Cloy v. Lee

807 So. 2d 900, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 920, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 39, 2002 WL 54431
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 15, 2002
DocketNo. 01-CA-920
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 807 So. 2d 900 (Cloy v. Lee) 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
Cloy v. Lee, 807 So. 2d 900, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 920, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 39, 2002 WL 54431 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

| JAMES L. CANNELLA, Judge.

In this personal injury case, Plaintiff, Gail Cloy, appeals from the judgment of the trial court which dismissed her case against Defendants, Sheriff Harry Lee and Deputies Chad Gautreaux and Isaac McPherson. For the reasons which follow, we affirm.

On April 18, 1998, Deputy Gautreaux responded to a 911 call from Plaintiffs residence. Plaintiffs niece, Nadine Lagrange (Lagrange), had witnessed an argument between Plaintiff and her daughter. Following the argument, Plaintiff was very upset so she packed some clothing, a picture of her deceased husband, and some prescription medication and told the family that she was leaving to join her husband. She placed her belongings in her car and attempted to leave home. Lagrange became very upset and attempted to stop [902]*902Plaintiff from leaving. In Plaintiffs attempt to back out of the garage and avoid Lagrange’s vehicle, she scraped her automobile on the track for the garage door which protruded from the garage door frame. Plaintiff left in her automobile. Lagrange placed the 911 emergency call and reported it as an attempted suicide.

laWhen Deputy Gautreaux arrived at the residence, he realized that he had been there before on another suicide alert. He spoke briefly with Lagrange when Plaintiff drove past the house in her automobile. Deputy Gautreaux returned to his vehicle and drove after Plaintiff. He turned on his lights and siren and called to Plaintiff on the loud speaker, instructing her to pull over. She did not pull over but instead, for about five minutes, drove through the neighborhood with Deputy Gautreaux behind her. Next, she returned home, parked her vehicle and went inside into the kitchen. Deputy ■ Gautreaux followed Plaintiff inside. Another Deputy remained outside and looked in the vehicle which Plaintiff was driving and found a large quantity of prescription medication and a picture of Plaintiffs deceased husband. In the kitchen, Deputy Gautreaux spoke with Plaintiff and, in his view, she responded irrationally. He informed Plaintiff that she needed a psychiatric evaluation. She did not agree. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) arrived on the scene. Officer Gautreaux informed Plaintiff that she could either go with the EMTs voluntarily or he would take her to the hospital. She refused to go with the EMTs and they left. Then, in accordance with department policy, the two deputies restrained Plaintiff by handcuffing her hands behind her back. They then walked her through the house and out into the garage. Following inquiry by Plaintiff, she was informed that the deputies were taking her to Charity Hospital. She did not want to go there so she stopped walking and “plopped” down on the ground in a sitting position. Deputy Gautreaux testified that he told her that if she did not get up the deputies would carry her to the car. She refused to get up. When the two deputies attempted to lift her, one holding her arms near the armpits and the other holding her ankles, she struggled and moved about, causing the deputies to put her back down. | ¿Plaintiff claims that they dropped her. She was in a prone position screaming that her back hurt. Officer Gautreaux called for a supervisor to come to the scene. Lieutenant Jamie Monfra’s arrived and another ambulance was called to the scene. Plaintiff was unhandcuffed and taken by ambulance to the hospital.

On April 15, 1999, Plaintiff filed suit against the Defendants, alleging that the deputies’ misconduct caused injuries to Plaintiffs back. The trial was bifurcated and the liability issue went to trial on April 11, 2001. After the parties rested, the trial court rendered a verdict on May 6, 2001 in favor of the Defendants, dismissing the action with prejudice. In so ruling, the trial judge stated that “the police officers acted reasonable [sic] under the circumstances existing on the date of the incident, therefore the Court also finds that the plaintiff failed to meet her burden of proof, therefore the Court dismissed plaintiffs case, at her cost.” It is from this judgment that Plaintiff appeals.

On appeal Plaintiff argues that the trial court’s determination, that the force used was reasonable under the circumstances, was clear error. Plaintiff argues that she proved that the deputy’s decision to take her involuntarily was improper under department policy and that the officer used excessive force in attempting to transport her to the hospital. Thus, she argues that the trial court erred in finding no liability on the part of Defendants.

The Defendants argue to the contrary that the trial court’s decision is neither [903]*903manifestly erroneous nor clearly wrong in its determination that Deputies Gautreaux and McPherson did not use excessive force and were not negligent during their encounter with Plaintiff, who was belligerent, uncooperative and potentially suicidal and was properly taken into protective custody.

|sIt is well settled that, on appellate review of a factual determination, the reviewing court may not set aside the fact-finder’s findings of fact in the absence of manifest error or unless they are clearly wrong. Also, where there is a conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989); Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978); Canter v. Koehring, 283 So.2d 716 (La.1973). The issue to be resolved by the reviewing court is not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but whether the factfinder’s conclusion was a reasonable one. Stobart v. State through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). Thus, where two permissible views of the evidence exist, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Stobart, supra.

When findings are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, the manifest error or clearly wrong standard demands great deference to the trier of fact’s findings, for only the factfin-der can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener’s understanding and belief in what is said. Canter, supra at 724; Virgil v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., 507 So.2d 825, 826 (La.1987); Boulos v. Morrison, 503 So.2d 1, 3 (La.1987); Williams v. Keystone General Contractors, Inc., 488 So.2d 999, 1001 (La.1986); Johnson v. Insurance Co. of North America, 454 So.2d 1113, 1117 (La.1984); Berry v. Livingston Roofing Co., 403 So.2d 1247, 1249 (La.1981); Crump v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 367 So.2d 300, 301 (La.1979).

[ ^Applying this standard of review to the case before us, we find no manifest error in the trial court findings that Officer Gau-treaux acted properly in concluding that Plaintiff should be brought to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and that he and Deputy McPherson did not use excessive force in this attempt to bring her to the hospital.

The Sheriff Department’s policy for taking a person into protective custody for transport to a treatment facility for a medical evaluation, admitted as an exhibit during the trial, is basically a recitation of La. R.S. 28:53(K), the law authorizing such a seizure of a person. La. R.S.

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Bluebook (online)
807 So. 2d 900, 1 La.App. 5 Cir. 920, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 39, 2002 WL 54431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cloy-v-lee-lactapp-2002.