STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST CIRCUIT
2023 CA 1016
JOSEPH BARTLETT
VERSUS
A- 1 SERVICE COMPANY OF HOUMA, LLC, SUGARLAND SHOPPING CENTER ASSOCIATES, LLC, FAMILY DOLLAR STORES OF LOUISIANA, INC. AND ABC INSURANCE COMPANY
Judgment Rendered: APR 17 2024
Appealed from the 17th Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of Lafourche State of Louisiana Case No. C- 132317
The Honorable Maria M. Abel, Judge Presiding
Richard E. Wilson Counsel for Plaintiffs/ Appellants Lake Charles, Louisiana Barrett Bartlett and Courtney Bartlett Collins on behalf of their deceased father, Joseph Bartlett
Adam J. Boyer Counsel for Defendant/ Appellee R. Todd Musgrave A-1 Service Company of Houma, LLC New Orleans, Louisiana
Bruce S. Johnston Counsel for Defendants/ Appellees Metairie, Louisiana Sugarland Shopping Center Associates, LLC and Family Dollar Stores of Louisiana, Inc.
BEFORE: GUIDRY, C. J., CHUTZ, AND LANIER, JJ. LANIER, J.
In this slip and fall action, plaintiffs challenge the trial court's judgment
granting defendants' summary judgment and dismissing their claims with
prejudice. We reverse and remand.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Plaintiff, Joseph Bartlett, alleged that he sustained injuries outside of the
Family Dollar Store in Raceland, Louisiana. Mr. Bartlett described the incident in
his petition as slipping and falling in the parking lot of the shopping center " when
his feet slipped out from under him and he fell on his back in wet tar which was
being painted onto the blacktop of the parking area." Mr. Bartlett thereafter filed a
petition for damages, naming as defendants A- 1 Service Company of Houma, LLC
A- 1), the company responsible for re -tarring the parking lot; Sugarland Shopping
Center Associates, LLC ( Sugarland), the shopping center that owned the parking
lot; and Family Dollar Stores of Louisiana, Inc. ( Family Dollar). Over three years
after this incident, Mr. Bartlett died from unrelated causes.' Subsequently, his
children, Barrett Bartlett and Courtney Bartlett Collins, moved to be substituted as
party plaintiffs (plaintiffs).
In response to Mr. Bartlett' s petition, A- 1 filed a motion for summary
judgment, asserting there is no genuine issue of material fact with respect to
liability because plaintiffs are unable to prove that a defect/ condition of the parking
lot presented an unreasonable risk of harm to Mr. Bartlett and, therefore, plaintiffs
cannot carry their burden of proof.' A- t maintained the " active" construction area
in the parking lot was clearly visible, marked with " large construction barrels,
large machinery, and construction workers." A- 1 argued it had no duty to
protect/warn Mr. Bartlett of the construction/ tar in the parking lot as it was " open
Mr. Bartlett gave his deposition testimony prior to his death.
Two years prior, A- 1 filed a motion for summary judgment raising these identical arguments. Said motion was continued without date by agreement of the parties.
2 and obvious" to all and did not present an unreasonable risk of harm. In support of
its motion, A- 1 submitted a copy of Mr. Bartlett's deposition and a copy of the
petition for damages. 3
In response, the plaintiffs filed a cross motion for summary judgment,
seeking a denial of A -I' s motion for summary judgment. In its motion, which also
served as an opposition to A- I' s motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs disputed
A- I' s position that the parking lot was an open and obvious risk, that it was an
active construction site, or that there were any warning signs near the entrance/ exit
of Family Dollar. Plaintiffs maintained there were no workers actively spraying tar
on any part of the parking lot when Mr. Bartlett walked out of Family Dollar.
Plaintiffs acknowledged the adjoining lot—waiting to be sprayed—contained some
equipment but disputed that work was being done or tar was being sprayed.
Plaintiffs argued that A- I breached its duty to warn of a hazardous condition it
created and that the failure to warn was a " but -for cause" of the accident and Mr.
