Harrison v. Gore

660 So. 2d 563, 1995 WL 497593
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 23, 1995
Docket27254-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 660 So. 2d 563 (Harrison v. Gore) 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
Harrison v. Gore, 660 So. 2d 563, 1995 WL 497593 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

660 So.2d 563 (1995)

Debra G. HARRISON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Merle GORE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 27254-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 23, 1995.
Writ Denied December 8, 1995.

*564 Nelson & Hammons by John L. Hammons, Shreveport, for appellant.

Rountree, Cox, Guin & Achee by Roland J. Achee, Shreveport, Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway by Herschel E. Richard, Jr., Sidney E. Cook, Jr., F. Drake Lee, Jr., Shreveport, for appellees.

Before NORRIS and HIGHTOWER, JJ., and PRICE, J. Pro Tem.

NORRIS, Judge.

Debra Harrison appeals a judgment sustaining the defendants' exceptions of prescription and dismissing her suit with prejudice. Ms. Harrison had alleged in petition that Merle Gore, her high school basketball coach, molested and sexually harassed her while she played on his team at Trinity Heights Christian Academy, a private Baptist *565 parochial high school, between 1982 and 1985. Ms. Harrison, however, did not file suit until February 1993, nearly eight years after the last tortious act alleged in petition. Defendants Merle Gore, Trinity Heights, and Trinity's insurer, filed exceptions of prescription which the District Court sustained. On appeal, Ms. Harrison urges the court erred in failing to apply the 10-year contractual prescriptive period to her claim and in failing to apply the jurisprudential concept of contra non valentem to suspend the running of prescription. For the reasons expressed, we affirm.

Procedural and factual background

Ms. Harrison enrolled in Trinity Heights in the fall of 1982, when she was 15 years old and in the 10th grade, and played basketball under Coach Gore. She graduated in May 1985. According to her petition, over these three years Coach Gore subjected her to a "consistent pattern of sexual harassment and molestation." This started with mild innuendoes, progressed to direct sexual propositions, and concluded with forced oral intercourse and other sexual acts. Her last sexual encounter with Coach Gore occurred in the spring of 1985. As a result of the coach's conduct, she alleged, she sustained serious, debilitating emotional and psychological harm. She further alleged that Trinity Heights was vicariously liable for the coach's acts and negligent in failing to supervise him adequately. As noted, she filed suit on February 16, 1993. Both Trinity Heights and its insurer, Preferred Risk Group, and Merle Gore individually, filed exceptions of prescription.

The only evidence offered on trial of the exceptions was Ms. Harrison's deposition, taken over three days in July 1993. Here she described in great detail many of Coach Gore's offensive acts. These started rather modestly, with an unexpected pat on the behind, sexually explicit comments, and bear hugs that were more than just bear hugs. At this time she did not complain because she felt that nobody would believe her over the powerful and influential Coach Gore. The following year the coach's conduct progressed to forcing Ms. Harrison to fondle his genitals, or taking her into a locker room where he kissed her and made her perform oral sex on him. She did not strongly resist because Coach Gore had told her he loved her; apparently aware of problems she was having at home, he had offered to let her move into his townhouse and promised ultimately to marry her. In her senior year she started to date an airman from Barksdale, but Coach Gore gave her the "cold shoulder," and ostracized her like he did any girl whose priorities were not right. He made her perform oral sex on him several times, always instructing her to tell no one. She stated that she complied because of his influence and power over her; also, he had promised to help her get a trainer position at a state college after graduation. Their final sexual encounter occurred in May 1985.

Ms. Harrison also described the extent of the psychological and emotional problems that have plagued her ever since about the 10th grade. These have included serious depression, nightmares, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts; from 1988 through 1993, she had been in some form of counseling or psychoanalysis almost continuously (although part of this has been in connection with her college study). Her treatment has consisted exclusively of counseling and an antidepressant drug, BuSpar. One psychiatrist, Dr. Hughes, found "no severe psychological deficits." Dep., 265. One counselor, Susan Meny, in January 1991 diagnosed "adjustment disorder with mixed emotional features," which she attributed to physical pain resulting from a slip and fall on the job (at Timberlawn) and financial stress. Dep., 339-340.

Early on, Ms. Harrison disclosed Coach Gore's conduct with her to only a few close friends, her lovers and her counselors. One of the friends, Becca Golsby, with whom she discussed the matter, advised her in 1987 to sue Coach Gore, but another, Paula Guier, urged her not to. A therapist, Betty Thompson, advised her in 1988 that what Coach Gore had done to her was molestation. Ms. Harrison replied that she knew it was wrong, but not that it was molestation. Despite her problems, Ms. Harrison worked her way through college, earning a B.S. in counseling *566 (psychology) in 1989. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Expressive Therapy at the University of Louisville.

Shortly after she earned her bachelor's degree Ms. Harrison took a job as a mental health worker at Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital in Dallas. There she met a patient, Linda Baker, who related that she had a sexual relationship with a therapist or teacher at a college in Shreveport. When Ms. Harrison replied that she also had a sexual relationship with a coach in Shreveport, Linda suggested that Ms. Harrison speak to her attorney, who was then pressing her case against the college. Ms. Harrison actually spoke with the attorney, John Hammons, sometime between May and August 1990; she testified, however, that she was "powerless" and "not emotionally capable of pursuing a lawsuit" at the time. She also felt that her counselors would have recommended against it. However, after additional therapy aimed primarily at developing coping strategies, she revealed to her parents in November 1991 that she had been abused by Coach Gore. Obtaining their approval and support was apparently part of the healing process; she had been somewhat alienated from them since they discovered her involvement with a lesbian lover in high school. Ms. Harrison freely admits that she is bisexual and practices lesbianism, but does not attribute this to the mistreatment she received from Coach Gore. When she finally felt "emotionally at a point" that she could go through with a lawsuit, she contacted Mr. Hammons. The instant suit was filed on February 16, 1993.

As noted, the defendants responded with exceptions of liberative prescription. The matter was submitted in March 1993 on the pleadings and Ms. Harrison's deposition; the parties filed extensive briefs.

Action of the trial court

By written opinion filed in August 1994, the District Court noted that delictual actions prescribe in one year, La.C.C. art. 3492, and that Ms. Harrison's claim had prescribed on its face; however, she claimed the benefit of the doctrine of contra non valentem agere nulla currit praescriptio, which means that no prescription runs against a person unable to act. Corsey v. State Dept. of Corr., 375 So.2d 1319 (La.1979). The court noted Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
660 So. 2d 563, 1995 WL 497593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-gore-lactapp-1995.