Harvey ex rel. Bates v. T.H.E. Insurance

764 So. 2d 354, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1440, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1723, 2000 WL 862821
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 28, 2000
DocketNo. 99-1440
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 764 So. 2d 354 (Harvey ex rel. Bates v. T.H.E. Insurance) 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
Harvey ex rel. Bates v. T.H.E. Insurance, 764 So. 2d 354, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1440, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1723, 2000 WL 862821 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

h SAUNDERS, Judge.

This matter arises from an accident wherein fourteen-year-old Veda Harvey was thrown from a carnival ride, the Swinger, at the October 1997 Swine Festival in Basile, Louisiana. The young girl suffered several injuries and ultimately lost one kidney. Suit was brought and a bench trial was had which resulted in the trial judge’s conclusion that the ride owner, D’Heilly & Sons, and the Swinger operator, Jerry Lynn Lightfoot, were not at fault. We affirm as amended in part, reverse in part, and render.

FACTS

On October 31, 1997, at the Swine Festival in Basile, Louisiana, Veda Bates and her sister, Neda Bates, went to the Swine Festival on what was known as “kiddie day,” which was a day set aside to allow children to ride all the rides for a single price. Veda, Neda and several other children boarded the Swinger ride. The Swinger was fully loaded and many of the children chained themselves into the ride. The operator walked around the ride, visually checking or pulling on the restraint chains to ensure that every rider was chained in properly. The ride started and the swings began to revolve around the hub of the Swinger. Sometime between the fifth or sixth revolution, Veda was observed kicking her feet and leaning forward in her chair. Veda was verbally reprimanded and the ride continued. The operator testified that he verbally reprimanded Veda three times before the accident happened. At some point between the eleventh and twelfth revolution of the ride, Veda, as stipulated to by the parties, unhooked the chain on her swing and leaned forward in her seat, after which Veda was thrown from her chair and hit a trailer. Shortly thereafter, the ride was brought down. The ride was operated by Jerry Lynn Lightfoot and the ride was owned by D’Heilly & Sons, both named defendants in this suit, hereinafter “Defendants.” Veda was taken to a nearby hospital and was treated for multiple | ¡Injuries, including a fractured pelvis; due to a severely damaged renal artery, she ultimately had a kidney removed.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

John Harvey, on behalf of his minor child, Veda Bates Harvey, and Robert and Josie Major, et al., hereinafter “Plaintiffs,” have brought this appeal, arguing that the trial judge manifestly erred in finding that the actions of Veda were the sole cause of the accident, that the operator did not have a duty to shut down the Swinger ride when he observed horseplay, that the operator’s duty to shut down the ride in the presence of horseplay had not been breached, and finally that the operator’s failure to shut down the ride did not cause the damages suffered by Veda.

I. Standard of Review

Evans v. Lungrin, 97-541, p. 6-7 (La.2/6/98); 708 So.2d 731, 735, provides [357]*357the standard of review of both factual and legal error:

It is well-settled that a court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in the absence of “manifest error” or unless it is “clearly wrong.” However, where one or more trial court legal errors interdict the fact-finding process, the manifest error standard is no longer applicable, and, if the record is otherwise complete, the appellate court should make its own independent de novo review of the record and determine a preponderance of the evidence. A legal error occurs when a trial court applies incorrect principles of law and such errors are prejudicial. Legal errors are prejudicial when they materially affect the outcome and deprive a party of substantial rights. When such a prejudicial error of law skews the trial court’s finding of a material issue of fact and causes it to pretermit other issues, the appellate court is required, if it can, to render judgment on the record by applying the correct law and determining the essential material facts de novo.

(Citations omitted.)

II. Duty op Maintenance and Inspection

Whether a duty is owed is a question of law, and whether that duty is breached is a question of fact. Mundy v. Dep’t. of Health & Human Resources, 620 So.2d 811 (La.1993). Plaintiffs seek a de novo review of the record, arguing that the trial judge committed legal error in determining what duty of care was owed by the operator of 13the ride to its patrons. To assert that an operator owes a “very high degree of care” to its patrons, Plaintiffs cite Jenkins v. Ferguson, 357 So.2d 39 (La.App. 3 Cir.1978), in which this court made a res ipsa loquitur finding against the operator of a Scrambler ride where a locking device failed, and there was no other explanation for the door of the ride having flown open. In Jenkins, using the language, “the law places a very high degree of care on the operator of an amusement device such as this,” we cited Archote v. Travelers Insurance Co., 179 So.2d 658 (La.App. 4 Cir.1965). However, a look at the language in Archote, reveals that a reasonable, as opposed to high duty of care, was imposed. In Archote, the amusement devices were pool sticks, which the proprietor was well aware patrons routinely abused and misused. With the foreseeable harm that might follow from mistreated pool sticks, such as splintered wooden edges like the ones which were rammed into the plaintiffs thumb, the Fourth Circuit in Archote found that the proprietor had a duty of care to protect against injuries arising therefrom. The Archote court explained that duty as follows:

The applicable general law seems clear. The duty of the proprietor of an amusement place to his patron is that of a business invitee. He impliedly represents that he had used reasonable care in inspecting and maintaining the premises and equipment furnished by him and that they are reasonably safe for the purposes intended.

Id. at 660.

Plaintiffs stopped short with Jenkins, 357 So.2d 39, to argue what they believe the duty of care should be; a review of the jurisprudence as cited by Defendant1, along with the above analysis of Jenkins compels us to find that the duty of care owed by Defendants was the reasonable maintenance and inspection of its equipment. ^Accordingly, we disagree with Plaintiffs’ assertion under Jenkins that the trial judge made a legal error in holding Defendants to a reasonableness standard of care.

III. Duty of Care: Duty to Reduce the Risk of Rider Injury

Plaintiffs next argue that the foreseeability that Veda, as a child rider, [358]*358might horseplay gave rise to a duty to the operator to guard against harm that might arise therefrom. We note, as did the court in Rivere v. Thunderbird, Inc., 353 So.2d 346, 348 (La.App. 1 Cir.1977):

[T]hat recurring throughout the jurisprudence of this state is the consistent rule that a proprietor of a place of public amusement is not an insurer of the safety of his patrons. Citing Givens v. De Soto Bldg. Co., 156 La. 377, 100 So. 534 (1924); Cassanova v. Paramount-Richards Theatres, 204 La. 813, 16 So.2d 444 (1943); Gilliam v. Serrano, 162 So.2d 32 (La.App. 1 Cir.1964), writ refused, 246 La. 77, 163 So.2d 356; Spiers v. Lake Shore Enterprises, Inc., 210 So.2d 901 (La.App. 1 Cir.1968).

Such a proprietor will be liable, however, if he is guilty of negligence. Pate v. Skate Country, Inc.,

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764 So. 2d 354, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1440, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1723, 2000 WL 862821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harvey-ex-rel-bates-v-the-insurance-lactapp-2000.