Bartlett's injuries. In support of their motion, plaintiffs submitted the Lafourche
3 Referenced in Mr. Bartlett's deposition is a photograph that allegedly shows the condition of the parking lot on the day of the incident. Said photo was attached to the deposition when it was initially submitted by A- 1 in support of its original motion for summary judgment. However, according to our review of the record, the photograph was not attached to the copy of Mr. Bartlett's deposition that was submitted in support of the motion for summary judgment that is before us now. Prior to its amendment in 2023, La. Code Civ. P. art. 966 provided that parties were required to file their supporting documents with the motion and memorandum in order for such supporting documents to be considered; references to documents elsewhere in the record were not permissible. La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( D)( 2); see La. Code Civ. P. art. 966, Comments - 2015 Comment ( k) ( noting that the 2015 revision made it clear that the court can only consider documents filed in support of or in opposition to the motion, which differs from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 56( c)( 3), which allows the court to consider other materials in the record); see also Troncoso v, Point Carr Homeowners Association, 2022- 0530
La. App. 1 Cir. 1/ 10/ 23), 360 So. 3d 901, 914- 915 ( discussing former Article 966( A)(4) and D)( 2)). However, Article 966, as amended, now permits such supporting documents to be " filed or referenced" and mandates that a trial court shall consider only those documents " filed or
referenced" in support of or in opposition to a motion for summary judgment. See La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( A)(4)( a) and ( D)( 2) as amended by 2023 La. Acts No. 317, § 1. This court recently decided that the 2023 amendments to Article 966( A)( 4) and ( D)( 2) are substantive because they changed the law by creating an alternative means by which a party may have their supporting documents considered in support of and in opposition to a motion for summary judgment and as such, created additional duties for a party seeking to reference supporting documents. Ricketson v. McKenzie, 2023- 0314 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 10/ 4/ 23), --- So. 3d ---, 2023 WL 7037495, * 4. Accordingly, we apply the version of Article 966( D)(2) that was in effect at the time of the hearing in this matter, and our cue novo review will not include the photograph submitted by A-1.
3 Parish Sheriffs Office incident report, photographs of the parking lot, and a
surveillance video.' Plaintiffs alleged this evidence supported a finding that it was
not until after Mr. Bartlett' s accident that measures were taken to rope off the
parking lot and the entrance/ exit of Family Dollar.
Sugarland and Family Dollar filed a motion for summary judgment adopting
A- I' s arguments regarding the open and obvious nature of the condition of the
parking lot. Sugarland and Family Dollar asserted further there was no genuine
issue of material fact with respect to their liability because plaintiffs cannot
produce any evidence of negligence on their part or any evidence they were in
custody or control of the parking lot and the project to resurface it at the time of the
incident. In support of this motion, the parties attached a copy of the contract
between A- 1 and Sugarland to overlay the parking lot in question with asphalt/tar.
The trial court heard arguments on all of the summary judgment motions, at
which time counsel for A- 1 objected, for the first time, to the submission of the
surveillance video stating: " LlIt' s not attached to the affidavit. Its not attached to
any deposition testimony. There' s nothing authenticating it." For the same
reasons, counsel for A- 1 objected to the submission of the contract by Sugarland
and Family Dollar filed in support of their motion for summary judgment. The
trial court ruled that both the video and the contract were inadmissible summary
judgment evidence pursuant to La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( A)(4).
Counsel for all parties then proceeded to argue the merits of the summary
judgment motions. Citing Bufkin v. Felipe' s Louisiana, LLC, 2014-0299 ( La.
10115/ 14), 171 So -3d 851, the trial court ruled in favor of A- 1, Sugarland, and
Family Dollar, finding the condition of the parking Iot was an open and obvious
hazard and, thus, there was no duty to warn. The trial court granted summary
4 According to the record, all of this evidence was provided by the Lafourche Parish Sheriffs Department in response to a public records request by plaintiffs.
