Opinion ID: 1833794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Reasonableness of jury's assessment of fault between Stevedores and Broussard

Text: The seminal case on the apportionment of fault between parties is Watson v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967 (La.1985). In Watson, this Court identified various factors which may influence the degree of fault assigned, including: whether the conduct resulted from inadvertence or involved awareness of the danger, how great a risk was created by the conduct, the significance of what was sought by the conduct, the capacities of the actors, whether superior or inferior, and any extenuating circumstances which might require the actor to proceed in haste, without proper thought. Watson, 469 So.2d at 974. [10] After reviewing the evidence presented to the jury, we cannot say that the jury's apportionment of fault between Broussard and Stevedores was unreasonable or not supported by the evidence. Although Broussard may not have properly crosstied and stacked the rice layers on the pallets, it was the duty of Stevedores to ascertain at the time of delivery whether the rice pallets, as received, needed remediation. Once Stevedores accepted the rice pallets, it assumed complete control of that lot. Moreover, having assumed control of the rice, a jury could have reasonably concluded that Stevedores's act in stacking the poorly layered and crosstied rice pallets three high created the hazard which ultimately injured its employee, Joseph. Thus, we find that a reasonable jury could have allocated fault 72.4% to the Stevedores and 13.6% to Broussard.