Court Opinion

ID: 9689849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:48:44.494998+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.523198
License: Public Domain

McCALEB, C. J.,
dissents, being of the
opinion that the decision of the Court of Appeal is correct. See 242 So.2d 249. The attempt of the majority to distinguish City of Shreveport v. Southwestern Gas & Electric Company, 145 La. 680, 82 So. 785, is unreal for R.S. 23:1101-03 in essence *316confers simply a right of legal subrogation (not a separate cause of action for indemnification) in favor of every compensation-paying employer against negligent third persons. Not only does the decision today effectually overrule the City of Shreveport case (under the guise of distinction), it also overrules several cases from our Courts of Appeal and like conclusions of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States, sub silentio, despite the fact that over these many years the Legislature itself has not amended the statute to effect an overruling of his jurisprudence. In confining the right of action granted to all compensation-paying employers to those who are “faultless”, the decision herein, adopting the views of Professor Malone, constitutes a judicial amendment to the statute which presently permits no such classification of employers.