Hankton v. City of New Orleans

973 So. 2d 851, 2007 WL 4554327
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 12, 2007
Docket2007-CA-0452
StatusPublished

This text of 973 So. 2d 851 (Hankton v. City of New Orleans) 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
Hankton v. City of New Orleans, 973 So. 2d 851, 2007 WL 4554327 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

973 So.2d 851 (2007)

Bertha HANKTON
v.
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, Through PARKING CONTROL DIVISION and Lynn Simon.

No. 2007-CA-0452.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

December 12, 2007.

*853 Joseph G. Albe, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellant.

Charlene C. Larche, Deputy City Attorney, Albert Thibodeaux, Chief Deputy City Attorney, Penya Moses-Fields, City Attorney, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellee.

(Court composed of Judge PATRICIA RIVET MURRAY, Judge JAMES F. McKAY, III, Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, JR.).

PATRICIA RIVET MURRAY, Judge.

Plaintiff Bertha Hankton appeals the trial court's judgment finding no liability on the part of the defendants for her alleged injuries. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The instant matter has an extensive history, having been considered by this court three times before. In 1999 Ms. Hankton filed a workers' compensation claim against her employer, the City of New Orleans [hereinafter "the City"], alleging mental and physical disability suffered in the performance of her job as a supervisor in the Department of Public Works and Parking. The Office of Workers' Compensation found that the plaintiff had sustained a work-related mental injury but not a physical injury, and awarded her temporary total disability. On appeal, this court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding that plaintiff had not sustained any compensable injury, either mental or physical, under the facts as related in our opinion. See Hankton v. City of New Orleans, 01-0714 (La.App. 4 Cir. 6/19/02), 821 So.2d 730.[1] Approximately one month after this court's decision, Ms. Hankton, who had retired on account of her emotional/mental disability, filed a petition for damages in civil district court against both the City and one of her former supervisors, Ms. Lynn Simon. Citing essentially the same facts upon which her workers' compensation claim had been based, Ms. Hankton alleged in her petition that Ms. Simon had intentionally or negligently caused her emotional distress/depression by bringing unjustified disciplinary charges against her and by suspending her without pay for one day. In addition, Ms. Hankton asserted that the City was vicariously liable for Ms. Simon's alleged wrongful conduct.

The City filed exceptions of no cause of action and res judicata. By judgment rendered in open court July 23, 2004, the district court granted the exception of no cause of action as to the allegations of intentional conduct only, and granted the plaintiff five days to file an amended petition.[2] The trial court denied the exception of no cause of action with regard to the allegations of negligence, and denied the exception of res judicata. This court granted the City's writ application but denied relief, issuing written reasons. Hankton v. City of New Orleans, 04-1536 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/1/04), 888 So.2d 1169 (unpublished).[3] The defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment, which the *854 district court granted, dismissing the suit with prejudice. On appeal, this court reversed, holding that the district court had based its decision on an invalid legal premise: that the filing of plaintiff's tort suit was precluded by the exclusivity provision of the Workers' Compensation Act. We therefore reinstated the matter and remanded for trial on the merits. See Hankton v. City of New Orleans, 05-0799 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/10/06), 928 So.2d 770 (unpublished).

This matter was tried on October 23-24, 2006. On February 7, 2007, the district court rendered judgment dismissing the plaintiff's claims with prejudice and assessing costs to the plaintiff. In accompanying Reasons for Judgment, the court first noted that, pursuant to the law of the case doctrine, the defendants did not have tort immunity under the Workers' Compensation Act for the intentional and/or negligent acts alleged by the plaintiff. The court then found that the evidence was insufficient to prove that Ms. Simon had committed any intentional or negligent torts against the plaintiff. Specifically, the court noted that: the plaintiff was under Ms. Simon's supervision for only two months; Ms. Simon was not the plaintiffs direct supervisor; the plaintiff was given a one-day suspension for making a serious mistake; the plaintiff's supervisors handled this suspension delicately and professionally; the plaintiff had serious psychological and physical problems which preexisted her suspension and which were not caused by Ms. Simon's conduct. Finally, the court concluded that consideration of the City's vicarious liability was pretermitted by the plaintiffs failure to prove any tortious conduct on the part of Ms. Simon.

Ms. Hankton now appeals that judgment.

REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE

The plaintiff's case included documentary evidence; her own testimony; the testimony of two of her former co-workers, Joan Davis and Zepporiah Edmonds; and the deposition testimony of Dr. John Jackson. The defendants presented documentary evidence; one live witness, Lynn Simon; and transcripts of testimony of certain other City employees from the Civil Service Commission hearing on Ms. Hankton's claim.

Ms. Hankton testified that at the time of trial, she was sixty years old and was on disability retirement as a result of stress; the last day she worked for the City was the day in June, 1998, that she was informed she was being suspended for one day for disciplinary reasons. Prior to that day, the plaintiff had worked twenty-four years for the City and had intended to retire after thirty years. After working most of her career in the Parking Division, Ms. Hankton was transferred to the Abandoned Vehicles Division in April, 1998. She testified she was transferred because of heightened news media attention given to the backlog of abandoned vehicles that were on the streets. As a field supervisor, the plaintiff was in charge of the actual stickering and requesting removal of vehicles; another supervisor, Veronica Thomas, was in charge of the office work in the division. The plaintiff supervised three people who also went into the field to place stickers on abandoned cars. Ms. Hankton testified that she was given a set of written procedures to follow when she began working in the Abandoned Vehicles Division, but she had no other training or experience. Her immediate supervisor was Richard Boseman initially and later was Rhonda Thompson; as Deputy Parking Administrator, Lynn Simon was over the plaintiff's immediate supervisor. Ms. Hankton testified she was confused about *855 the procedures but she knew not to speak up at weekly meetings because her comments were not taken seriously. She testified she requested a van to do her job because the vehicle she was assigned did not work properly and contributed to her back and leg pain, but Ms. Simon refused; as a result, Ms. Hankton was forced to ride with one of the other employees. She testified that she believed Ms. Simon was falsifying reports sent to the Mayor's office concerning the numbers of abandoned vehicles, but Ms. Hankton admitted she had never seen one of these reports. Ms. Hankton also testified that she believed certain confidential medical information from her personnel file was improperly leaked to her co-workers. Finally, Ms. Hankton testified that the one-day suspension she was given was unjustified, Ms. Hankton was told she was being suspended because she had written an improper memo to Lashay Johnson, one of the employees under her supervision. In the memo, which was introduced into evidence, Ms. Hankton informed Ms.

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973 So. 2d 851, 2007 WL 4554327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hankton-v-city-of-new-orleans-lactapp-2007.