4 judgment in favor of A- 1, Sugarland, and Family Dollar, denied plaintiffs' cross
motion for summary judgment, and dismissed, with prejudice, all of plaintiffs'
claims.' The trial court signed a judgment in accordance with its findings on May
12, 2023.
Following the trial court's rulings on the summary judgments, plaintiffs
timely filed a motion for new trial, arguing the trial court failed to consider their
summary judgment evidence in contravention of the express dictates of Louisiana
law and jurisprudence. Plaintiffs cited the recent decision in Farrell v. Circle K
Stores, Inc., 2022- 00849 ( La. 3117123), 359 So. 3d 467, as clarifying the law on the
defense of "open and obvious" in slip and fall cases on summary judgment. The
trial court denied the motion.
Plaintiffs appeal, assigning the following specifications of error for our
review:
1. The trial court erred by granting A- I' s summary judgment when a genuine issue of material fact existed as to the condition of the parking lot in which Mr. Bartlett slipped and fell.
2. The trial court erred when it struck the surveillance video attached to Mr. Bartlett's cross motion for summary judgment and opposition, when the objection was untimely.
3. The trial court erred when it granted A -l' s motion for summary judgment by relying on jurisprudence that has now been overruled by the Louisiana Supreme Court.
4. The trial court erred when it held that plaintiffs failed to file any opposition to A- I' s motion for summary judgment.
5. The trial court erred when it denied the motion for new trial.
EVIDENTIARY ISSUE
Initially, we address the error by the trial court in granting A- I' s objection to
the surveillance video submitted by plaintiffs in support of their cross motion for
summary judgment and opposition to A- I' s motion for summary judgment. At the
5 The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Sugarland and Family Dollar only to the extent that the parties adopted and reiterated A- I' s motion for summary judgment.
5 time of the summary judgment hearing in this matter, Article 966( D)(2) provided
that the court shall consider any documents filed in support of or in opposition to
the motion for summary to which no objection is made. Article 966( D)( 2) further
provided "[ ajny objection to a document shall be raised in a timely filed opposition
or reply memorandum." As previously indicated, A- 1 first objected to the video at
the hearing before the trial court. Therefore, A -I' s evidentiary objection was not
presented in accordance with Article 966( D)( 2), i.e., by raising the objection " in a
timely filed opposition." Accordingly, the trial court was mandated to consider the
surveillance video in its review of the summary judgment evidence.' See
Mariakis v. North Oaks Health System, 2018- 0165 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 9/ 21/ 18),
258 So. 3d 88, 96.
Moreover, as previously indicated, plaintiffs also submitted the Lafourche
Parish Sheriffs Office incident report and photographs of the parking lot in support
of its cross motion for summary judgment and opposition to A -l' s motion for
summary judgment. These exhibits, much like the surveillance video, are not
included in the exclusive list of documents that may be filed in support of a motion
for summary judgment pursuant to Article 966( A)(4), nor have they been properly
authenticated by an affidavit or deposition to which they are attached. See La.
Code Civ. P. art. 966, comments - 2015, comment ( c). However, as with the video,
there was no timely objection. Thus, we will include the incident report and
photographs in our review.
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Summary judgment procedure is favored and " is designed to secure the just,
speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action" and " shall be construed to
b As we have determined it was error for the trial court to exclude the surveillance video from its review below, we would have included the video in our de nava review of the record were we able to view the video. However, much like the trial court, we are unable to view the video in its current format. accomplish these ends." La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( A)(2). In reviewing the trial
court's decision on a motion for summary judgment, this court applies a de novo
standard of review using the same criteria applied by the trial courts to determine
whether summary judgment is appropriate. Short v. RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc.,
2022- 0559 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 2/ 24/ 23), 361 So. 3d 1051, 1058, writ denied, 2023-
00535 ( La. 6/ 7/ 23), 361 So. 3d 973.
