Case Name: Jason MULLINS v. STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY CO. and Charles Mitchell
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1997-06-27
Citations: 697 So. 2d 750
Docket Number: No. 96 CA 0629
Parties: Jason MULLINS v. STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY CO. and Charles Mitchell.
Judges: Before CARTER, LeBLANC, GONZALES, PARRO and FITZSIMMONS, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 697
Pages: 750–762

Head Matter:
Jason MULLINS v. STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY CO. and Charles Mitchell.
No. 96 CA 0629.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
June 27, 1997.
Steve Joffrion, Gonzales, for Plaintiff/Ap-pellee, Jason Mullins.
W. Ransom Pipes, Lauren J. Davis, Baton Rouge, for Defendants/Appellants, State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. and Charles Mitchell.
Before CARTER, LeBLANC, GONZALES, PARRO and FITZSIMMONS, JJ.

Opinion:
J2GONZALES, Judge.
This is an appeal from a trial court judgment, awarding a volunteer firefighter damages for injuries sustained while extinguishing a fire.
FACTS
On March 14, 1994, Todd Rougeou, an employee of Dr. Charles Mitchell, was working at the Mitchell residence, along with construction crews, in connection with certain renovations being made to the residence. Upon completion of the day's work, Rougeou decided to finish burning a stump, which he had begun to bum two nights earlier. Roug-eou gathered scrap lumber, placed it on the stump, and started a fire. Rougeou tended the fire until the flames were diminished and only embers remained. Thereafter, Rougeou went to the opposite side of the residence where he began jaekhammering. After approximately thirty minutes had elapsed, Rougeou noticed a cloud of black smoke emanating from the area where he had previously burned the stump. Upon investigating the cause of the smoke, Rougeou discovered that the top left corner of the second floor of the house was on fire.
Shortly thereafter, the Prairieville Volunteer Fire Department arrived and began to extinguish the fire, which by that time had engulfed the entire house. While the fire was being extinguished, a brick wall inside the house collapsed on one of the firefighters, Jason Mullins, and he was injured.
On December 13, 1994, Mullins filed an action for damages, naming as defendants Dr. Charles Mitchell and his homeowner's liability insurer, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (State Farm). The defendants answered Mullins' petition, denying the allegations. The defendants contended that Mullins' negligence was the sole cause of his injuries and that, because Mullins had assumed the risks associated with his responsibilities as a firefighter, recovery was barred under the "fireman's rule." The defendants alternatively contended that Mullins was comparatively negligent.
On September 20, 1995, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that Mullins' recovery was barred by the "fireman's rule," and because of the lack of proof by Mullins of gross negligence on the part of Dr. Mitchell or Rougeau. On ^October 18, 1995, the trial court signed a judgment denying the defendants' motion for summary judgment.
On January 9,1996, trial on the merits was held. The parties stipulated that the cause of the March 14, 1994 fire was a spark from the burning stump. After hearing all of the testimony and considering all of the evidence, the trial court found that Todd Rougeou was grossly negligent in setting the fire and rendered judgment in favor of Mullins, awarding him $20,000.00 in general and special damages, plus interest from date of judicial demand. The trial court signed a written judgment to this effect on January 17, 1996. The court fixed expert witness fees for James LeBlanc and Danny Thibodeaux at $400.00 each and taxed these fees as costs against the defendants.
The defendants appealed, assigning the following specifications of error:
1. The trial court erred in finding that Dr. Mitchell's employee, Todd Rougeou, was grossly negligent in causing the house fire and thus was liable for the injuries sustained by the plaintiffifirefighter when a wall of the burning house fell upon him during his attempts to extinguish the fire. 2. The trial court erred in taxing $400.00, per witness, in expert fees as costs for plaintiff's two witnesses as the fees were improper, or, in the alternative, excessive in light of the brevity of their testimony and the fact that they only testified in their official capacity as firefighters for the Prai-rieville Fire Department, not as experts.
FIREMAN'S RULE
The defendants contend that, because the "fireman's rule" barred Mullins' recovery, the trial court erred in allowing Mullins to recover damages.
