James v. Eldorado Casino Shreveport Joint Venture

245 So. 3d 264
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 15, 2017
DocketNo. 51,707–CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 245 So. 3d 264 (James v. Eldorado Casino Shreveport Joint Venture) 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
James v. Eldorado Casino Shreveport Joint Venture, 245 So. 3d 264 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

PITMAN, J.

Plaintiff Terry LaCarl James appeals the judgment of the trial court which sustained the exception of no cause of action filed by Defendants Eldorado Casino Shreveport Joint Venture, Eldorado Shreveport # 1, LLC, and Eldorado Shreveport # 2, LLC (collectively, "the Eldorado"), and which dismissed Plaintiff's *266suit. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS

On February 22, 2015, Plaintiff, a resident of Minden, Louisiana, parked his car in the garage across the street from the Eldorado hotel in Shreveport and then checked into the hotel for a two-night stay. He came to Shreveport to seek refuge from an ice storm which had been predicted for the area. He gambled in the Eldorado casino the first night and spent the night in his room. The next morning, he allegedly went back to the casino to gamble; however, he encountered a waitress who was rude to him. He lodged a complaint with the waitress's supervisor and decided to return to his room. A hotel security officer met him and accused him of "picking up people's player's cards" and of lying to the security officer about being in the casino earlier that day. The security officer gave Plaintiff three choices: (1) he could leave the casino voluntarily; (2) he could be forcibly evicted from the property; or (3) he could be arrested and thrown in jail. Plaintiff chose to leave the hotel voluntarily.

Although the State Police warned people not to travel on an icy and dangerous I-20 unless absolutely necessary, Plaintiff left the Eldorado hotel, drove his car out of the garage and began traveling on I-20 heading east toward Minden. He lost control of his car and ran off the Interstate near mile marker 34 in Bossier Parish and crashed his car into the steel cable barrier on the left side of the Interstate in the median.

Plaintiff filed suit against the Eldorado, claiming that his accident on the Interstate and the resulting damages were caused by the Eldorado employees. His petition alleged that the Eldorado was liable to him since it intentionally forced him to leave the property when weather and road conditions were very dangerous, it failed to exercise reasonable care to protect him from exposure to the dangerous road conditions, it intentionally exposed him to those hazardous road conditions and it intentionally breached its contract with him, since he checked into the hotel for a two-night stay for the express purpose of avoiding travel in the winter weather.

The Eldorado filed a peremptory exception of no cause of action and argued that it had no duty to protect Plaintiff from the harm alleged in the petition. It asserted that it had no duty to protect a person from any danger he encountered after leaving the premises of the hotel. Because there was no duty to protect him from dangerous weather conditions on a state highway, or to protect him from his own decision to drive despite the inclement weather, it sought dismissal of Plaintiff's suit through the exception of no cause of action.

The trial court sustained the exception, dismissing Plaintiff's suit against the Eldorado. Plaintiff appeals the decision of the trial court.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in finding the Eldorado had no duty to him when it caused him to leave the premises in an ice storm. He asserts that the Eldorado had a duty to provide him with a safe haven from the ice storm since his main reason for traveling to Shreveport was to spend the night at the hotel. He claims that, but for his being told to leave the hotel, he would not have ventured onto the icy highway and would not have been involved in the accident. For these reasons, he claims the trial court erred in sustaining the exception of no cause of action.

*267The Eldorado argues that the trial court correctly sustained its exception of no cause of action since the allegations of the petition show that the law does not provide a remedy to anyone under the facts alleged. It contends that it had no duty to Plaintiff because it is not liable for risks not located on its premises, and it had no duty to ensure that Plaintiff maintained control of his vehicle. When there is no duty to protect Plaintiff from the harm alleged, the petition fails to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted.

In Century Ready Mix Corp. v. Boyte , 42,634 (La. App. 2 Cir. 10/24/07), 968 So.2d 893, this court stated:

A "cause of action," when used in the context of the peremptory exception of no cause of action, is the operative facts that give rise to the plaintiff's right to judicially assert the action against the defendant. Everything on Wheels Subaru, Inc. v. Subaru South, Inc. , 616 So.2d 1234 (La.1993). A peremptory exception of no cause of action questions whether the law extends a remedy to anyone under the factual allegations of the petition. Birdsong v. Hirsch Memorial Coliseum , 42,316 (La. App. 2d Cir. 8/22/07), 963 So.2d 1095 ; Hayes v. Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. , 41,579 (La. App. 2d Cir. 12/13/06), 945 So.2d 911, writ denied , 07-0085 (La. 3/30/07), 953 So.2d 73. The exception is triable on the face of the petition, each well-pled fact of which must be accepted as true. There is no requirement that the court accept as true any conclusions of law alleged in the petition. No evidence may be introduced to support or controvert the exception of no cause of action. La. C.C.P. art. 931 ; Wright v. Louisiana Power and Light , 06-1181 (La. 3/9/07), 951 So.2d 1058 ; Birdsong, supra . The burden of demonstrating that the petition states a cause of action is upon the mover. Wright, supra . Appellate courts conduct a de novo review of a district court's ruling sustaining an exception of no cause of action, because the exception raises a question of law and the district court's decision should be based only on the sufficiency of the petition. The pertinent question is whether, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and with every doubt resolved in plaintiff's behalf, the petition states any valid cause of action for relief. Wright, supra . Every reasonable interpretation must be accorded the language used in the petition in favor of maintaining its sufficiency and affording the plaintiff the opportunity of presenting evidence at trial. Badeaux v. Southwest Computer Bureau, Inc ., 05-0612 (La. 3/17/06), 929 So.2d 1211.

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Bluebook (online)
245 So. 3d 264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-v-eldorado-casino-shreveport-joint-venture-lactapp-2017.