Case Name: Terrell PARFAIT v. TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE, INC., and Shell Oil Products Co.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2008-03-14
Citations: 980 So. 2d 634
Docket Number: Nos. 2007-C-1915, 2007-C-1998
Parties: Terrell PARFAIT v. TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE, INC., and Shell Oil Products Co.
Judges: KIMBALL, J., concurs in the result and assigns reasons from the per curiam and concurs in the order.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 980
Pages: 634–643

Head Matter:
Terrell PARFAIT v. TRANSOCEAN OFFSHORE, INC., and Shell Oil Products Co.
Nos. 2007-C-1915, 2007-C-1998.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
March 14, 2008.
Colvin, Weaver & Cerniglia, Timothy W. Cerniglia, Homer, for applicant in 2007-C-1915 and respondent in 2007-C-1998.
St. Martin, Williams & Bourque, Michael X. St. Martin, Conrad S.P. Williams, III, Charles Clarence Bourque, Jr., Hou-ma, The Cochran Firm New Orleans, Darryl M. Phillips, New Orleans, for respon dent in 2007-C-1915 and applicant in 2007-C-1998.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
|! After entertaining oral argument on whether to grant writs on the limited issue of the effect and propriety of the court of appeal's decree, we grant writs in part to resolve a difficult and novel issue of Louisiana law. Namely, we now determine the effect of an en banc judgment rendered by a court of appeal that has been unable to issue a majority decree regarding damages. For the following reasons, we now hold that, in such a situation, an en banc judgment that fails to reverse or modify a trial court's damages award has the effect of affirming the trial court award.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Following a January 20, 2004 trial in this personal injury case, a jury found, inter alia, that pursuant to 46 U.S.C.App. § 688 ("Jones Act"), Transocean Offshore, Inc. ("Transocean") was 75% negligent for injuries Plaintiff suffered while working | aas a floor hand aboard one of Transocean's drilling rigs. In accord with the jury's verdict, Plaintiff was awarded damages totaling $1,701,029.11. After Defendants appealed, a five judge panel of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit could not reach a majority judgment on all of the issues presented. Parfait v. Transocean Offshore, Inc., 04-1271, 05-0174 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/05/07); 950 So.2d 8. This Court then remanded the matter for en banc consideration. Parfait v. Transocean Offshore, Inc., 07-0220, 07-0225 (La.4/05/07); 953 So.2d 57, 58. This en banc panel was also unable to render a decree reflecting a majority judgment on each issue presented in this case. Parfait v. Transocean, Inc., 04-1271 (La.App. 4 Cir. 8/10/07); — So.2d. — 2007 WL 2473252. Particularly, while several issues were decided unanimously and nine of twelve judges found no manifest error in the jury's finding that Transocean was negligent, there was no majority decree as to the damages amount Plaintiff was to receive:
As to the damages, six judges of the court (Chief Judge Armstrong and Judges Jones, Murray, Bagneris, Lombard and Belsome) would affirm the jury award of $1,701,029.11;
Two judges (Judges McKay and Love) would reduce the jury award to $1,312,979.11.
One judge (Judge Cannizzaro) would reduce the jury award to $712,029.11.
Three judges of the court (Judges Kirby, Tobias and Gorbaty) find the jury was clearly wrong in finding Transocean negligent and would reverse the judgment against it[.]
Id., pp. 2-3, Id., pp.-.
On September 19, 2007, this Court once again remanded the matter and ordered the court of appeal to render a decree reflecting a majority vote on each of the issues presented, as required by La. Const. Art. V, § 8(B). Parfait v. Transocean Offshore, \ Inc., 07-1816 (La.9/19/07); 964 So.2d 928. In its own Order, dated September 27, 2007, the court of appeal misconstrued our action as ordering its judges to change their opinions for the sake of a majority vote. Order No. 2004-CA-1271. Again failing to render a majority decree, the court of appeal left its August 10, 2007 opinion as originally written.
On November 1, 2007, because of the unique position in which the litigants in this matter have been placed, this Court ordered briefing and oral argument on the limited procedural issue of the effect and propriety of the August 10, 2007 opinion of the court of appeal en banc. The litigants subsequently argued before this Court on November 27, 2007.
DISCUSSION
La. Const. Art. V, § 8(B) provides that a "majority of the judges sitting in a case must concur to render judgment." Rather than reflecting an en banc majority decision for the instant matter, the court of appeal's August 10, 2007 decree reflects the view of only one judge (the opinion's author) that Plaintiffs damages award of $1,701,029.11 should be reduced to $712,029. See Parfait, 04-1271, p. 8, p. -. Indeed, writing separately in numerous concurrences and dissents, six of the eleven other judges on the panel would affirm Plaintiffs damages award at $1,701,029.11, two would reduce the award to $1,312,979.11, and three would reverse the award in its entirety. Id., pp. 2-8, Id., pp.-. This is simply not an executable majority judgment.
Responding to our remand, the court of appeal's Order has left its original opinion as written after misconstruing our action as an Order that each of its judges "chang[e] his or her opinion simply for the sake of reaching a majority vote on each issue[, thus] abdicating his or her constitutional responsibility as an elected member of the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal." Order No. 2004-CA-1271, at 1. 14This Court did not, however, order that the judges of the Fourth Circuit change their opinions in this case, nor did we order them to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities. On the contrary, we ordered the court of appeal to satisfy those responsibilities and exercise its adjudicative function to issue a decree that, in accordance with its constitutional authority to review cases, actually provides an executable majority judgment on each issue presented. See La. Const. Art. V, § 8(B). The court of appeal's inability to provide such a judgment has left this Court to review a decision in which a majority of the sitting judges (nine of twelve) believe that Transocean should pay Plaintiff dam ages, but no majority has been able to point to how much that award should be. Again, six of twelve judges would affirm Plaintiffs damages award of $1,701,029.11, two would reduce the award to $1,312,979.11, one would reduce the award to $712,029.11, and three would reverse the award in its entirety. Thus, we are presented with a decision of the court of | sappeal that remains evenly split on the issue of whether to disturb the quantum of a jury's damages award: six of the twelve judges would uphold the jury's award in its entirety while the other six would reduce or reverse the award.
As stated above, the Louisiana Constitution dictates that "[a] majority of the judges sitting in a case must concur to render a judgment." La. Const, art. V, § 8B. Further, the Constitution provides that, "in civil matters only, when a judgment of a district court is to be modified or reversed and one judge dissents, the case shall be reargued before a panel of at least five judges prior to rendition of judgment, and a majority must concur to render judgment." This provision suggests that a majority of an appellate court must concur before a trial court judgment can be modified or reversed.
Persuasive is La. Civ.Code art. 2324.1 (stating that "[i]n the assessment of damages in cases of offenses, quasi offenses, and quasi contracts, much discretion must be left to the judge or jury"), and Louisiana jurisprudence, which has consistently held that much discretion is left to a judge or jury to assess damage awards, and has allowed such awards to be disturbed only when there has been a clear abuse of that discretion. Coco v. Winston Indus., Inc., 341 So.2d 332 (La.1977). Given the great respect afforded to a jury's damages award, it would defy logic to allow that award to be modified or reversed by anything less than a majority of an appellate court. As we are now presented with an evenly split twelve judge en banc | fipanel, no majority has concurred to modify the damages award and, thus, we hold that the award must stand as rendered in the trial court's judgment.