Essentially, the "fireman's rule" states that a professional rescuer injured in the performance of his professional duties "assumes the risk" of such injury and is not entitled to damages. Worley v. Winston, 550 So.2d 694, 696 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 551 So.2d 1342 (La.1989). However, firemen, police officers, and others who, in their professions of protecting life and property, necessarily endanger their safety do not assume the risk of all injury without recourse against others. Langlois v. Allied Chemical Corporation, 258 La. 1067, 249 So.2d 133, 141 (1971).
A professional rescuer may recover for an injury caused by a risk which is independent of the emergency or problem he has assumed the duty to remedy. Langlois v. Allied Chemical Corporation, 249 So.2d at 141; Raziano v. Lincoln Property Company, 520 So.2d 1213, 1217 (La.App. 5th Cir.1988). A risk is independent of the task, and the assumption of the risk rationale does not bar recovery, if the risk-generating object could pose the risk to the rescuer in the absence of the emergency or specific problem undertaken. Worley v. Winston, 550 So.2d at 697.
On the other hand, "dependent" risks arise from the very emergency that the professional rescuer was hired to remedy. The assumption rationale bars recovery from most dependent risks except when (1) the dependent risks encountered by the profes sional rescuers are so extraordinary that it cannot be said that the parties intended the rescuers to assume them, Chinigo v. Geismar Marine, Inc., 512 So.2d 487, 491 (La. App. 1st Cir.), units denied, 514 So.2d 457 (La.1987), or (2) the conduct of the defendant may be so blameworthy that tort recovery should be imposed for the purposes of punishment or deterrence. Worley v. Winston, 550 So.2d at 697; Sayes v. Pilgrim Manor Nursing Home, Inc., 536 So.2d 705, 710 (La. App. 3d Cir.1988); Thompson v. Warehouse Corporation of America, Inc., 337 So.2d 572, 573 (La.App. 4th Cir.1976).
The risk at issue in the present ease is the collapse of an interior brick wall upon Mullins as he attempted to put out a fire inside of the burning house. Such a risk is clearly a dependent risk of firefighting, in that it arises from the very emergency that Mullins was hired to remedy. It is also clear that the collapse of a wall in a burning house is an ordinary risk of firefighting, as opposed to an extraordinary risk of ^firefighting, and that the first exception to the applicability of the fireman's rule is inapposite herein. Therefore, in order for Mullins to recover for his injuries, it must be shown that the conduct of Rougeau was so blameworthy that tort recovery should be imposed for punishment or deterrence purposes.
In those cases where a rescuer has been allowed to recover for injuries caused by a dependent risk, because the defendant's conduct was so blameworthy as to warrant recovery, the courts have used various terminology to describe the type of blameworthy conduct involved. In Worley v. Winston, 550 So.2d at 697, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal found that the defendant's conduct was "not only highly blameworthy but was also criminal." In Sayes v. Pilgrim Manor Nursing Home, Inc., 536 So.2d at 711, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal found that in order to allow a professional rescuer recovery, the defendant's actions or lack of actions have to rise to the level of "recklessness or wanton negligence." In Thompson v. Warehouse Corporation of America, Inc., 337 So.2d at 573, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal stated in dicta, "In the absence of proof of personal negligence so gross as to be tantamount to arson or to trap-setting by the owner, we cannot hold a building owner liable to firefighters for negligence causing or worsening fire which caused the firefighters' injury." Further, in Chinigo v. Geismar Marine, Inc., 512 So.2d at 491, this court cited Comment, Negligence Actions by Police Officers and Firefighters: A Need for a Professional Rescuers Rule, 66 Cal.L.Rev. 585, 598-602 (1978), wherein it was explained that "[t]he concept of recklessness provides a threshold level of blameworthiness" for the imposition of liability, and that it was common in tort law to impose liability for "aggravated conduct in instances where ordinary negligence will not create liability."
16In the present case, the trial court determined that Rougeau's actions, in igniting a fire in such close proximity to the house under construction on a windy day, amounted to gross negligence. Although we agree that conduct rising to the level of gross negligence falls within the parameters of "blameworthiness" as described by the various courts of appeal, we conclude that the trial court erred in finding that Rougeau's actions met this level of blameworthiness.
In Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Department Ambulance Service, 93-3099 (La. 7/5/94), 639 So.2d 216, 219-220, our supreme court reviewed numerous definitions of gross negligence as follows:
Louisiana courts have frequently addressed the concept of gross negligence. Gross negligence has been defined as the "want of even slight care and diligence" and the "want of that diligence which even careless men are accustomed to exercise." State v. Vinzant, 200 La. 301, 7 So.2d 917 (La.1942). Gross negligence has also been termed the "entire absence of care" and the "utter disregard of the dictates of prudence, amounting to complete neglect of the rights of others." Hendry Corp. v. Aircraft Rescue Vessels, 113 F.Supp. 198 (E.D.La.1953) (applying Louisiana law). Additionally, gross negligence has been described as an "extreme departure from ordinary care or the want of even scant care." W. Page Keeton, et. al., Prosser & Keeton on the Law of Torts, § 34, at 211 (5th ed. 1984); 65 C.J.S. Negligence, § 8(4)(a), at 539-40 (1966 & Supp.1993). "There is often no clear distinction between such [willful, wanton, or reckless] conduct and 'gross' negligence, and the two have tended to merge and take on the same meaning." Falkowski v. Maurus, 637 So.2d 522 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 629 So.2d 1176 (La.1993) (quoting Prosser & Keeton, supra, at 214). Gross negligence, therefore, has a well-defined legal meaning distinctly separate, and different, from ordinary negligence.
The above excerpt demonstrates that the difference between ordinary negligence and gross negligence is the level or degree of lack of care shown by the offending party. To amount to gross negligence, the conduct of the offender must not only show a lack of care, it must show an "entire," "utter," "complete," or "extreme" lack of care.
A trial court's finding of gross negligence is a factual finding which will not be disturbed on appeal in the absence of manifest error. Williams v. State, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 95-2456 (La.App. 1st Cir. 11/20/96), 684 So.2d 1018, 1023, writ denied, 96-3069 (La. 3/7/97), 689 So.2d 1372; Falkowski v. Maurus, 637 So.2d at 528. To reverse a trial court's factual finding, an appellate court must find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the finding of the trial court and that the 1^record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong. Stobart v. State, Department of Transportation and Development, 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993).
Although deference to the factfinder should be accorded, the court of appeal nonetheless has a constitutional duty to review facts. Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Department Ambulance Service, 639 So.2d at 221. Of course, the reviewing court may not merely decide if it would have found the facts of the case differently. Rather, notwithstanding the belief that they might have decided it differently, the court of appeal should affirm the trial court where the latter's judgment is not clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Because the court of appeal has a constitutional function to perform, it has every right to determine whether the trial court verdict was clearly wrong based on the evidence, or clearly without evidentia-ry support. Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Department Ambulance Service, 639 So.2d at 221.
The record does not support a conclusion that Todd Rougeau's actions on the day in question constituted gross negligence. The evidence at trial consisted of the testimony of Todd Rougeou, James E. LeBlanc, Danny P. Thibodeaux, and Jason Mullins.
Todd Rougeou testified that he is employed by Dr. Charles Mitchell as a surgical assistant and, beginning in January of 1994, also assisted construction crews in renovating Dr. Mitchell's residence. Rougeou testified that, on March 14, 1994, after the construction work was completed for the day, he decided to finish burning a stump, which he had begun to burn two nights earlier. Roug-eou indicated that the stump was located on a slope about three to four feet below the bottom level of the house and approximately twenty to twenty-five feet away from the house. According to Rougeou, it had been very windy that day, but he noticed that the wind had calmed prior to his igniting the stump. Rougeou gathered scrap lumber, which was lying around the construction site, and used it to ignite the stump. Rougeou testified that he watched the fire until the flames had diminished, leaving only glowing embers. Rougeou indicated | gthat, while the stump was burning, he had not encountered any problems with sparks flying toward the house and that the fire had never spread away from the stump. Rougeou stated that, before he left the stump unattended, the winds were calm. Rougeou then left the embers and went to the opposite side of the residence where he began jaekhammering a brick wall. Approximately thirty minutes later, Rougeou noticed a black cloud of smoke rising above the roof of the house and went to investigate the cause. Rougeou discovered that the winds had picked up and that the top left corner of the second floor of the house was on fire.
