Eicher v. LA. STATE POLICE, RIVERBOAT GAMING ENFOR. DIV.

710 So. 2d 799, 1998 WL 79127
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 20, 1998
Docket97 CA 0121
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 710 So. 2d 799 (Eicher v. LA. STATE POLICE, RIVERBOAT GAMING ENFOR. DIV.) 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
Eicher v. LA. STATE POLICE, RIVERBOAT GAMING ENFOR. DIV., 710 So. 2d 799, 1998 WL 79127 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

710 So.2d 799 (1998)

Meredith E. EICHER
v.
LOUISIANA STATE POLICE, RIVERBOAT GAMING ENFORCEMENT DIVISION.

No. 97 CA 0121.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

February 20, 1998.
Writ Denied May 8, 1998.

*801 Richard P. Ieyoub, Robert B. Barbor, Thomas A. Warner, III, Jenifer Schaye, Office of the Attorney General, Baton Rouge, for Defendants-Appellants, Louisiana Gaming Control Board and Louisiana State Police, Riverboat Gaming Enforcement Division.

Hillar C. Moore, III, Andrew J. Hodges, IV, Baton Rouge, for Plaintiff-Appellee, Meredith E. Eicher.

Before GONZALES, PARRO and GUIDRY, JJ.

PARRO, Judge.

The Louisiana State Police, Riverboat Gaming Enforcement Division ("the Division") revoked a temporary permit it had granted to Meredith Eicher ("Ms.Eicher") which allowed her to work as a gaming employee at a riverboat casino. She appealed the revocation through an administrative process that upheld the decision. Eventually, Ms. Eicher petitioned for judicial review in the district court, where the decision was affirmed by the court. After granting a motion for a new trial, the court reversed its initial judgment and ordered the Division to reinstate Ms. Eicher's permit. The Division appeals this judgment. We reverse and render.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The facts of this matter are uncontested. In May 1990, in connection with the highly publicized failure of Champion Insurance Company, Ms. Eicher pled guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud, a federal felony offense. She was sentenced to pay a fine of $5000, to serve five months imprisonment, and upon release, to be on supervised probation for two years. In May 1991, based on the same occurrences which led to her conviction on the federal charges, she pled guilty in state court to two counts of accessory after the fact to forgery. She was sentenced to one year of imprisonment at hard labor, which was suspended, and she was placed on probation, to be served concurrently with the federal probation under the supervision of the federal probation office. She fulfilled all the conditions of her sentences and in May 1993, her state convictions were set aside and the prosecutions dismissed, pursuant to LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 893(E).[1]

During the summer of 1994, Ms. Eicher participated in six to eight weeks of casino dealer school at the Belle of Baton Rouge casino. She completed the dealer training ranked in the upper quadrant of her class and in August 1994, completed a gaming employee permit application. On the application, she listed all of the federal and state convictions and wrote "expungement/dismissal" in brackets to the right of these offenses. She also listed an Alabama charge of theft and showed this was "never prosecuted — charges formally dismissed." Another set of brackets suggested all three charges "arose out of same offense."

On September 11, 1994, the Louisiana State Police conducted a registration day to review the gaming permit applications and interview prospective casino employees under oath. Because Ms. Eicher's application indicated she had a criminal record, she was directed to a special table to provide additional information. Trooper Adam White, who interviewed her, was familiar with her case because he had been involved in her initial arrest. She offered him copies of both plea agreements, as well as other documents she had brought, which showed the nature and disposition of the federal and state convictions. But Trooper White just took notes concerning their conversation and did not examine her documents or make copies of them. At the conclusion of this process, Ms. Eicher signed a conditional approval agreement and was granted a temporary work permit. The conditional approval agreement acknowledged that the work permit was conditioned upon a personal background investigation by the Louisiana State Police, at the *802 conclusion of which, the work permit application could be rejected.

On the basis of her temporary work permit, Ms. Eicher began working at the Belle of Baton Rouge. Several days after the casino opened, a local television station broadcast a story criticizing the riverboat casino and the Louisiana State Police for allowing Ms. Eicher, a known convicted felon, to work as a craps dealer. After this story aired, two state troopers approached her at work and pulled her temporary work permit because of her felony convictions, pending further investigation. She was later sent a "Notice of Denial," stating her temporary permit was revoked and no permanent license would be issued to her because she had been convicted of a felony offense and because she had made an omission or misstatement of fact on her application.

At Ms. Eicher's request, an administrative hearing was held to consider her appeal of this decision. On the basis of the testimony and documentary evidence presented at that hearing, the hearing officer found she had not misrepresented the facts concerning her criminal record on her application. However, he upheld the denial of her work permit on the basis that her criminal convictions disqualified her for employment in the gaming industry. On appeal to the Louisiana Riverboat Gaming Commission ("the Commission"), the decision was upheld, and Ms. Eicher filed a petition for judicial review in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court.

The district court judge reviewed the record of the administrative proceedings and briefs submitted by the parties. After hearing oral arguments, the court affirmed the decision of the Commission. Ms. Eicher filed a motion for new trial, which was granted by the court in a hearing on September 30, 1996. During that hearing, the court reversed its prior judgment and ruled that, under the facts of this case, the Commission and Division should be estopped from revoking Ms. Eicher's work permit. The judgment directed the reinstatement of her permit. The Division and the Commission's successor, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, filed this suspensive appeal.[2]

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Any person whose application for a gaming permit has been denied by the Division may appeal to the Commission. LSA-R.S. 27:88(A).[3] A person adversely affected by a decision of the Commission may appeal to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. LSA-R.S. 27:89.[4] The Administrative Procedure Act specifies that judicial review shall be confined to the record, as developed in the administrative proceedings. LSA-R.S. 49:964(F). The district court may reverse or modify the agency decision if substantial rights of the appellant are prejudiced because the administrative findings, inferences, conclusions, or decisions are: (1) in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions; (2) in excess of the agency's statutory authority; (3) made upon unlawful procedure; (4) affected by other error of law; (5) arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion; or (6) manifestly erroneous. LSA-R.S. 49:964(G); Pacificorp Capital, Inc. v. State, Through Div. of Admin., 92-1729 (La.App. 1st Cir. 8/11/94), 647 So.2d 1122, 1125, writ denied, 94-2315 (La.11/18/94), 646 So.2d 387. The manifest error test is used in reviewing the facts as found by the administrative *803 tribunal; the arbitrary and capricious test is used in reviewing the administrative tribunal's conclusions and its exercise of discretion. Save Ourselves, Inc. v. La. Envtl. Control Comm'n, 452 So.2d 1152, 1159 (La. 1984).

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Bluebook (online)
710 So. 2d 799, 1998 WL 79127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eicher-v-la-state-police-riverboat-gaming-enfor-div-lactapp-1998.