Darryl Rayborn v. Ace Property & Casualty Insurance Company Continental Cement Company, LLC

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.
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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.
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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
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supplemented with such amended final judgment no later than thirty days following
the issuance of this opinion.
REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.