PATSY JANE BOUDREAUX, ET AL. VERSUS ABLE SUPPLY CO., ET AL.

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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT 08-1350 PATSY JANE BOUDREAUX, ET AL. VERSUS ABLE SUPPLY CO., ET AL. ********** APPEAL FROM THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF VERMILION, NO. 88221-I HONORABLE THOMAS R. DUPLANTIER, DISTRICT JUDGE ********** BILLY H. EZELL JUDGE ********** Court composed of Jimmie C. Peters, Michael G. Sullivan, and Billy H. Ezell, Judges. MOTION TO LIFT STAY GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. Frank Joseph Swarr Attorney at Law 1010 Common Street, Suite 2050 New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 299-1214 COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS: Patsy Jane Boudreaux Carrie Boudreaux Marti Boudreaux Cheryl Simon Traci Mills David Joseph Bourgeois Attorney at Law 3838 North Causeway, Suite 2900 Metairie, LA 70002 (504) 832-3700 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Seville, Inc. William Lee Schuette, Jr. Jones, Walker, Waechter 8555 United Plaza, 5th Floor Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (225) 248-2082 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: General Electric Company CBS Corporation Alan K. Breaud Breaud & Meyers Post Office Drawer 3448 Lafayette, LA 70502 (337) 266-2200 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Omega Protein, Inc. Kathleen Fontenot Drew K & L Gates, L.L.P. 701 Poydras Street, Suite 4500 New Orleans, LA 70139 (504) 581-3234 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Estech, Inc. Darryl Joseph Foster Lemle, Kelleher, et al. 601 Poydras Street, 21st Floor New Orleans, LA 70130-6097 (504) 586-1241 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Monsanto Company Janet Wessler Marshall Attorney at Law 701 Poydras, Suite 4700 New Orleans, LA 70139-7708 (504) 528-3001 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Atlantic Richfield Company BP America, Inc. Susan B. Kohn Simon, Peragine, Smith 1100 Poydras, 30th Floor New Orleans, LA 70163-3000 (504) 569-2030 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Eagle, Inc. Christopher Kelly Lightfoot Hailey, McNamara, Hall One Galleria Boulevard, #1400 Metairie, LA 70001 (504) 836-6500 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Taylor-Seidenbach, Inc. Duris Lee Holmes Deutsh, Kerrigan & Stiles 755 Magazine Street New Orleans, LA 70130-0000 (504) 581-5141 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Anco Insulations, Inc. Zurn Industries Reilly Power, Inc. Sarah Ann Lowman Middleberg, Riddle & Gianna 201 St. Charles Avenue, 31st Floor New Orleans, LA 70170-3100 (504) 525-7200 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Fluor Enterprise, Inc. Fluor Corporation Fluor Constructors International,Inc. Fluor Maintenance Services, Inc. James Michael Garner Sher, Garner, Cahill, Ritcher, Klein & Hilbert, L.L.C. 909 Poydras Street, 28th Floor New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 299-2100 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Air Liquide America Corporation Air Liquide Yul Dubart Lorio Doucet, Lorio & Moreno One Lakeshore Drive, #1695 Lake Charles, LA 70629 (337) 433-0100 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc. Lyondell Chemical Company Scott Allen Soule Chaffe McCall 1100 Poydras Street, #2300 New Orleans, LA 70163 (504) 585-7000 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Citgo Petroleum Corporation Richard P. Sulzer Attorney at Law 201 Holiday Boulevard, #335 Covington, LA 70433 (985) 898-0608 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Chicago Bridge & Iron Company Erin Fury Parkinson McGlinchey, Stafford 601 Poydras Street, 12th Floor New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 586-1200 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: American Cyanamid Company Cory Rabin Cahn Entergy Services 639 Loyola Avenue, 26th Floor New Orleans, LA 70161 (504) 576-5533 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. Joshua Lee Rubenstein Attorney at Law 1515 Poydras, Suite 1300 New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 799-4383 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Ingersoll-Rand Co. Cynthia Cleland Branch Attorney at Law 3838 North Causeway, #3010 Metairie, LA 70002 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Turner Industries, L.L.C. Sheri Sport Faust Frilot, Partridge, Kohnke 1100 Poydras Street, #3600 New Orleans, LA 70163-3600 (504) 599-8000 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Bechtel Construction Company Bechtel Corporation Amy L. Maccherone, Esq. Attorney at Law 400 Lafayette Street, Suite #200 New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 568-9393 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: E. I. Dupont De Nemours Michael D. Lonegrass Galloway, Johnson 701 Poydras Street, Suite #4040 New Orleans, LA 70139-1200 (504) 525-6802 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Crown, Cork & Seal Co., Inc. Diane M. Sweezer Attorney at Law 808 Travis Street, Suite #1608 Houston, TX 77002 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Reilly Benton, Inc. Allison N. Benoit Kean, Miller, Hawthorne Post Office Box 3513 Baton Rouge, LA 70821 (225) 387-0999 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: ExxonMobil Corporation Lexi T. Holinga Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, L.L.P. Post Office Box 2471 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-2471 (225) 387-3221 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Dow Chemical Company Lori A. Waters Lynn Luker & Associates, L.L.C. 3433 Magazine