Curtis Ortego v. Union Oil Company of California

Curtis Ortego, an employee of Pelican Well Service, Inc., was injured while engaged in workover operations on an oil well belonging to Union Oil Company of California. Ortego received workers’ compensation benefits from his employer. Invoking diversity jurisdiction, Ortego filed the present tort suit against Union Oil, alleging that Union Oil’s supervisors failed to maintain a safe job site.

Union Oil moved for summary judgment, contending that under Louisiana’s workers’ compensation statute, as Ortego’s statutory employer it was liable to him exclusively for compensation benefits, it was not…