 1984) quoting Brigham v. Moon Lake Electric Assoc., 24 Utah 2d 292, 470 P.2d 393, 395 (1970).
In spite of all this, the trial court only apportioned 35% of the fault in this matter to Entergy with 40% apportioned to Robertson Roofing, 20% to the plaintiff and 5% to Jason Rodriguez. In our view, this is clearly wrong. Because high power lines are inherently dangerous, utility companies that maintain and employ high voltage electric power lines are required to exercise the "utmost care" to reduce hazards to life as far as to properly insulate them, or give adequate warnings of the danger, or to take other proper and reasonable practical steps. Pillow v. En-tergy Corp., 36,384 (La.App. 2 Cir. 9/18/02), 828 So.2d 83, 87. Considering the facts of this case, with particular attention to the history of the site and the |7capacities of the various actors, 50% of the fault should be apportioned to Entergy and the fault allocated to the plaintiff should be reduced to 5%. We find no error in the trial court's allocation of fault to Robertson Roofing or Jason Rodriguez. As such, Entergy should pay the following sums to the plaintiffs: $6,414,711.00 to Jeremy Foley; $150,000.00 to Joy Foley; and $100,000.00 each to Nikolas and Dylan Foley.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm in part, reverse in part and render judgment as stated above.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; RENDERED.
GORBATY, J. concurs in part and dissents in part with reasons.
. In Dobson, the Supreme Court found that LP & L was 60% at fault where a tree trimmer was electrocuted when he contacted uninsulated power lines. The Supreme Court reasoned that LP & L was in a superior position to correct the problem when it apportioned a majority of fault to LP & L.