Romero v. Garan's, Inc.

13 La.App. 3 Cir. 482

130 So. 3d 451

2013 La. App. LEXIS 2870

2013 WL 6834784

Court

Louisiana Court of Appeal

Filed

Dec 26, 2013

Status

Published

Author

Keaty

On the bench

Amy, Conery, Cooks, Ezell, Genovese, Gremillion, Keaty, Painter, Peters, Pickett, Saunders, Thibodeaux

Cited by

9 cases

Authority

More cited than 17.1%

The opinion

KEATY, Judge,

dissenting in part.

For the reasons assigned in Cook v. Family Care Services, Inc., 13-108 (La.App. 3 Cir. 8/28/13) , 121 So.3d 1274 , I find no error in the WCJ’s retroactive application of La.R.S. 23:1203.1 to deny Ms. Romero’s claim for penalties and attorney fees based on Garan’s initial refusal to authorize the facet-nerve' ablation recommended by Dr; Jindia. Thus, I disagree with the majority’s decision to overrule Cook, to reverse the WCJ’s denial of Ms. Romero’s claim for penalties and attorney fees based on its finding that La.R.S. 23:1203.1 is substantive and should only apply prospectively, and to award Ms. Romero $2,000.00 in penalties and an additional $2,500.00 in attorney fees under La. R.S 23:1201(F) as it existed at the time of Ms. Romero’s injury. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion. In all other respects, I agree with the majority opinion..