At oral argument, Transocean asserted that our previous decision in Butler v. Zapata Haynie Corp. provides guidance for how this Court should address the en banc split in the instant matter. 94-1171 (La.7/5/94); 639 So.2d 1186 (per curiam). Butler involved a different procedural posture than that presented here, however. In Butler, the plaintiff had alleged injury while working aboard the defendant's vessel. See Butler v. Zapata Haynie Corp., 92-71, p. 1 (La.App. 3 Cir.1994); 633 So.2d 1274, 1276. The trial court had entered judgment for the defendant, finding that no accident had occurred. Id. Thus, the trial court had awarded the plaintiff no damages whatsoever. On appeal, three of five of the court of appeal judges found that the evidence established that an accident had occurred and that the plaintiff was entitled to special damages. Id., at passim,. However, these three judges could not agree on the amount of damages due. Id. Upon review, in a per curiam opinion, this Court held:
In the decree by the court of appeal, two judges would have fixed damages for the loss of earning capacity at $294,670, one judge would have fixed this item at $150,000, and the two remaining judges would not have awarded any damages. Accordingly, there were not three votes for the $294,670 award by the "majority" opinion. The highest award for loss of earning capacity upon which a majority of three judges concurred was $150,000[fn] and that must be the amount of the award in the judgment.
The judgment of the court of appeal is therefore amended to 17reduce the award for loss of earning capacity to $150,000.
[fin]: The votes by two judges for $294,670 included a vote for $150,000, although those two judges would have awarded more than the majority consensus figure of $150,000."
Id., p. 1; at 1186.
We need not presently address the propriety of this "vote-for-the-greater-includes-a-vote-for-the-lesser" approach, as Butler did not involve a damage award that had been set by a trial court. Additionally and most significantly, a majority of the judges concurred that the plaintiff was entitled to an award of damages. As La. Civ.Code art. 2324.1 states that "[i]n the assessment of damages in cases of offenses, quasi offenses, and quasi contracts, much discretion must be left to the judge or jury," and Louisiana jurisprudence has consistently allowed such awards to be disturbed only when there has been a clear abuse of that discretion, Coco v. Winston Indus., Inc., 341 So.2d 332 (La.1977), it would be contrary to Louisiana law to allow a trial court's damages award to be modified with anything less than a majority of the judges sitting en banc.
Lastly, this Court notes that, while Transocean was correct in pointing out at oral argument that Transocean's right to an appeal must be respected, see, La. C.C.P. art.2082 (stating that "[ajppeal is the exercise of the right of a party to have a judgment of a trial court revised, modified, set aside, or reversed by an appellate court"); see also, e.g., McCann v. Todd, 201 La. 953, 10 So.2d 769 (1942) (holding that appeals are favored in law and will not be dismissed on mere technicalities), that respect has been afforded. Transocean took its appeal to the court of appeal and was | sallowed to present its arguments in full. The burden of showing an error in the trial court's conclusions on the facts, however, rests with the appellant. Olivedell Planting Co. v. Town of Lake Providence, 217 La. 621, 47 So.2d 23 (1950). Since Transoeean could not persuade a majority of the court of appeal that the jury's damages award should be reduced or eliminated, Transocean failed to satisfy this burden.
Accordingly, we now hold that, because the en banc panel of the court of appeal remains evenly split, no majority has concurred to reverse or modify the trial court's damages award and, thus, the effect of the court of appeal vote is to affirm the trial court's judgment on damages as rendered. Remaining otherwise as written, the decree of the court of appeal shall now read as follows:
Judgment in favor of Plaintiff is reversed, in part, to dismiss his claims against Shell and to vacate the damage award. Judgment in favor of Plaintiff is amended, in part, to cast Transocean 100% at fault and award Plaintiff total damages in the amount of $1,701,029.11.
KIMBALL, J., concurs in the result and assigns reasons from the per curiam and concurs in the order.
VICTORY, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
WEIMER, J., dissents in part and concurs in part for reasons assigned by VICTORY, J.
HIGHTOWER, J., dissents from the per curiam for the reasons assigned by VICTORY, J., and concurs in the order.
Retired Judge Lemmie O. Hightower, assigned as Associate Justice Ad Hoc, sitting for Associate Justice Chet D. Traylor, recused.
.An accompanying order issued this date is directed toward the remaining assignments of error asserted in the parties' writ applications in Nos. 2007-C-1915 and 2007-C-1998.
. The jury found Co-Defendant Shell Offshore, Inc. ("Shell") 25% negligent for these injuries.
