Opinion ID: 1716282
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: defenses raised to liability under article 2322, if found applicable.

Text: An owner may be exculpated from liability under Article 2322 for a premise-defect, if the victim is injured not, by reason of the defect, but instead because of the fault of some third person. See Loescher v. Parr, 324 So.2d 441, 445 (La.1975), and decisions therein cited. On this basis, Shell claims exculpation. It argues that the damages were in fact caused by the intervening fault of a third person, its independent contractor Movible, which negligently failed to repair the defective water-heater valve. We have previously noted that the owner has a non-delegable duty imposed by Articles 670 and 2322 to keep his building in repair and free of defects constituting an unreasonable risk of injuries to others. The owner's agreement with or reliance upon a contractor or tenant to perform this duty imposed by law on him, the owner, does not constitute that contractor or tenant a third person for purposes of exculpating the owner from his liability under these code articles. See: Klein v. Young, 163 La. 59, 111 So. 495 (1927); Camp v. Church Wardens, 7 La.Ann. 321 (1852). The latter decision holds that, insofar as the victim is concerned, the owner is liable because of his obligation imposed by the code articles (from the policy of the law alone, 7 La.Ann. 325), but the contractor also may be held liable for his independent fault in the construction. Somewhat similarly, the analagous strict liability under Article 670 (1870) of a proprietor not to make any work on his land which causes damage to his neighbor, imposes responsibility for such damages upon both the proprietor and his independent contractor performing the work. Lombard v. Sewerage & Water Board, 284 So.2d 905 (La.1973); D'Albora v. Tulane University, 274 So.2d 825 (La.App.4th Cir. 1973). The fault of a third person which exonerates a person from his own obligation importing strict liability as imposed by Articles 2317, 2321, and 2322 is that which is the sole cause of the damage, of the nature of an irresistible and unforeseeable occurrence [15] i. e., where the damage resulting has no causal relationship whatsoever to the fault of the owner in failing to keep his building in repair, and where the third person is a stranger rather than a person acting with the consent of the owner in the performance of the owner's non-delegable duty to keep his building in repair. See: Mazeaud and Mazeaud, Traite Theorique et Pratique de la Responsibilite Civile, Delictuelle et Contractuelle, Sections 1068-70 (pp. 51-53), Sections 1622-85 (pp. 74-80), especially Sections 1622, 1630, 1637, 1644, 1646-48, 1652 (6th ed. 1970). In view of this conclusion, we find no merit to the defendant's argument that the building-owner might somehow be exculpated from his liability under Article 2322 to keep the building in safe repair, because the damages could be said to result (also) from the negligence of an independent contractor in performing work on a part of the premises within its control. The argument is based upon expressions in certain decisions by the intermediate courts: Temple v. General Insurance Co., 306 So.2d 915 (La.App.1st Cir. 1968); Vinton Petroleum Co. v. L. Seiss Oil Syndicate, 19 La.App. 179, 139 So. 543 (1st Cir. 1932). Temple and Henson dealt with the liability of the premise-owner for injuries to a construction employee resulting from the negligence of the independent contractor or his subcontractor employed to perform construction work, while Vinton by way of dicta indicated the owner might not have been liable if the person employed to dismantle a drilling rig (which fell and caused the damage) were an independent contractor instead of an employee of the owner. As the Fifth Circuit noted, in certifying the present questions to us, the rationale in these decisions is unclear and, if interpreted as Shell desires, is inconsistent with other Louisiana jurisprudence imposing a non-delegable strict liability upon an owner under Article 2322 regardless of whether he retains control of his premises. Olsen, cited above at 561 F.2d 1190-94. To some extent, the uncertainty of rationale results from a failure to note that the strict liability under Article 2322 of the owner of a building for damages resulting from his non-delegable duty to keep it in repair, is based upon a totally distinct theory of liability than is that under Article 2320 of a master for the negligent torts of his servants. [16] In Camp v. Church Wardens, 7 La.Ann. 321, 325 (1852), this court early recognized this distinction, in rejecting contentions similar to those now advanced by the defendant: That these provisions [the provisions of Article 2302 (1825), the verbatim predecessor of Article 2322 (1870)] are entirely independent of the general rules concerning the responsibilities of masters and employers, and not in any manner connected with their relations, is shown conclusively by their place in the code. These articles are in the same chapter, and follow immediately that which provides for the latter, which is numbered 2299 [(1825), the verbatim predecessor of article 2320 (1870)]. They are evidently founded in an enlightened view of public necessity. They protect the neighbor; the passenger in the street; and it would be singular, indeed, if the men at work at the building were excluded from their just and salutary operation.