Alexander v. Parish of St. John Baptist

102 So. 3d 904, 2012 WL 4898065
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 16, 2012
DocketNo. 12-CA-173
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 102 So. 3d 904 (Alexander v. Parish of St. John Baptist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander v. Parish of St. John Baptist, 102 So. 3d 904, 2012 WL 4898065 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

CLARENCE E. McMANUS, Judge.

12This is an appeal from a judgment of the 40th Judicial District Court rendered on March 1, 2011 granting summary judgment to the Pontchartrain Levee District and dismissing the action brought by Jennie Alexander. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

. On October 17, 2004, Jennie Alexander was a passenger on an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) being operated by her fiancé, Cory Bunch. They were traveling on the Mississippi River levee in LaPlace in St. John the Baptist Parish. Bunch drove the ATV up the batture side of the levee at an angle and crested the top. As the ATV began descending the other side at 35 to 45 miles per hour, it struck an above-ground pipeline. Alexander was thrown to the ground and sustained a fractured mandible, broken cheekbone, fractured teeth, and a fractured foot.1

Alexander sued Bunch; the Parish of St. John the Baptist (“the Parish”), as owner of the pipeline; the Pontchartrain Levee District (“the Levee District”), as owner/custodian of the levee surface over which the pipeline ran; and various insurers.2

Both the Levee District and the Parish each filed motions for summary judgment seeking dismissal from the proceedings. The trial court conducted a | shearing on both motions and issued two Judgments with Reasons: granting the Parish’s motion for summary judgment and denying the Levee District’s motion.

The Levee District sought supervisory review, but writs were denied by both this Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Alexander v. Pontchartrain Levee Dist., 09-458 (La.App. 5 Cir. 9/1/09) (unpublished writ disposition), writ denied, 09-2134 (La.12/11/09), 23 So.3d 920. Meanwhile, plaintiff filed an appeal with this Court seeking review of the trial court’s granting the Parish’s motion for summary judgment. This Court affirmed and the supreme court denied writs. Alexander v. Parish of St. John the Baptist, 09-840 (La.App. 5 Cir. 3/23/10), 33 So.3d 999, writ denied, 10-1289 (La.9/17/10), 45 So.3d 1056.

The Levee District subsequently filed a motion to re-urge its motion for summary judgment. The trial court conducted a hearing on the motion and granted summary judgment. The court offered written reasons for judgment, which are as follows in pertinent part:

In order for the plaintiff to recover against PLD (Pontchartrain Levee District) for any damages she may have sustained because of the accident, she must prove the following elements: 1) the Levee District had custody of the pipeline; 2) the levee and pipeline were an unreasonably dangerous condition; 3) the unreasonably dangerous condition caused the plaintiffs injuries; and 4) defendant must have known of the un[907]*907reasonably dangerous condition. DeLaughter [DeLaughter] v. West Jefferson Levee District, 94-0064 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/30/94), 646 So.2d 506; Oster v. Department of Transportation and Development, 582 So.2d 1285 (La.1991).
Plaintiff argues that the configuration of the levee and the pipeline resulted in an unreasonably dangerous condition which led to plaintiffs injury. However, in the Parish’s motion for summary judgment, the court found that the pipeline “was readily apparent and observable to anyone on the levee and anyone exercising reasonable care would not have been harmed.” Since the pipeline was readily apparent and observable to anyone on the levee, the pipeline is not an unreasonably dangerous condition. Thus, plaintiff would not be able to prove that the configuration of the pipeline and the levee created an unreasonably dangerous condition which caused the plaintiffs injury.
| Additionally, in the Parish’s motion for summary judgment, this court found the driver of the four-wheeler, Mr. Bunch, to be the “but for” cause of plaintiffs injury, as well as the substantial factor in causing the accident. Prior to the accident, Mr. Bunch consumed alcohol and ingested narcotics. Furthermore, he was speeding and trespassing when the accident occurred. Since this Court has already ruled that Mr. Bunch was the “but for” cause of the accident and the substantial factor in causing plaintiffs injury, plaintiff will not be able to prove that the unreasonably dangerous condition caused her accident. Thus, plaintiff will not be able to meet the third element necessary to prove her claim.
This is a somewhat unusual situation in that the same issues previously considered and adjudicated are again being addressed. However, a review of this case has convinced the court that reconsideration is warranted. What prevented the court from granting PLD’s previous motion for summary judgment was the issue of custody, the court finding that there existed a genuine issue of material fact as to custody in regard to the PLD. A review of the evidence, the law and the previous judgments rendered herein indicates that custody is virtually irrelevant because the court has already found that plaintiff is unable to prove other elements of her claim. Custody in itself does not necessarily connote liability. Thus, regardless of custody, plaintiff cannot satisfy her evi-dentiary burden of proof at trial.
Accordingly, the court finds that its previous finding of a genuine issue of material fact as to custody is not essential to plaintiffs cause of action because plaintiff cannot prove the other elements of her claim.

ISSUES ON APPEAL

On appeal, Alexander asserts (1) the trial court erred in reversing its previous decision which had denied the Levee District’s motion for summary judgment when no new facts had been developed or disclosed and no change in the law had occurred in the interim, and (2) the trial court erred in granting summary judgment when numerous and material issues of fact existed with respect to the Levee District’s liability for the incident at issue, particularly, the issue of whether an unreasonably dangerous condition existed.

In support of her first contention, plaintiff cites case law which holds that after an initial denial of a motion for summary judgment, the movant can re-urge | ¡¡the motion a second time and a granting of the motion may be appropriate at this later stage, only if the movant has supplement[908]*908ed the record with meaningful additions which clearly establish that there is no longer any issue of material fact to be determined by a trial on the merits. See Monumental Life Ins. Co. v. Landry, 02-891, p. 2 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/19/03), 846 So.2d 798, 800; Young v. Dupre Transp. Co., 97-0591, p. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/1/97), 700 So.2d 1156, 1157; Clement v. Am. Motorists Ins. Co., 98-504 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/3/99), 735 So.2d 670, 672 writ denied sub nom., Clement v. Am. Motorist Ins. Co., 99-0603 (La.4/23/99), 742 So.2d 886. Relying on this, plaintiff asserts that because no new facts were developed and the law did not change, the trial court erred in granting the Levee District’s motion for summary judgment.

In support of her second contention, plaintiff argues that the trial court, in granting the Levee District’s motion, mistakenly considered the eventual merits of the plaintiffs suit. Rather, she maintains the court should have focused only on whether she had successfully met her statutory burden under LSA-C.C.P. arts. 966 and 967 to defeat the Levee District’s motion for summary judgment. Beiry v. Volunteers of Am., Inc., 10-832, pp.

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102 So. 3d 904, 2012 WL 4898065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-parish-of-st-john-baptist-lactapp-2012.