Court Opinion

ID: 9891726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-19 16:08:11.32122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:00:23.965793
License: Public Domain

STATE OF LOUISIANA

                              COURT OF APPEAL

                                 FIRST CIRCUIT

                                  2023 CA 0403

                           DARRYL RAYBORN, SR.

                                     VERSUS

               CONTINENTAL CEMENT COMPANY, LLC and
 V----
  10ACE PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY

                                             Judgment Rendered:      OCT 19 2023

         On Appeal from the Office of Workers' Compensation, District 5
                         In and for the Parish of Ascension
                                State of Louisiana
                                  No. 21- 05520

            Hon. Jason Ourso, Workers' Compensation Judge Presiding

Ted Williams                                 Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana                       Darryl Rayborn, Sr.

Eric J. Waltner                              Counsel for Defendants/ Appellants,
Lafayette, Louisiana                         Continental Cement Company, LLC
                                             and   Ace   Property and Casualty
                                             Insurance Company

                                   EMMMMMM3

            BEFORE: THERIOT, PENZATO, AND GREENE, JJ.
PENZATO, J.

       This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of Darryl Rayborn, Sr., a

workers'   compensation         claimant,   and against defendants, Continental Cement

Company, LLC and Ace Property and Casualty Insurance Company ( collectively,

 Continental Cement").          After review, we remand with instructions.

                       FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

       Mr. Rayborn filed a 1008 disputed claim for compensation against Continental

Cement on October 12, 2021,           seeking indemnity and medical benefits, costs, and

judicial interest.   Mr. Rayborn also sought an award of penalties, attorney fees, and

judicial interest due to Continental Cement' s termination of his compensation

benefits on June 29, 2021. See La. R. S. 23: 1201( I). The matter proceeded to trial on

December 12, 2022.

       The workers' compensation court signed a written judgment on December 20,

2022, finding that Mr. Rayborn suffered an injury by accident to his left knee on or

about November         14,    2018 in the course and scope of his employment with

Continental Cement.          The judgment additionally states, in pertinent part:

       IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that
       claimant is entitled to, and the defendants, Continental Cement
       Company, LLC, and Ace Property and Casualty Insurance Company,
       shall pay temporary totally [ sic] disability benefits from June 29, 2021
       to the present, and continuing until further order of the Court at the
       maximum weekly compensation rate of Six Hundred Sixty Five and
       001100 ($ 665. 00) Dollars based on a pre -injury average weekly wage
       of One Thousand One Hundred Forty and 091100 ($ 1, 140. 09) Dollars;
       IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that
       claimant,     Darryl     Rayborn, Sr.,   is entitled to and the defendants,
       Continental Cement Company, LLC, and Ace Property and Casualty
       Insurance Company, shall pay pursuant to the fee schedule all
       outstanding medical bills, and reimburse claimant all out of pocket
       medical expenses related to claimant' s November 14, 2018 left knee
       injury subject to a credit for any medical bills previously paid by the
       defendant;

       Continental Cement appealed from this judgment.

                                                2
                       LACK OF DECRETAL LANGUAGE

       A valid judgment must be precise, definite, and certain. A final, appealable

judgment must contain decretal language and must name the party in favor of whom

the ruling is ordered, the party against whom the ruling is ordered, and the relief that

is granted or denied. These determinations should be evident from the language of

the judgment without reference to other documents in the record. Bond v. Louisiana

Purchase Equestrian Estates, LLC, 2019- 0957 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 2121120), 299

So. 3d 120, 124; Advanced Leveling & Concrete Solutions v. Lathan Company, Inc.,

2017- 1250 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 12120118), 268 So. 3d 1044, 1046 ( en Banc).            The

specific nature and amount of damages should be determinable from a judgment so

that a third person is able to determine from a judgment the amount owed without

reference to   other documents.       Advanced Leveling,     268   So. 3d at   1046;   Hill

International, Inc. v. JTS Realty Corp., 2021- 015 7 ( La. App. 1 st Cir. 1213 0121), 3 42

So. 3d 322, 326.

       The judgment at issue does not set forth the specific amount of past temporary

total disability benefits owed to Mr. Raybom or the specific amount of outstanding

medical bills (to be paid pursuant to the fee schedule). The judgment does not state

the specific amount of reimbursement owed to Mr. Rayborn for all out- of-pocket

medical expenses related to his November 14, 2018 left knee injury, nor does it state

the specific amount of the credit owed to the defendants for any medical bills

previously paid by the defendants. Therefore, the judgment lacks decretal language.

See Batiste v. Minerals Technology, Inc., 2020- 327 ( La. App. 3d Cir. 515/ 21), 319

So. 3d 396, 400- 01,   finding the workers'     compensation court' s judgment lacked

decretal   language,   because   it   awarded   the   claimant " medical   benefits"   and

 supplemental earnings benefits from April 21, 2017[,]        to date[, j" without setting

forth the amounts awarded.

                                            3
       Similarly, in Gulfsouth Credit, LLC v. Conway, 2022- 0499 ( La. App, lst Cir.

11/ 4/ 22), 354 So. 3d 731, the judgment awarded " all costs" and defined " costs"     as

 including but not limited to any money paid to a private process server to serve

documents in the suit and court costs."   The judgment did not specify the amount of

costs for the proceeding, nor did it specify the costs of the private process server.

Consequently, the precise amounts of the " costs" awarded in the judgment could not

be determined from the judgment alone. This court concluded that the judgment

lacked decretal language and remanded the case to the trial court for the limited

purpose of instructing the trial court to sign an amended final judgment that is

precise,   definite, and certain and contains proper decretal language.          Guysouth
                                                                                     -

Credit, 354 So.3d at 734, citing La. C.C. P. arts. 1918( A), 1951, and 2088( A)( 12) as

amended by 2021 La. Acts 259, § 2 ( eff. Aug. 1, 2021). Examining a substantially

similar judgment, this court reached the same result in East Baton Rouge Teachers

Federal Credit Union v. Smith, 2022- 0497 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 12122122), 367 So. 3d

713, 716.

       A lack of proper language in a judgment that is otherwise a final judgment

does not divest the appellate court ofjurisdiction. Instead, the final judgment shall

be corrected to include proper decretal language by an amendment in accordance

with La. C. C. P. art. 1951. See La. C. C. P. art. 1918, Comments —2021, Comment (a);

See Hill International, 342 So. 3d at 328 n.4. Therefore, we remand this matter to

the workers' compensation court to correct the deficiency in the judgment.

                                       DECREE

       For the foregoing reasons,       this       matter   is remanded to the   workers'

compensation court for the limited purpose of allowing the court to sign an amended

final judgment that is precise, definite, and certain and contains proper decretal

language in accordance with this opinion. See La. C. C. P. arts. 1918( A), 1951, and

2088( A)( 12).   It is further ordered that the record in this pending appeal shall be

                                               4
supplemented with such amended final judgment no later than thirty days following

the issuance of this opinion.

      REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.