Parker v. Joe Lujan Enterprises, Inc.

Summary

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Joe Lujan Enterprises and its insurer in an action arising from an employee’s fall from a bosun’s chair during communications-tower repair work in Guam. The court held that the winch operator was a borrowed servant of the plaintiff’s employer because that employer exercised authoritative direction and control over the operator at the work site. The court also affirmed denial of leave to amend because the proposed amendment was untimely, insufficiently justified, and substantially prejudicial to the defendants.

Holdings

1. The undisputed facts established as a matter of law that Lujan's winch operator was a borrowed servant of ECCG because ECCG possessed authoritative direction and control over the operator at the work site. Summary judgment for Lujan and Chung Kuo was therefore proper.
2. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Parker leave to amend because the motion was untimely, Parker failed to justify the delay in asserting an entirely new and inconsistent theory, and amendment would have substantially prejudiced the appellees.
3. Lujan's third-party complaint for contribution against ECCG was moot because the court affirmed summary judgment against Parker and in favor of Lujan.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the undisputed facts established that Lujan's winch operator was ECCG's borrowed servant, thereby precluding Parker's recovery against Lujan and its insurer under the borrowed servant doctrine.
2. Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying Parker leave to amend his complaint to assert a defective-winching-equipment theory.
3. Whether Lujan's third-party contribution claim against ECCG remained justiciable after summary judgment was affirmed for Lujan.

Disposition

affirmed