Estate of Patout v. City of New Iberia

708 So. 2d 526, 1998 WL 100336
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 6, 1998
Docket97-1097, 97-1098 and W97-1070
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 708 So. 2d 526 (Estate of Patout v. City of New Iberia) 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
Estate of Patout v. City of New Iberia, 708 So. 2d 526, 1998 WL 100336 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

708 So.2d 526 (1998)

The ESTATE OF Gaston PATOUT and Roy Patout, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The CITY OF NEW IBERIA, Louisiana, Defendant-Appellee.
SQUIRREL RUN INVESTMENT GROUP, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The CITY OF NEW IBERIA, Defendant-Appellee.
The ESTATE OF Gaston PATOUT, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CITY OF NEW IBERIA, Defendant-Appellee.

Nos. 97-1097, 97-1098 and W97-1070.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 6, 1998.

Porteus Richard Burke, New Iberia, P. J. LaBorde, Jr., Lake Charles for The Estate of Gaston Patout, et al.

Charles J. Foret, Lafayette, Allison M. Edwards, for City of New Iberia in No. W97-1070.

H. Lee Leonard, Lafayette, Julie Anne Scheib, New Orleans, Dwight Stephens, Michael *527 J. Schwab, New York City, for Twin City Fire Insurance in No. W97-1070.

Craig Lewis Caesar, James Michael Garner, New Orleans, Scott R. Hoyt, Dallas, TX, Peter C. D'Apice, for Century Indemnity Company and Pacific Employers Ins. in No. W97-1070.

Gary Mark Zwain, Andrew David Weinstock, Metairie, for Continental Insurance Company in No. W97-1070.

Ralph Shelton Hubbard, III, Loree Peacock LeBouef, New Orleans, for Travelers Ins. Co. in No. W97-1070.

Charles J. Foret, Lafayette, for City of New Iberia in Nos. 97-97-1097 and 97-1098.

J. Clayton Davie, Jr., for Travelers Insurance Co., et al. in Nos. 97-1097 and 97-1098.

Craig Lewis Caesar, New Orleans, Scott R. Hoyt, Dallas, TX, for Century Indemnity Co. and Pacific Employers Ins. in Nos. 97-1097 and 97-1098.

Gary Mark Zwain, Metairie, for Continental Insurance Co. in Nos. 97-1097 and 97-1098.

H. Lee Leonard, Lafayette, Julie Anne Scheib, New Orleans, Louis G. Adolfsen, New York City, for Twin City Fire Insurance in No. 97-1097 and 97-1098.

Samuel Milton Rosamond, III, Metairie, for Commercial Union Insurance Co.

Porteus Richard Burke, New Iberia, P. J. LaBorde, Jr., for Squirrell Run Inv. Group, Inc.

Before SAUNDERS, SULLIVAN and GREMILLION, JJ.

SAUNDERS, Judge.

Plaintiffs filed suit against the City of New Iberia (City) and its insurers for damages due to trespassing resulting from the operation of a municipal landfill adjacent to their property. The defendants filed numerous defenses and exceptions, one of which was a peremptory exception of prescription. The district court, in its final judgment on the issue of prescription, granted the peremptory exception of prescription as to certain claims of trespass and denied others. Finding all of the plaintiffs' claims for damages to be viable, we reverse the holding by the trial court to the contrary.

FACTS

The material facts which concern this court are not in dispute. The plaintiffs, the heirs of Gaston Patout and the Squirrel Run Investment Group, Inc., are landowners in Iberia Parish who brought this action against the City of New Iberia for trespassing on their land over a long period of time. The trespass involves large amounts of waste material which city employees failed to confine to a tract of land leased by the City for the purpose of operating a landfill. Due to improper operation of the landfill, garbage was pushed well beyond the leased premisses onto several acres[1] of the plaintiffs' land. On several occasions, the City has acknowledged its wrongful conduct and stated that the encroaching waste material would be removed. One such acknowledgment took place in February 1982 in the form of a document entitled "Memorandum of Agreement," wherein the Mayor of New Iberia and the adjacent property owners agreed to certain corrective measures[2] which would be taken by the City. At present, the garbage dumped upon the plaintiffs' property has yet to be removed.

Plaintiffs filed suit against the City of New Iberia and its insurers seeking general damages for mental anguish and other claims of injury to the person, as well as special or property damages related to diminution in value to their immovable property, cost of restoration and remediation. Squirrel Run seeks abatement or injunctive relief against the City of New Iberia for the continuing trespass on its immovable property.

*528 Each defendant filed a peremptory exception of prescription wherein they alleged that, pursuant to La.R.S. 9:5624, claims alleging damage to private property as a consequence of public works prescribe two years from the date damages are sustained. Defendants claim that damages were sustained at the commencement of the trespass, which occurred in the early 1970's.

The trial court, however, ruled that La. R.S. 9:5624 did not apply to the plaintiffs' claims since their alleged damages were not a necessary consequence of the landfill operations. Instead, the trial court ruled that La.Civ.Code art. 3492 and 3493 applied. Under these articles, such claims prescribe within one year of the date plaintiffs become aware of damage to their property. The trial court also ruled that, due to the 1982 "Memorandum of Agreement" between the City and the plaintiffs, the city renounced prescription and that these and other actions on behalf of the City lulled the plaintiffs into inaction.

Nevertheless, the trial court ruled that any of the plaintiffs' claims arising after February 23, 1981, had prescribed, and that claims arising before that date had been renounced by the City by virtue of the February 24, 1982, "Memorandum of Agreement," and thus had not prescribed.[3]

LAW AND ARGUMENT

The Louisiana Supreme Court case of Lyman v. Town of Sunset, 500 So.2d 390 (La. 1987) is replete with legal principles which aid us in resolving this matter. In Lyman, a land developer brought suit against the Town of Sunset alleging that the town's operation of a landfill diminished the property value and marketability of a nearby subdivision development. On writ of certiorari, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the two year prescriptive period under La.R.S. 9:5624 applied rather than the general one year prescriptive period applicable to delictual actions, and that the two year prescriptive period begins to run from the first occurrence of damage after completion of the public work, i.e., at commencement of operation of the landfill.

Of paramount importance, the supreme court in Lyman further tells us that in order for La.R.S. 9:5624 to be applicable, the damage to the private property must be a necessary consequence of the public purpose. See also, Roberts v. Murphy Oil Corp., 577 So.2d 308, (La.App. 4 Cir.), writs denied, 580 So.2d 670, 673 (La.1991); Boudreaux v. Terrebonne Parish Police Jury, 422 So.2d 1209 (La.App. 1 Cir.1982); Perkins v. Simon, 265 So.2d 804 (La.App. 3 Cir.1972).

Was the Trespass Upon The Plaintiffs' Land a "Necessary Consequence" of the Landfill Operation?

Plaintiffs-appellants claim that the dumping and pushing of garbage onto several acres of their land was certainly not a necessary consequence of the operation of the landfill. In support of their position, they refer to the pre-trial hearing testimony[4] of Mr. Eugene Sellers, a civil engineer with expertise in the area of environmental engineering, who testified that it was his opinion that the City did not properly build its access road to the dump and that the City had no need to place garbage on neighboring property. When asked whether it was necessary for the operators of the dump to place garbage on the plaintiffs' property, Mr. Sellers replied:

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Bluebook (online)
708 So. 2d 526, 1998 WL 100336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-patout-v-city-of-new-iberia-lactapp-1998.