Street New Orleans, LA 70115 (504) 525-5500 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation Matthew S. Lott Dogan & Wilkinson, P.L.L.C. Post Office Box 1618 New Orleans, LA 70163 (225) 762-2272 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Crane Company Scott T. Winstead Sutterfield & Webb, L.L.C. 650 Poydras Street, Suite #2715 New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 598-2715 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Able Supply Company Molly M. Gattuso Ann S. Russell Forman, Perry, Watkins, Krutz & Tardy, L.L.P. 1515 Poydras Street, Suite #1300 New Orleans, LA 70112 (504) 799-4383 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE: Owens-Illinois Brandie L. Mendoza Aultman, Tyner, Ruffen, Bell, Swetman, Ltd. 400 Poydras Street, Suite #1900 New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 528-9616 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES: Garlock Sealing Technologies, L.L.C. Viacom, Inc. CBS Corporation Wyeth Holdings Corporation American Cyanamid Company Fluor Constructors, Inc. Fluor Constructors International, Inc. EZELL, Judge. The Defendant-Appellee, American Cyanamid, Inc., moves this court to lift the stay currently in effect for this appeal. For the reasons given herein, we grant the motion to lift the stay as to all defendants, except Lyondell Chemical Company and Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc. This case involves a wrongful death and survival action filed by the widow and children of Decedent, Lloyd Joseph Boudreaux, Jr. Decedent died in 2007 from mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Plaintiffs, Patsy Boudreaux, Carrie Boudreaux, Traci Mills, Cheryl Simon, and Marti Boudreaux, have filed suit against more than fifty corporate defendants alleging that Decedent was exposed to asbestos while working as an insulator and various other jobs from the 1950's to the 1990's. The suit was filed in Vermilion Parish. However, because Plaintiffs are domiciled in Texas and because most of Decedent s jobs were located in Texas, Defendant, American Cyanamid, Inc., filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for forum non conveniens, asserting that Texas would be a more convenient forum. Several other defendants joined in the motion to dismiss. By judgment dated April 25, 2008, the trial court granted the motion to dismiss but reserved Plaintiffs right to refile their action within sixty days in a court of competent jurisdiction. Plaintiffs filed an appeal which was lodged in this court on November 6, 2008. The parties have submitted their appellate briefs and requested oral argument. However, on January 22, 2009, this court received notice that Defendants, Lyondell Chemical Company and Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc., had filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. As a result, on January 22, 2009, a deputy clerk of court for this court sent a correspondence to the parties notifying them that the appeal has been stayed. 1 At this time, Defendant, American Cyanamid, Inc., has filed a motion to lift the stay on the ground that Plaintiffs filed, in the district court, a motion and order to voluntarily dismiss their claims against Lyondell Chemical Company and Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc., which was granted by the trial court on February 3, 2009. Since we find that the jurisprudence allows us to lift the stay order as it pertains to the nonbankrupt debtors, we pretermit any determination of whether the trial court retained jurisdiction to issue an order dismissing the two bankrupt debtors after the trial court had already dismissed the entire case for forum non conveniens and after an appeal had been taken. The filing of a federal bankruptcy petition operates as an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 that prevents creditors from commencing or continuing judicial or administrative proceedings against the debtor. Ring Const., LLC v. Chateau Des Lions, LLC, 05-568 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/30/05), 918 So.2d 1172, 1176, writ denied, 060584 (La. 5/5/06), 927 So.2d 325. However, the automatic stay imposed by Section 362 only applies to the party or parties filing for bankruptcy and does not apply to non-bankrupt co-defendants. See Martin v. David, 95-1411 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/7/95), 666 So.2d 1136; Jackson v. BASF Corp., 04-2777 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/4/05), 927 So.2d 412, writ denied, 05-2444 (La. 3/24/06), 925 So.2d 1231. In the instant case, we find that since only two of the numerous named defendants have filed bankruptcy, the automatic stay imposed by 11 U.S.C. § 362 only applies to those two defendants, i. e., Lyondell Chemical Company and Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc. Having determined that the automatic stay does not require a stay as to the remaining defendants, we see no reason why the appeal should not be allowed to proceed as to the remaining defendants, especially since Plaintiffs have filed with the trial court a motion to dismiss which manifests their intent not to proceed with their claims against the two bankrupt defendants at this time. 2 For the foregoing reasons, we order that the stay be lifted as to all Defendants, except Lyondell Chemical Company and Millennium Petrochemicals, Inc. MOTION TO LIFT STAY GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. This opinion is NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION. Rules 2-16.2 and 2-16.3, Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal. 3

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