. Neither Transocean nor Shell appealed the jury's finding of no negligence on the part of Plaintiff. Consequently, the court of appeal's subsequent unanimous finding that Shell had not acted negligently required that Trans-ocean be held 100% liable for this amount.
. This Court has previously remanded a case in a similar situation. In justifying this action, we held the following:
La. Const, art. V, § 8(B) requires that "a majority of the judges sitting in a case must concur to render judgment." A majority of a thirteen-judge court is seven, and there were not seven votes to render a judgment either affirming or reversing. Therefore, the purported judgment of less than a majority of the court was invalid....
Accordingly, the case is remanded to the court of appeal to render a judgment by a majority of the elected judges.
Pattan v. Fields, 95-2342, p. 1 (La.9/25/95); 661 So.2d 142, 142 (per curiam).
Of course now, after sending the case sub judice back with instructions to render a majority decree on the damages award, the court of appeal has still been unable to do so. Unfortunately, this development presents a new complication that can arise in a Pattan situation. Accordingly, this Court must now go a step further than it did in Pattan to provide a resolution in this matter.
. Further complicating this matter is the fact that, of the nine judges that held Transocean liable for Plaintiff's damages, five of these judges also found legal error in the trial judge's exclusion of evidence of a previous accident award to Plaintiff, thus necessitating de novo review of the damages award. See Parfait v. Transocean Offshore, Inc., 04-1271 passim (La.App. 4 Cir. 8/10/07); - So.2d. -, 2007 WL 2473252. Assuming, arguendo, that all three of the judges that did not find that Transocean was liable for Plaintiff's damages would have conducted such a de novo review had they found liability, there would have been a majority of the judges on this panel (eight of twelve) that found de novo review of the damage award necessary. However, two of the five judges that did conduct de novo review in this matter still found the jury's award proper as rendered. Thus, again, at the end, this Court would be presented with six judges who would affirm a juiy's award and six who would modify or reverse it.
. Indeed, in reviewing general damages, "the discretion vested in the trier of fact is 'great,' and even vast, so that an appellate court should rarely disturb an award of general damages." Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 623 So.2d 1257, 1261 (La. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1114, 114 S.Ct. 1059, 127 L.Ed.2d 379 (1994).
. This Court has previously acknowledged that a split en banc decision of the court of appeal did not result in a reversal of prior precedent from that court. See Hondroulis v. Schumaker, 553 So.2d 398, 410 (La. 1989) (on rehearing). In reviewing the procedural posture of that case, we stated:
Plaintiff appealed, and the court of appeal affirmed. The opinion of the court signed by two judges held that the doctor's disclosure . fulfilled the requirement of informed consent.... Three judges of the court of appeal "reluctantly concurred]," because the court of appeal, en banc, by a 6 to 6 deadlock, had refused to overturn the decisions relied upon by the two-judge lead opinion. In the absence of the precedent affirmed by deadlock, they would have held....
Id.
By analogy, if a split en banc decision cannot reverse prior decisions of that appellate court, then a split en banc decision cannot reverse or modify a judgment of a trial court.
. We do note, however, that this approach could allow excessively large dollar-amount discrepancies. For example, suppose that six of the twelve judges on the Parfait panel had voted to affirm the jury's damages award as rendered, but five had voted to reverse the award and one had voted to reduce the award and pay only Plaintiff's past medical expenses, which total $5,994.11. It would be difficult to imagine that the six judges that voted to award Plaintiff $1,701,029.11 would, by default, have also "voted" for an award that is $1,695,035 (some 99.65%) less than their preferred award.
. To the extent that this holding conflicts with Derbofen v. T.L. James & Co., 355 So.2d 963 (La.App. 4 Cir.1977), writs denied, 357 So.2d 1156, 1168 (La. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 911, 99 S.Ct. 280, 58 L.Ed.2d 257 (1978) (wherein the trial court had awarded the plaintiff $183,112.30, but three of five appellate judges agreed with a decree reducing that judgment to $1,494.00 because, while no majority of the five could agree on a proper quantum, four of the judges would have allowed an award of at least $1,494.00), and any similar cases that have held to the contrary, those holdings are now overruled.