Ronnie E. Jarvis v. Foremost Express Insurance Agency Inc., Marcelles A. Taylor, Felton Keyes, Jr., Kent & Smith Holdings, LLC, and ABC Insurance Company

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

RONNIE E. JARVIS NO. 2019 CW 1599
PAGE 1 OF 2)
VERSUS

FOREMOST EXPRESS INSURANCE
AGENCY, INC., MARCELLES A.
TAYLOR, FELTON KEYES, JR., OCTOBER 7, 202
KENT & SMITH HOLDINGS, LLC,

AND ABC INSURANCE COMPANY

Smith LLC Zurich American
In Re: Kent & Holding, and

Insurance Company, applying for supervisory writs,

19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton

Rouge, No. 669602.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, McDONALD, WELCH, HOLDRIDGE AND WOLFE, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The portion of the trial court' s November

19, 2019 judgment which denied the motion for summary judgment

filed defendants, Kent & Smith Holdings, L. L. C. and Zurich
by
is Defendants, Kent &
American Insurance Company, reversed.

Smith Holdings, L. L. C. and Zurich American Insurance Company,
pointed out the absence of factual support for one or more

elements essential to plaintiff' s claims, and plaintiff failed

to produce factual support sufficient to establish the existence
of a genuine issue of material fact or that defendants are not

entitled to judgment as a matter of law. With regard to the

vicarious liability of Kent & Smith Holdings, L. L. C. for the

acts of Felton Keyes, Jr. (" Keyes"), there is no evidence to

establish a genuine issue of material fact that Kent & Smith

Holdings, L. L. C. had the right to exercise the necessary control
over Keyes to render Keyes an employee of Kent & Smith Holdings,

L. L. C., and therefore, vicariously liable for his actions.

Plaintiff' s arguments that the contract between Kent & Smith

Holdings, L. L. C. and M. Taylor Trucking, L. L. C., which provided

the services of Keyes and the tractor used herein, evidenced

such control are insufficient as such provisions were directed

only to incidental details of the purpose of contract and do not
constitute the control necessary to convert the relationship to
that of employer- employee. See, e. g. Jones v. C. H. Robinson

Inc., 558 630 ( W. D. Va. 2008). As to the
Worldwide, F. Supp. 2d
causes of action asserting that Kent & Smith Holdings, LLC is
liable for failure to maintain the vehicle in good and safe

condition, failure to keep the vehicle properly equipped with

brakes and tires in a good and safe state of repair and in

allowing Keyes to operate the vehicle with the knowledge that he
was not a suitable person to do so, plaintiff failed to produce

factual support sufficient to establish the existence of a

genuine issue of material fact or that defendants are not

entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, the motion

for summary judgment is granted, and the claims of plaintiff,

Ronnie E. Jarvis, against defendants, Kent & Smith Holdings,

L. L. C. and Zurich American Insurance Company, are dismissed with
prejudice.

JMG
imm
JEW
EW

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

NO. 2019 CW 1599
PAGE 2 OF 2)

Holdridge, J., dissents and would deny the writ.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

D W

DEPU' T' Y CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT