Andrew ‘Drew’ Blanchfield

Keogh Cox is proud to recognize our ten attorneys who havebeen selected to the 2027 Louisiana Super Lawyers and Rising Stars® lists.

Our seven attorneys named to the 2027 Louisiana SuperLawyers® list are:

• John P. Wolff, III – Civil Litigation: Defense
• Andrew Blanchfield - Professional Liability: Defense
• Kirk L. Landry – Workers’ Compensation
• Collin J. LeBlanc – General Litigation
• Christopher K. Jones – Class Action
• Mary Anne Wolf – Construction Litigation
• Tori S. Bowling – General Litigation

Our three attorneys named to the 2027 Louisiana Rising Stars® list are:

• Sydnee D. Menou –  Insurance Coverage
• Cole C. Frazier –  Personal Injury General: Defense
• Brandi A. Barze – Civil Litigation: Defense

Please help us congratulate these attorneys on their amazing accomplishments!

Keogh Cox is proud to announce our six partners who have been recognized in the 2027 Best Lawyers in America® list: John P. Wolff, Andrew Blanchfield, Kirk L. Landry, Edward F. Stauss, Christopher K. Jones, and Richard W. Wolff as well as partner Brandi A. Barze who was named to the 2027 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America® list. 

Lawyers on the Best Lawyers in America® list are divided by geographic region practice areas. They are reviewed by their peers based on professional expertise and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and good standing.

This recognition demonstrates the caliber of work and commitment to excellence that define Keogh Cox and its attorneys.

In Saizon v. Dow Chem. Co., the plaintiff was injured while he was working for Turner Industrial Group at the Dow Chemical Plant in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The plaintiff named Dow and three of its employees as defendants. The Dow defendants moved for summary judgment on grounds that the plaintiff was Dow’s statutory employee at the time of the accident and therefore the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Law (“LWCL”) provided plaintiff with his exclusive remedy for the claims he asserted against Dow and its employees.

The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment on appeal.

The Court found the contract executed between Dow and Turner Industries created a rebuttable presumption under La. R.S. 23:1061(A)(3) that Dow was the plaintiff’s statutory employer at the time of the accident. The plaintiff failed to produce evidence to rebut this presumption. Accordingly, the defendants argued plaintiff’s exclusive remedy was found in workers’ compensation, not in tort.

The LWCL generally holds that an employer is immune from tort actions brought against it by its employee. However, the LWCL includes an “intentional act exception,” where an employee can maintain a tort claim if he can show that his accident and injuries resulted from his employer’s intentional act. A plaintiff can establish the intentional act exception if he can show the employer “knows that the result is substantially certain to follow from his conduct.”

The plaintiff argued that the defendants were aware of the risk that a fire or explosion could occur before the accident. He also argued the defendants failed to follow Dow’s safety policies and OSHA guidelines at the time of the accident. Plaintiff argued this created an issue of fact regarding whether the accident was “substantially certain.”

The First Circuit disagreed, finding this evidence amounted to only “generalized knowledge of risk” that “falls short of the kind of actual intention to injure that robs the injury of accidental character.” In short, the court agreed with the defendants’ position that “an employer’s generalized knowledge of risk does not meet the intentional act test without proof of specific knowledge of risk to this plaintiff and moving ahead with operations anyway.” Plaintiff had no such evidence, and his claims were dismissed.

Reference:

Saizon v. Dow Chem. Co., 2025-1139 (La. App. 1 Cir. 4/24/26), 2026 WL 1122621