The initial burden of proof is on the mover. If the mover will not bear the
burden of proof at trial, the mover's burden does not require him to negate all
essential elements of the adverse party's claim, but only to point out to the court the
absence of factual support for one or more of the elements necessary to the adverse
party' s claim. Thereafter, the burden is on the adverse party to produce factual
support sufficient to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact or
that the mover is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La. Code Civ. P. art.
966( D)( 1). If the non-moving party fails to produce sufficient factual support in its
opposition that proves the existence of a genuine issue of material fact, Article
966( D)( 1) mandates the granting of the motion for summary judgment. See Babin
v. Winn-Dixie Louisiana, Inc., 2000- 0075 ( La. 6130100), 764 So. 2d 37, 40 ( per
curiam); Jenkins v. Hernandez, 2019- 0874 ( La. App. 1 Cir. 6/ 3/ 20), 305 So. 3d
365, 371, writ denied, 2020- 00835 ( La. 10/ 20/ 20), 303 So. 3d 315.
In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the trial court's role is not to
evaluate the weight of the evidence or determine the truth of the matter, but instead
to determine whether there is a genuine issue of triable fact. Short, 361 So. 3d at
1059. Because it is the applicable substantive law that determines materiality,
whether a particular fact in dispute is material can be seen only in light of the
substantive taw applicable to the case. Id.
7 LAW AND ANALYSIS
Plaintiffs assert claims against A- 1, Sugarland, and Family Dollar under La.
Civ. Code arts. 2315, 23163 2317, and 2317. 1. Article 2315( A) states: " Every act
whatever of man that causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it
happened to repair it." Article 2316 states: " Every person is responsible for the
damage he occasions not merely by his act, but by his negligence, his imprudence,
or his want of skill." Article 2317 states: " We are responsible, not only for the
damage occasioned by our own act, but for that which is caused by ... the things
which we have in our custody." Article 2317. 1, which governs negligence claims
against a property owner or custodian, provides, in pertinent part:
The owner or of a thing is answerable for damage custodian
occasioned by its ruin, vice, or defect, only upon a showing that he knew or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known of the ruin, vice, or defect which caused the damage, that the damage could have been prevented by the exercise of reasonable care, and that he failed to exercise such reasonable care.
Whether a claim arises in negligence under Article 2315 or in premises liability
under Article 2317. 1, the traditional duty/risk analysis is the same. Farrell, 359
So. 3d at 473.
In Farrell, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the trial court's ruling
denying the defendant's motion for summary judgment in a premises liability suit
that was filed after the plaintiff slipped and fell while trying to traverse a large
puddle of water at the edge of a gas station parking lot. In its analysis, the
Louisiana Supreme Court cleared up the admitted confusion in the jurisprudence
surrounding the application of the duty/risk analysis when assessing an allegedly
unreasonably dangerous condition in general negligence or premises liability
claims. Id. at 478.
The Farrell court first reaffirmed the well- settled rule that under the
duty/risk analysis, a plaintiff must prove five separate elements: ( 1) the defendant
8 had a duty to conform his conduct to a specific standard ( the duty element); ( 2) the
defendant' s conduct failed to conform to the appropriate standard ( the breach
element); ( 3) the defendant's substandard conduct was a cause -in -fact of the
plaintiffs injuries ( the cause -in -fact element); ( 4) the defendant' s substandard
conduct was a legal cause of the plaintiffs injuries ( the scope of duty element); and
5) proof of actual damages ( the damages element). Id. at 473 ( citing Malta v.
Herbert S. Hiller Corp., 2021- 00209 ( La. 10/ 10/ 21), 333 So. 3d 384, 395). If the
plaintiff fails to prove any one element by a preponderance of the evidence, the
defendant is not liable. Mathieu v. Imperial Toy Corp., 94- 0952 ( La. 11/ 30/ 94),
