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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 95-C-2075

RALPH CHEVALIER versus L.H. BOSSIER, INC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT, STATE OF LOUISIANA

KIMBALL, J.*
ISSUE We granted the writ in this worker's compensation case to determine whether a covered independent contractor who has received and continues to receive all compensation benefits to which he is entitled from his employer's compensation insurer may recover compensation benefits under La. R.S. 23:1163, or otherwise, from an employer who has violated La. R.S. 23:1163 by charging the covered claimant for the cost of his worker's compensation insurance. We hold that La. R.S. 23:1163 does not provide an employee with a private cause of action against his employer for unpaid compensation benefits and, further, that claimant in this particular case, having received all compensation benefits to which he is entitled from the employer's compensation insurer, may not recover the same compensation benefits from his employer. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The facts of this case are not disputed by the parties. Claimant, Ralph Chevalier, was hired by L.H. Bossier, Inc. ("Bossier"), a highway construction company, as an "independent hauler" to drive his own truck hauling road materials for Bossier. Though Bossier owned trucks which were driven by its own employees and paid all the maintenance, operation and insurance costs associated with its trucks, claimant, who owned his own truck, was required under his agreement with Bossier

Because of the vacancy created by the resignation of Dennis, J., now a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, there was no justice designated "not on panel" under Rule IV, Part II,

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Louisiana Law