Castillo v. Normand

159 So. 3d 485, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 782, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2277, 2014 WL 4723850
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 24, 2014
DocketNo. 13-CA-782
StatusPublished

This text of 159 So. 3d 485 (Castillo v. Normand) 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
Castillo v. Normand, 159 So. 3d 485, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 782, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2277, 2014 WL 4723850 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

SUSAN M. CHEHARDY, Chief Judge.

|2On appeal, plaintiff, Vincent Mark Castillo, challenges the judgments sustaining defendants’ exceptions of no cause of action. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgments.

Facts and Procedural History

On June 9, 2011, Vincent Mark Castillo (hereinafter “Mr. Castillo”) filed suit against Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, the State of Louisiana, “Carl Preyer of JPCC Food Services,” and Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Deputy J. Mareal seeking “damages, injunction, and a jury trial.” In his original petition, Mr. Castillo, who was confined at that time at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, alleged that Sheriff Normand and the State of Louisiana violated his constitutional rights during his confinement in parish prison by denying Mr. Castillo access to a law library; failing to provide legal-sized paper; failing to provide carbon paper; illegally collecting sales tax on inmate commissary purchases; and improperly classifying detainees and inmates.1

lain his petition, Mr. Castillo further alleged that “Carl Preyer of JPCC Food Services,” along with Sheriff Normand and the “State of Louisiana” violated his “religious rights” by failing to inform him of “the exact date of Passover” and failing to provide him with “lamb, wine, or unleavened bread” and “pork-free” meals.2 Lastly, Mr. Castillo raised “[t]he claims brought against [Sheriff] Normand and Deputy J. Mareal in Castillo v. Marcal, et al, # 692-612 in Division “D” of the 24th Judicial District Court for the Parish of Jefferson, Louisiana.”3

[488]*488On December 16, 2011, Deputy Joseph Marcal filed an exception of no cause of action on the basis that “plaintiffs petition is completely void of any allegation of alleged wrongdoing by Deputy Joseph Mar-cal.” On June 30, 3012, Mr. Castillo filed his opposition to Deputy Marcal’s exception of no cause of action, yet stated that he had “no objection to [Marcal] being dismissed from this suit voluntarily.” On April 24, 2012, the trial judge granted Deputy Marcal’s exception of no cause of action and granted Mr. Castillo thirty days within which to file his amended petition asserting a cause of action against Deputy Joseph Marcal.

On May 4, 2014, Mr. Castillo filed his amended petition. In it, Mr. Castillo alleged, among numerous other claims against various other defendants, that Deputy Joseph Marcal “unlawfully approach[sic] and/or question and/or seize and/or search and/or detain and/or arrest and embarrass Castillo in and around a public coffee shop and without cause.” ■ On May 17, 2012, after a contradictory hearing, the trial judge found that Mr. Castillo had failed to amend his petition to |4state a cause of action against Deputy Joseph Marcal, sustained'Deputy Marcal’s exception of no cause of action, and dismissed Mr. Castillo’s suit against Deputy Marcal.

Meanwhile, the State of Louisiana filed exceptions of “frivolity and no cause of action” on the basis that “no relief can be assessed against the State for the alleged acts or omissions of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff,” citing La. R.S. 42:1441.1 and 13:5108.1(E). The State also requested that the trial judge issue a “strike” against Mr. Castillo, noting that Mr. Castillo proclaims himself the most prolific pro se litigant in the State of Louisiana.4

On May 17, 2012, after a contradictory hearing, the trial judge found that Mr. Castillo had failed to state a cause of action against the State of Louisiana, sustained its exceptions of frivolity and no cause of action, and dismissed Mr. Castillo’s suit against the State of Louisiana.

On or about June 29, 2012, Mr. Castillo filed motions to appeal the trial court’s judgments sustaining Deputy Marcal’s and the State of Louisiana’s exceptions. On October 29, 2012, the trial judge granted Mr. Castillo’s motions and set the return date as directed by law. This appeal follows.

