CHARLES E. BATES AND STACY NO. 2024 CW 0956 BATES

VERSUS PAGE 1 OF 2 PROGRESSIVE TRACTOR AND IMPLEMENT CO., LLC, KEN BORDELON, EMC INSURANCE FEBRUARY 25, 2025 COMPANY, MACDON, INC. AND CNH INDUSTRIAL AMERICA, LLC

In Re: Charles E. Bates Bates, and Stacy applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 672829.

BEFORE: PENZATO, MILLER, GREENE, STROMBERG AND CALLOWAY,' JJ.

WRIT GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. The district court' s August 28, 2024 judgment denying as premature plaintiffs, motion to exclude evidence of any alleged defect in the machinery involved is reversed in part. La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( G) provides in pertinent part:

When the court renders judgment . . . that a party or nonparty is not negligent, is not at fault, or did not cause in whole or in part the injury or harm alleged, that party or nonparty shall not be considered in any subsequent allocation of fault. Evidence shall not be admitted at trial to establish the fault of that party or nonparty[.]

The manufacturer of the involved, machinery MacDon, Inc., was dismissed after the grant of its motion for summary judgment. Bates v. Progressive Tractor and Implement Co., LLC, 2021- 0338 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 12/ 22/ 21), 340 So. 3d 71. Thus, any evidence to establish MacDon, Inc.' s fault is inadmissible under La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( G), and plaintiffs' motion is granted in part as to this evidence. There was no evidence regarding the dismissal of CNH Industrial America, LLC. In all other respects, the writ application is denied.

ARP HG TPS

Miller/ J., concurs with the writ grant in part but would deny in part because the criteria set forth in Herlitz Construction Co., Inc. v. Hotel Investors of New Iberia, Inc., 396 So . 2 d 878 La. 1981) ( per curiam) are not met.

Calloway, J., serving as judge pro tempore of the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, by special appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

NO. 2024 CW 0956

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Calloway, J., dissents. The criteria set forth in Herlitz Construction Co., Inc. v. Hotel Investors of New Iberia, Inc., 396 So. 2d 878 ( La. 1981) ( per curiam) are not met.

URT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

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