646 So. 2d 318, 326.
The Farrell court then explained that Louisiana's jurists have exhibited a
tendency to conflate the duty and the breach elements when evaluating an
allegedly unreasonably dangerous condition. The duty element, which is a
question of law, examines whether there is any legal support for plaintiffs claim
that defendant owed him a duty. Here, Articles 2315, 2316, 2317, and 2317. 1
require the custodian of immovable property to discover any unreasonably
dangerous condition on his premises and either correct the condition or warn
potential victims of its existence. Farrell, 359 So. 3d at 473- 474. Following
Farrell, we find that Sugarland and Family Dollar owed such a duty to Mr. Bartlett
and any other invitees to the premises that day. Moreover, with regard to
construction projects, it is the duty of the one doing construction work to properly
label, mark, or barricade places in a construction site that present an unreasonable
risk of harm to persons using the area. Sullivan v. Gulf States Utilities Co., 382
So.2d 184, 187 ( La. App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 384 So.2d 447 ( La. 1980). In the
instant case, A- 1 owed such a duty to Mr. Bartlett.
Whether there is a breach of that duty is a mixed question of fact and law,
which we assess through application of the risk/ utility balancing test by evaluating:
9 1) the utility of the complained -of condition; ( 2) the likelihood and magnitude of
harm, including the obviousness and apparentness of the condition; ( 3) the cost of
preventing the harm; and ( 4) the nature of the plaintiffs activities in terms of social
utility or whether the activities were dangerous by nature. Farrell, 359 So. 3d at
474. As the court in Farrell held, if reasonable minds could only agree that the
condition was not unreasonably dangerous, summary judgment may be granted
based on the absence of liability as the plaintiff would be unable to prove the
breach element at trial. Id. at 478.
Whether summary judgment is appropriate in the instant case turns on the
second prong of the risk/utility balancing test, which addresses the likelihood and
magnitude of the harm, including whether a condition is open and obvious. This
factor asks the degree to which the condition will likely cause harm. If it is likely
to cause harm, that weighs in favor of finding it unreasonably dangerous. If it is
unlikely to cause harm, that weighs in favor of it not being unreasonably
dangerous. The magnitude of the harm asks whether the condition presents a risk
of great or small injury and the likelihood of each. The likelihood and magnitude
of the harm includes a consideration of the open and obviousness of the condition.
Id. at 474.
In this case, the alleged unreasonably dangerous condition is that fresh tar
was being sprayed on the parking lot surface and that patrons were not warned of
the potential danger of traversing the parking lot. The only evidence before the
trial court on the motion for summary judgment was a copy of the petition for
damages and the deposition testimony of Mr. Bartlett. According to Mr. Bartlett,
he was in Raceland for work and stopped at the Family Dollar to buy chewing
gum. Mr. Bartlett stated he had been to Raceland before but never to this
particular store. On the day in question, he parked approximately 100 feet away
from the entrance to the store. When asked if he parked directly in front of the
10 store or if he remembered walking directly straight up to entrance of the store, Mr.
Bartlett replied, " t think so, but I'm not positive." Mr. Bartlett indicated he was
alone and did not recall seeing any other individuals in the parking lot as he
entered the store. He did not remember seeing any construction workers in the
parking lot as he entered the store, nor did he remember seeing anyone spraying tar
as he was walking into the store. Mr. Bartlett testified further he did not remember
seeing any caution tape or cones in the area. Mr. Bartlett stated he did not notice
wet tar in the parking lot, adding that if he were " looking for it," he would have
noticed the difference between wet tar and dry tar.
Mr. Bartlett indicated he was in the store for approximately ten minutes,
adding he did not purchase anything other than the chewing gum. As he was
walking back to his truck, he " stepped in some wet tar, ... slipped[,] ... [ his] feet
flew out from underneath [ him], and [ he] landed on [ his] back." Mr. Bartlett stated
the path he took when he exited the store " should have been close" to the path he
took entering the store. No one alerted Mr. Bartlett to the wet tar in the parking lot
prior to his fail. After he fell, a construction worker approached him from his right
side and asked him if he was alright. Mr. Bartlett replied " I'm not sure" and asked
why there was no one to warn store patrons not to walk in that area. Mr. Bartlett
was then able to get up and walk back to the Family Dollar, and, with the help of
two store employees, went to the restroom to clean the tar from his body and
clothing. An ambulance transported Mr. Bartlett to a local hospital, where he
remained for approximately an hour to an hour and a half for x-rays of his back.
