BATON ROUGE – An Ascension Parish man who sued a company for injuries and had a summary judgment granted against him recently had his latest appeal dismissed by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal.
Chief Judge Vanessa Whipple of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal issued a 14-page ruling March 13 affirming the 23rd Judicial District Court for Ascension Parish's decision in the lawsuit filed by Benny Hernandez against Excel Contractors Inc.
Hernandez filed the suit against Excel and its insurer seeking damages as a result of an injury he suffered working at the CF1 Industries plant while he was employed by ASAP Employment Services Inc, court filings said.
As stated in the ruling, Excel "answered the petition and then filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted on July 8, 2016, as it established that none of Excel Contractors Inc.' s employees could have been responsible for plaintiffs injuries."
Other defendants included in the action filed for summary judgment with an exception of no cause of action, which was granted on Feb. 22, 2017.
"The judgment further decreed that the exception of no cause of action was moot as to the statutory employee issue, but was sustained, however, as to plaintiff's claims for intentional torts. The judgment further ordered plaintiff to amend his pleadings within 30 days of the signing of the judgment 'to sufficiently plead any intentional torts if he so chooses,'" the ruling said.
Hernandez appealed the ruling.
In her ruling, Whipple said the First Circuit Court lacked "subject matter jurisdiction over this appeal" due to the fact that "the portion of the judgment sustaining the exception of no cause of action and granting leave to amend likewise was improperly designated as final."
The ruling also assessed costs at one-half each to plaintiff Benny Hernandez and defendants
SPX Cooling Technologies Inc., Xcel Erectors Inc., and James Meidl.
Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal Case No. 2018 CA 1091