Foster v. Tinnea

705 So. 2d 782, 1997 WL 805400
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 29, 1997
DocketCA 96 2718
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 705 So. 2d 782 (Foster v. Tinnea) 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
Foster v. Tinnea, 705 So. 2d 782, 1997 WL 805400 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

705 So.2d 782 (1997)

John FOSTER, Virginia Foster and Robert Hallford
v.
Carolyn TINNEA and State Farm Fire and Casualty Company.

No. CA 96 2718.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 29, 1997.

*783 Michael Connelly, Baton Rouge, for Plaintiffs/Appellants John and Virginia Foster and Robert Hallford.

William Justice and Mary Cazes, Baton Rouge, for Defendants/Appellees State Farm Fire and Casualty Company and Carolyn Tinnea.

Before FOIL, WHIPPLE and KUHN, JJ.

WHIPPLE, Judge.

This case is before us on appeal by plaintiff, Robert Hallford, from a judgment in favor of defendants, Carolyn Tinnea and State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (State Farm), granting involuntary dismissal, with prejudice, of a petition for injunctive relief and damages filed on behalf of Hallford and the other plaintiffs, John and Virginia Foster. For the reasons which follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Robert Hallford, son of Virginia Foster and stepson of John Foster, was injured in an accident in 1986 which left him brain damaged and unable to live on his own. Thus, at age twenty-seven, he still resided with John and Virginia Foster, together with several of his siblings, and some of their children. In 1988, the Fosters moved into the Jefferson Arms apartment complex, after informing Mrs. Carolyn Tinnea, the apartment manager, that Hallford would be living with them and that he had suffered brain damage in an accident several years earlier.

The Fosters continued to live at the Jefferson Arms apartments, periodically renewing their lease. They planned to renew a lease which was to expire on October 31, 1991; however, on October 17, 1991, Mrs. Tinnea informed the family by letter that their lease would not be renewed if Hallford continued to live with them. On October 23, 1991, Mr. and Mrs. Foster and Hallford sent a letter to Mrs. Tinnea informing her of their view that refusing to renew the lease was a violation of LSA-R.S. 46:2251-2256, Louisiana's Civil Rights for Handicapped Persons Act. The letter also recited that Mrs. Tinnea was being given thirty days to settle the dispute before the Fosters filed suit. Thereafter, on October 30, 1991, Mrs. Tinnea sent the Fosters another letter, informing them that they were to vacate the rental unit by the end of November.

In response, Hallford and the Fosters filed a petition for injunction on November 4, 1991, seeking to have the Fosters' lease renewed for another year. On November 15, 1991, the plaintiffs amended their petition to additionally allege a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 3604[1] and seek damages under 42 U.S.C. *784 § 3613.[2] Plaintiffs also subsequently vacated the apartment.

On November 22, 1991, State Farm answered, generally denying plaintiffs' claims, and asserting as an affirmative defense that Hallford is mentally and emotionally handicapped and, therefore, "poses a physical hazard" to the other tenants at Jefferson Arms Apartments. Mrs. Tinnea also filed an answer, alleging that Hallford's actions have endangered the safety of other lessees, and that his crude, rude, sexual comments threatened and scared Mrs. Tinnea as well as other tenants. She also alleged that she was under no obligation to renew the lease, and that allowing Hallford to continue to live at Jefferson Arms posed a threat to the physical safety of the other tenants, based on past incidents set forth in detail in her answer.

After the plaintiffs' presentation of evidence at the November 2, 1993 trial, defendants moved for an involuntary dismissal of plaintiffs' claims, in accordance with LSA— C.C.P. art. 1672(B). The trial court granted the motion, dismissing plaintiffs' suit with prejudice, by judgment signed November 22, 1993.

Plaintiffs timely filed a motion for appeal. On April 4, 1994, plaintiffs sought leave of court to proceed in forma pauperis. The trial court denied the Fosters' motion but granted Hallford's, allowing him to go forward with his appeal without payment of costs. On October 4, 1994, defendants filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs' appeal for failure to pay estimated costs. The Fosters' appeal was dismissed with prejudice at their costs, but Hallford's right to appeal was reserved. Therefore, only Hallford's appeal is before us.

DISCUSSION

Involuntary Dismissal

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1672(B) provides that in an action tried by the court without a jury, any party, without waiving his right to offer evidence in the event the motion is not granted, may move for involuntary dismissal at the close of plaintiffs' case on the ground that upon the facts and law, plaintiff has shown no right to relief. In deciding whether to grant a motion for involuntary dismissal, the trial court's standard is "whether the plaintiff has presented sufficient evidence in [his] case-in-chief to establish a claim by a preponderance of the evidence." Proof by a preponderance of the evidence simply means that "taking the evidence as a whole, the fact or cause sought to be proved is more probable than not." Politz v. Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge, 619 So.2d 1089, 1093 (La.App. 1st Cir.1993). On review, once the trial court has made a ruling on such a motion, the appellate court may reverse that ruling only upon a finding of manifest error, which has been defined as a finding of fact not reasonably supported by credible evidence in the record. Politz, 619 So.2d at 1093, 1095. A plaintiff is entitled to no special inferences in his favor; however, "uncontroverted testimony should be taken *785 as true to establish a fact for which it is offered absent circumstances in the record casting suspicion on the reliability of the testimony and a sound reason for its rejection." Politz, 619 So.2d at 1095. "The issue to be resolved by a reviewing court is not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but whether the factfinder's conclusion was a reasonable one." Turner v. City of Monroe, 25,554, p. 7 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 3/30/94), 634 So.2d 981, 985. Therefore, this court must determine whether the trial court erred in concluding that under the facts and law, Hallford failed to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, any right to relief under either Louisiana or federal law.

State and Federal Discrimination Claims

Hallford alleges that appellees violated both Louisiana's Civil Rights for Handicapped Persons Act and the federal Fair Housing Act. The parties do not dispute that Hallford is a handicapped person as contemplated by the two acts. Under both the state and federal acts, a "handicapped person" is one who has: (1) a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person's major life activities, (2) a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. 42 U.S.C. § 3602(h)(1)-(3); LSA-R.S. 46:2253(1).[3] It is undisputed that Hallford has a mental impairment which prevents him from living alone and holding a full time job, and he has been in this condition since his accident in 1987.[4] While the record does not contain a formal stipulation, the parties concede that Hallford is a handicapped person within the meaning of the acts.[5]

Hallford alleges that he is an "[o]therwise qualified person" and that defendants violated LSA-R.S.

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705 So. 2d 782, 1997 WL 805400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foster-v-tinnea-lactapp-1997.