He then walked, with " a little bit" of difficulty, about ten minutes from the hospital
to the Family Dollar to get back to his truck so that he could continue his day.
In their cross motion for summary judgment/ opposition to A -I' s motion for
summary judgment, plaintiffs argued A- 1 had a duty to warn of the hazardous
condition created by the wet tar in the parking lot, which plaintiffs alleged was
11 essentially an invisible danger." According to plaintiffs, A- 1 could have satisfied
this duty to warn in " very little time" and " without losing any productivity" as is
depicted by the surveillance video that shows the crew continuing to spray new tar
on the other part of the parking lot while caution tape and warning signs were
being erected near the entrance to Family Dollar, all of which occurred after Mr.
Bartlett' s fall.
In addition to the surveillance video, plaintiffs submitted Lafourche Parish
Sheriffs Deputy Kendra Danos' incident report, along with five photographs. 7 In
addition to obtaining Mr. Bartlett's statement about the incident, Deputy Danos
spoke with several other people at Family Dollar. Lana Lundy advised Deputy
Danos that although she did not see Mr. Bartlett fall, she did notice the wet, tar -like
substance on the back of his pants as he walked back into the store. When Mr.
Bartlett was in the restroom cleaning up, Ms. Lundy observed workers in the
parking lot "place caution tape along the entrance of the stores where they meet the
blacktop" so that patrons could not walk straight out of a store and onto the
blacktop. Ms. Lundy added that while there were cones on the " outer side of the
section they were working," the parking lot was not taped off, and there were no
warnings when you left the establishments.
Deputy Danos also made contact with Rain Chavez who indicated that as he
was leaving work, he observed Mr. Bartlett slip and fall in the parking lot directly
in front of the Family Dollar. Mr. Chavez stated there was no caution tape along
the border of the parking lot or at the entrance of the stores.
Deputy Danos spoke with Bryce Coleman who told Deputy Danos there
were workers standing around the store advising patrons not to walk on the
7 Following its review, the trial court appeared to rely heavily on the photographs, finding they show that the parking lot was essentially barricaded in that there were construction cones ... and] there was caution tape between the construction cones." Our review of these poorly reproduced photographs does not leave us with a clear picture of the parking lot and the surrounding area at the time of Mr. Bartlett' s fall.
12 blacktop. In fact, Mr. Coleman indicated he advised Mr. Bartlett not to walk on
the blacktop because the tar was wet. Still, Mr. Bartlett "just ignored him and kept
walking." Mr. Coleman added that the caution tape was in place before the
accident.
In Farrell, the supreme court clarified that for " a hazard to be considered
open and obvious, it must be one that is open and obvious to all who may
encounter it. The open and obvious concept asks whether the complained of
condition would be apparent to any reasonable person who might encounter it."
Farrell, 359 So. 3d at 478. Furthermore, while a plaintiffs knowledge is
appropriate for assessing fault and potential comparative fault, it is not appropriate
for summary judgment proceedings. Id. Based on the evidence, we cannot find
that the likelihood and magnitude of harm resulting from the complained of
condition, as described that day by Mr. Bartlett, was readily apparent to all who
may have encountered it. Defendants failed to meet their initial burden on the
motion for summary judgment, and genuine issues of material fact remain as to
whether a duty was breached. Thus, summary judgment was not appropriate.'
DECREE
For the assigned reasons, we reverse, in its entirety, the trial court's May 12,
2023 judgment and remand for further proceedings. We assess all costs associated
with this appeal equally amongst appellees, A- 1 Service Company of Houma,
LLC, Sugarland Shopping Center Associates, LLC, and Family Dollar Stores of
Louisiana, Inc.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
s Given our ruling, we pretermit any further discussion of plaintiffs' remaining arguments on appeal.