James E. LeBlanc, chief of the Prairieville Volunteer Fire Department, was admitted by the trial court as an expert in the field of fire cause and origin. LeBlanc testified that he was the first firefighter to arrive at the fire scene on March 14, 1994, and that Rougeou was the only other person at the scene. Le-Blanc stated that Rougeou told him that he had started a small fire to burn a stump in the rear of the house and that, because the winds were heavy, he had waited until the flames diminished and then went to the opposite side of the house to do some jaekham-mering.
Upon his arrival at the fire scene, LeBlanc observed a three story building totally engulfed in flames. LeBlanc testified that the stump was located approximately fifteen to twenty feet from the house and that there was tar paper covering the house. According to LeBlanc, the weather conditions were extremely windy, with the wind blowing from the south to the north (from the rear of the house to the front of the house) at a speed of about fifteen to twenty miles per hour. Le-Blanc stated that the winds had been "very, very gusty" on the day of the fire. In Le-Blanc's expert opinion, a residence fire was certain or substantially certain to result given the proximity of the stump and the house, the fifteen to twenty mile per hour winds blowing from the direction of the stump to the house, the tar paper covering the house, and the fact that the stump was ignited, allowed to burn to embers, and then left alone.
Danny P. Thibodeaux was also admitted by the trial court as an expert in fire cause and origin. It was stipulated that, if Thibodeaux were asked the same questions as those asked to LeBlanc, his answers would be substantially the same. Specifically, with | regard to the weather conditions on the day of the fire, Thibodeaux stated that the winds were gusty, blowing at approximately fifteen to twenty miles per hour.
Notably, the record indicates that neither LeBlanc nor Thibodeaux had exact knowledge of the wind conditions at the Mitchell residence at the time that Rougeau lit, attended, and left the fire.
Jason Mullins testified that he had been a firefighter with the Prairieville Volunteer Fire Department for approximately four to five years prior to the accident. Mullins indicated that he was injured when a brick wall inside the house collapsed and fell upon him. Mullins acknowledged that this was a type of risk he would anticipate. According to Mullins, in his training with the fire department, he had learned that, when inside a burning residence, there is a risk that a wall or ceiling will collapse due to structural damage. Mullins also acknowledged that this was a risk assumed by all firefighters entering a fire-damaged residence.
After considering all of the evidence, the trial court determined that the actions of Todd Rougeou, in igniting a fire in such close proximity to a house under construction on a windy day, amounted to gross negligence. Accordingly, the trial court found that Mullins' recovery was not barred by the "fireman's rule" and rendered judgment in favor of Mullins. In his reasons for judgment, the trial court stated, in part, as follows:
Well, you do assume certain risk[s] when you are a volunteer fire department or any fireman for that matter. But the law does provide that if there is gross negligence on the part of the origin or cause of the fire, that he or she is entitled to recovery. I think it's obvious from the evidence and I really mean obvious, that anyone of any capabilities would know not to light a fire twenty feet from a house that's under construction on a windy day. It doesn't take a [Rhodes] scholar or a genius to know that that does — that probably will cause a fire and he didn't. Mr[.] Rougeou knew that it would probably cause a fire, that's why he sat around and waited for it to go out, but it didn't go out. It was his gross negligence that it hadn't gone out all together before he went to the front, it caught the house on fire, this gentleman was innocently injured because of that. That's gross negligence.
We have thoroughly reviewed the entire record in this matter and find that it does not support a conclusion that Rougeau was grossly negligent in setting the fire or in leaving the fire when there were embers remaining. Given his testimony that the earlier winds had calmed when he lit the fire, that he watched the stump burn from the time it was lit to the time that it was reduced to embers, and that he did not leave the fire until | íponly embers remained, we cannot say that Rougeau's conduct exhibits an "entire," "utter," "complete," or "extreme" lack of care. Rougeau's testimony regarding the wind conditions when he lit, attended, and left the fire is entitled to more weight than is the testimony of LeBlanc and Thibodeaux, both of whom could only testify as to the general wind conditions in the vicinity on the day in question, rather than to the conditions at the Mitchell residence itself and at the precise time that Rougeau lit, attended, and left the fire unattended.