Discussion

In the context of the peremptory exception, a “cause of action” refers to the operative facts which give rise to the plaintiffs right to judicially assert an action against the defendant. Scheffler v. Adams and Reese, LLP, 06-1774 (La.2/22/07), 950 So.2d 641, 646; Everything on Wheels Subaru, Inc. v. Subaru South, Inc., 616 So.2d 1234, 1238 (La.1993). The purpose of the peremptory exception of no cause of action is to test the legal sufficiency of the plaintiffs petition by ^determining whether the law affords a remedy on the facts alleged in the petition. Id. The exception is triable on the face of the pleadings and, for purposes of resolving the issues raised by the exception, the court must presume that all well-pleaded facts in the petition are true. Scheffler, 950 So.2d at 646; City of New Orleans v. Board of Commissioners [489]*489of Orleans Levee District, 93-0690 (La.7/5/94), 640 So.2d 237, 253.

The burden of demonstrating that a petition fails to state a cause of action is on the mover. Scheffler, 950 So.2d at 647. Because the exception of no cause of action raises a question of law and the lower court’s decision is generally based only on the sufficiency of the petition, review of the lower court’s ruling on an exception of no cause of action is de novo. Id. The pertinent inquiry is whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and with every doubt resolved in the plaintiffs favor, the petition states any valid cause of action for relief. Id.

Generally, under La. C.C.P. art. 931, no evidence may be introduced to support or controvert the exception of no cause of action. A court appropriately sustains the peremptory exception of no cause of action only when, conceding the correctness of the facts, the plaintiff has not stated a claim for which he or she can receive legal remedy under the applicable substantive law. Id.

Applying the legal precepts set forth above, we find that the district court was correct in finding that Mr. Castillo cannot maintain a valid cause of action against either Deputy Joseph Marcal or the State of Louisiana. With respect to Deputy Marcal, our review of the original and amended petitions reveals that the operative fact, which gives rise to this litigation against Deputy Joseph Marcal, is Mr. Castillo’s alleged arrest. To support allegations that an employer is liable for an alleged wrongful action of an employee, a petition must allege that the employee’s act was committed while performing an official duty and that the |6alleged wrong must have resulted from the wrongful manner in which such official duty was performed. See, Zeitoun v. City of New Orleans, 11-0479 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/7/11), 81 So.3d 66, 74, writ denied, 12-0426 (La.4/9/12), 85 So.3d 704.

When reviewing the petition in question, Mr. Castillo states that Deputy Marcal “unlawfully [did] approach and/or question and/or seize and/or search and/or detain and/or arrest and embarrass” Mr. Castillo on August 20, 2010. However, there is no other allegation or other substantiation of those claims in any of the petitions filed in this suit. It is not even clear that Mr. Castillo was arrested on that date. Based on the record before this Court, we find that Mr. Castillo has failed to show that any cause of action arose during his alleged encounter with Deputy Marcal. Therefore, we agree with the trial-court that this is a meritless claim, which fails on the alleged facts and pleadings.

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Related

Castillo v. State of Louisiana
108 F. App'x 156 (Fifth Circuit, 2004)
Castillo v. Blanco
330 F. App'x 463 (Fifth Circuit, 2009)
Frederick v. Ieyoub
762 So. 2d 144 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2000)
Adkison v. State
548 So. 2d 606 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1988)
City of New Orleans v. Board of Com'rs
640 So. 2d 237 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1994)
Everything on Wheels Subaru, Inc. v. Subaru South, Inc.
616 So. 2d 1234 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
Scheffler v. Adams and Reese, LLP
950 So. 2d 641 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2007)
Zeitoun v. City of New Orleans
81 So. 3d 66 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
Mathes v. Schwing
123 So. 156 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 So. 3d 485, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 782, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2277, 2014 WL 4723850, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castillo-v-normand-lactapp-2014.