PER CURIAM:
This appeal presents important issues of Louisiana law that are particularly appropriate for resolution by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Raymond Louviere and Charles Martinez, employees of Teledyne Movible Offshore (Teledyne), were allegedly injured on May 6, 1970, when a hot water heater exploded in the living quarters of an offshore drilling platform owned by Shell Oil Company (Shell). Argonaut Insurance Company (Argonaut), Teledyne's compensation carrier, paid compensation benefits under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq. (1976), to Louviere, Martinez, and other workers without entry of a formal award because Teledyne did not contest the workers' right to compensation. On May 5, 1971, Argonaut filed suit in federal court against Shell and other defendants, seeking reimbursement for the compensation benefits paid.
On February 27, 1973, Louviere filed a separate lawsuit in federal court against the defendants named in the Argonaut action to recover damages for his injuries. On April 16, 1976, Martinez filed his own lawsuit in federal court against the defendants named in the Argonaut action, as well as other defendants, for the injuries he allegedly sustained because of the explosion. Neither Martinez nor Louviere intervened in the Argonaut suit. The Louviere and Martinez actions were consolidated. After considering memoranda submitted by the parties addressing the effect of the Argonaut suit on the running of the prescriptive period applicable to the consolidated actions, the federal district court granted summary judgment for the defendants and dismissed the consolidated actions on the ground that the plaintiffs' actions had prescribed. The court reasoned that the filing of the Argonaut suit had started again the running of the one-year prescriptive period applicable to the Louviere and Martinez actions, but that neither plaintiff had instituted his suit before the one-year period expired. Louviere and Martinez appealed the district court's order of dismissal to this court.
It appears to us that this case involves questions of law for which there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Under these circumstances, we certify the following questions to the Louisiana Supreme Court, pursuant to La.S.Ct.R. 12:
Assuming that the filing of suit by a compensation carrier interrupts prescription of claims subsequently filed by injured workers that arise from the same events as the compensation carrier's lawsuit, is the effect of the interruption that the prescriptive period for the workers' claims begins to run again from the date the compensation carrier files suit? Or is prescription interrupted or suspended throughout the pendency of the compensation carrier's suit?
La.S.Ct.R. 12 provides in pertinent part:
With the understanding that the Louisiana Supreme Court is not restricted to our articulation of the question, Martinez v. Rodriquez, 394 F.2d 156, 159 n. 6 (5th Cir. 1968), we seek its assistance and guidance.
QUESTIONS CERTIFIED.