Had he left a live fire unattended in raging winds, perhaps Rougeau's conduct could be classified as grossly negligent. However, such is not the case; Rougeau merely exercised poor judgment in failing to make sure that the fire was completely extinguished before leaving it unattended. Although this conduct may be negligent, it is not grossly negligent. If such were the case, virtually every hunter, camper, or homeowner in Louisiana who walks away from a fire reduced to embers on a windy day in spring time would be guilty of gross negligence. This interpretation is much too broad. The decision of the trial court, finding Rougeau guilty of gross negligence, is clearly wrong.
EXPERT WITNESS FEES
In their second assignment of error, defendants dispute the propriety of the trial court's award of expert witness fees as costs, as well as the amount taxed.
The trial court may render any judgment for costs, or any part thereof, against any party, as it may consider equitable. La. C.C.P. art. 1920. Generally, costs are to be paid by the party east in judgment. La. C.C.P. art. 1920; Stockstill v. C.F. Industries, Inc., 94-2072 (La.App. 1st Cir. 12/15/95), 665 So.2d 802, 822, writ denied, 96-0149 (La. 3/15/96), 669 So.2d 428. However, on appeal, the appellate court may tax the costs of the lower or appellate court, or any part thereof, against any party to the suit, as in its judgment may be considered equitable. La.C.C.P. art. 2164.
Because we find merit in the defendants' appeal, and reverse the trial court judgment rendered against them, we find it equitable to also reverse the award of expert witness fees made by the trial court. Further, in view of the reversal of the trial court's luaward, we also find it equitable to tax the costs of this appeal against Mullins. See Gibbs v. Giering, 183 So.2d 459, 463 (La.App. 3d Cir.1966).
DECREE
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the trial court is REVERSED. Costs of this appeal are assessed against Jason Mullins.
LeBLANC, J., concurs.
CARTER, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
. The issue of what constitutes an "extraordinary" risk arose in the case of Chinigo v. Geismar Marine, Inc., 512 So.2d 487. Quoting from Comment, Negligence Actions by Police Officers and Firefighters: A Need for a Professional Rescuers Rule, 66 Cal.L.Rev. 585, 598-602 (1978), the Chinigo court, 512 So.2d at 491, described an "extraordinary" risk as:
one that deviates from the norm of risks encountered in a given community to the extent that the professional rescuer cannot fairly be said to have agreed to relieve citizens of responsibility for it. Risks may be extraordinary because the hazard is hidden or unknown, or because rescuers must remedy a risk that is beyond their training and experience.
These extraordinaiy risks could arise because the risk-generating object is itself extraordinary or because the object, while common in itself, is exceptionally hazardous because of its quantity or placement. For example, a reactive chemical such as potassium could present an extraordinary risk in any residence, regardless of the quantity. Fuel oil, on the other hand, would generally present an ordinary risk [if] it were stored in an exterior lank in reasonable quantity. The same fuel oil could also be extraordinary, however, if it were stored in excessive quantity or in an open container in a basement. In Chinigo, a sheriff's deputy responding to a
call that a tank truck was leaking a clear liquid onto the highway, became seriously ill when exposed to the liquid. The tank truck did not exhibit placards designating that it was transporting styrene monomer, a highly volatile, toxic chemical. In finding that the professional rescuer rule did not preclude the deputy's suit against the owner of the tank truck, this court found that the defendant "improperly handled a hazardous chemical in a wanton manner" and that the risk to which the deputy was exposed was "extraordinaiy and one which was beyond [his] training and experience . to remedy." Chinigo v. Geismar Marine, Inc., 512 So.2d at 492.
Clearly, the risk at issue herein, a collapsing wall inside of a burning building, does not constitute an "extraordinary" risk of firefighting.
. At trial, Mullins introduced various photographs into evidence as Plaintiff's Exhibit 1. The photographs purportedly depict the stump and the area in the immediate vicinity of the stump. When the record was transmitted to this court, the exhibit was not included. An exhaustive search has been made for the exhibit, without avail. Therefore, this in globo exhibit is not available for review by this court.