Case Name: Angelina GAUTREAUX, et al. v. RHEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, et al.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1996-12-27
Citations: 694 So. 2d 977
Docket Number: No. 96-C-2193
Parties: Angelina GAUTREAUX, et al. v. RHEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, et al.
Judges: Before BYRNES, LOBRANO, PLOTKIN and MURRAY, JJ., and JAMES C. GULOTTA, J. Pro Tem.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 694
Pages: 977–984

Head Matter:
Angelina GAUTREAUX, et al. v. RHEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, et al.
No. 96-C-2193.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Dec. 27, 1996.
Writ Denied March 14, 1997.
Douglas P. Pugh, Sidney A. Backstrom, New Orleans, for Relator.
Robert H. Urann, Nancy Picard, Metairie, for Respondent.
Before BYRNES, LOBRANO, PLOTKIN and MURRAY, JJ., and JAMES C. GULOTTA, J. Pro Tem.

Opinion:
| iPLOTKIN, Judge.
The plaintiffs filed suit for damages incurred in the death of Charles Gautreaux from lung cancer, whose death is alleged to have been caused by exposure to asbestos during his employment at Rheem Manufacturing Company from 1946 to 1982. Defendant Rheem contended by exception of no cause of action that, under former La.R.S. 23:1031.1(A) 1 (d), the plaintiffs' exclusive remedy is in workers' compensation. The exception was denied and Rheem sought supervisory review. We grant the application to affirm the decision of trial judge denying relator's exception of no cause of action.
Prior to amendment in 1975, Section 1031.1 of Title 23 listed various occupational diseases that were covered by workers' compensation and also listed certain substances that, when they caused disease as a result of occupational exposure, that disease would also be covered by workers' compensation. Lung cancer was not a listed disease and asbestos was not a listed substance although asbestosis was a listed disease. Subsection (d) of the enumerated substances, ^however, referred to oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon and their compounds. Therefore, relying upon the allegation that asbestos is an oxygen compound for the purposes of this former subsection, relator contends in its exception of no cause of action that the plaintiffs' exclusive remedy is in workers' compensation.
We find no error in the denial of relator's exception of no cause of action. The record contains an extensive dispute over whether asbestos is better characterized as a "mineral" or a "compound" for the purposes of former La.R.S. 23:1031.1(A) 1 (d). The attached affidavit of an expert witness suggests that asbestos would be better described as a mineral in the context of the scientific terminology appearing in the statute. Thus, on this showing, it has not been established as a matter of law that asbestos must be considered an "oxygen compound" within the context for former Subsection (d). Accordingly, the trial judge correctly denied the exception of no cause of action.
It is true that asbestos is a compound which contains oxygen. However, all compounds that contain oxygen may not necessarily be oxygen compounds for the purposes of former Subsection (d). Such a broad interpretation would render several other subsections of the former section redundant. For example, the aliphatic and aromatic cyclic hydrocarbons of Subsections (h) and (i) necessarily ^contain carbon, and their nitro, diazo, and amino compounds must contain nitrogen as well. See generally Daniel S. Kemp & Frank Vellaccio, Organic Chemistry (1980). Likewise, the hydroxyl group of alcohols, Subsection (j), contains oxygen; the carbonyl of aldehydes and ketones, Subsections (m) and (n), consists of carbon and oxygen; and ethers, glycols, and phenols, Subsections (o) and (p), all contain characteristic carbon and oxygen configurations. See id. chs. 1-3, 9, 20. If oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon and their compounds were intended by the legislature to include all compounds which consist in part of any quantity of oxygen, nitrogen, or carbon, there would have been no need to enumerate further.
The reference to oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon and their compounds in the context of potential sources of occupational disease compensable under a workers' compensation scheme was clearly intended to be construed broadly. However, nearly ninety percent of the over seven million chemical compounds known to exist in 1990 contained carbon. Donald Voet & Judith G. Voet, Biochemistry 19 (1990). This Court is not convinced that the Louisiana legislature intended to classify all of these carbon-containing compounds as carbon compounds within the meaning of Subsection (d). Likewise, relator has not made the showing necessary to establish as a matter of law that all compounds that contain oxygen are oxygen compounds for the purposes of this subsection. Instead, on this record, it appears equally likely that former Subsection (d) was intended to include only those compounds which primarily consist of oxygen, nitrogen, or carbon, such as peroxide, ammonia, or methane, and exclude those compounds in which these elements are less predominant and play less of a characteristic functional role, such as asbestos.
The novel interpretation proposed by the relator is also in conflict with the established jurisprudence arising under this twenty-year-old statute. For example,in Hicks v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 165 So.2d 51, 53 (La.App. 2d Cir.1964), l4it was noted that flour did not contain, in sufficient quantities to produce emphysema, chemical compounds enumerated in La.R.S. 23:1031.1. However, flour contains considerable quantities of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. More recently, the First Circuit applied the same statute at issue in the instant ease to hold that asbestos is not included in the list of substances enumerated under former Subsection (A) 1. See Thomas v. Armstrong World Indus., Inc., 95-2222 (La.App.1st Cir. 6/28/96), 676 So.2d 1185, unit denied, 96-1965 (La.11/1/96) 681 So.2d 1272. We are persuaded that the First Circuit was correct in this ruling.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment denying the relator's exception of no cause of action is affirmed.
WRIT GRANTED; JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
JAMES C. GULOTTA, J. Pro Tem., concurs.
BYRNES, J., dissents -with reasons.
LOBRANO, J., dissents for the reasons assigned by BYRNES, J.
. Former Subsection (A) 1 listed the following substances:
(a) the halogens, halogen compounds, and halogenated hydrocarbons
(b) alkaline materials
(c) arsenic, phosphorus, selenium, sulfur, tellurium, and their compounds
(d) oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and their compounds
(e) cyanides and cyanogen compounds
(f) lead and lead compounds
(g) metals other than lead and their compounds
(h) aliphatic hydrocarbons and their nitro, dia-zo and amino compounds
(i) aromatic and cyclic hydrocarbons and their nitro, amino and other compounds
(j) alcohols
(k) organic and inorganic acids and their derivatives and compounds
(/) esters of aliphatic, aromatic and inorganic acids
(m) aldehydes
(n) ketones
(o) ethers, glycols, and glycol ethers, and their compounds
(p) phenol and phenolic compounds