Jumonville v. City of Kenner

134 So. 3d 1279, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 793, 2014 WL 1238655, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 816
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 26, 2014
DocketNo. 13-CA-793
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 134 So. 3d 1279 (Jumonville v. City of Kenner) 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
Jumonville v. City of Kenner, 134 So. 3d 1279, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 793, 2014 WL 1238655, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 816 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROBERT M. MURPHY, Judge.

| ¡.Placide J. Jumonville, III (“appellant”) appeals the trial court’s April 24, 2013 judgment affirming the Kenner City Council’s April 4, 2013 Resolution to demolish [1281]*1281his Kenner residential property (the “property”) at 50 Granada Drive. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellant has been the sole owner of the property at issue, including improvements thereon, a house and garage, since September 22, 2004, when his parents donated the property to him. On March 1, 2013, appellee Kenner Mayor Michael S. Yenni sent a certified letter to appellant alleging the property to be a serious public hazard, unsafe and dangerous, and recommended for demolition. The letter contained an order to show cause why the structure should not be condemned with an April 4, 2013 date for public hearing before the Kenner City Council.

|sOn March 27, 2013, Inspector John Osterhold issued three summonses citing appellant’s mother and counsel, Jan P. Ju-monville, for nine misdemeanor Kenner code violations including rebar rods coming out from the side of building, substandard structure, mold, foundation and roof violations.

Public hearing. At the April 4, 2013 hearing, the Council reviewed photographs of the property dated February 28, 2013; 65 photographs taken the same day as the hearing to show the condition of the property on that date; and the report of Civil Engineer Frank T. Liang, Vice-President of Digital Engineering. Kenner Code Enforcement Director Tamithia Shaw read the report and summonses into the record.

The City and Mayor argued that the property was dilapidated and an endangerment to the public welfare. Appellees argued their action in passing the Resolution to demolish the property was justified under City of Kenner Ordinance 5-63, infra.

Following the April 4, 2013 hearing, the Kenner Council unanimously passed Resolution No. B-16353, declaring the Granada property a public hazard and ordered the structures at 50 Granada Drive demolished. The Council did not choose to grant appellant the option of making repairs.

Trial de novo. On April 9, 2013, appellant filed a petition for injunction, judicial review, damages, and trial de novo in the district court, according to the appellate procedure as outlined in La. R.S. 33:4764.

On April 23, 2013, the district court at a bench trial heard testimony1 of appellees’ witnesses: Kenner Mayor Michael Yenni; Kenner Councilman Keith Reynaud of the particular district where the property is located; Inspector John fyOsterhold, and Engineer Liang. Appellant’s father Plac-ide J. Jumonville, Jr. testified on the absent appellant’s behalf through power of attorney.

Relying on Tatum v. Village of Converse, 440 So.2d 1354 (La.App. 3 Cir.1983), writ denied, 444 So.2d 121 (La.1984), the trial court restricted admissible evidence to that submitted prior to the Council’s action taken on the date of the hearing.2 The court’s sole inquiry was as to the condition of the property on April 4, 2013. The court’s stated objective was to determine whether the Council had sufficient [1282]*1282evidence to order the demolition of the subject property. Accordingly, the trial court did not permit plaintiffs expert, Engineer Leonard Quick, to testify on the appeal of the Council’s action as he did not testify at the Council hearing, except on matters pertaining to injunctive relief, an issue jurisdictionally reserved to the district court and which was not addressed before the Council.3 Likewise, engineer Liang was permitted to testify as to the conditions of his hiring as the City’s expert, the use of his seal, and his report, read at the Council hearing.

The trial judge defined trial de novo in terms of the admissible evidence under Tatum, supra:

A trial de novo means that all the evidence has to come in anew, but it’s still the question before the Court as whether or not the Council had sufficient evidence to act as it did at the time it passed the resolution. Everything that has happened subsequent to that really isn’t relevant to the particular proceeding.
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You can’t impose knowledge on the Council that happened three weeks after they passed the resolution.

|BMayor Yenni and Engineer Liang testified in the trial court confirming the selection of Digital Engineering’s selection and authorization by the City to inspect the property and prepare a written report, the presentation of this report to the Council, and introduction at trial. Digital Engineering V-P Liang reported that the “structure is a serious public hazard” and recommended to “have it abated by demolition or brought up to Kenner City Code or ordinance.” Liang’s report found the structures substandard by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation and abandonment. Liang’s report, quoted above, had been presented to the Council by Ken-ner Code Enforcement Director Tamithia Shaw and considered without Liang’s appearance. Appellant’s questioning of Liang’s selection and authority to inspect and report on the property at issue under La. R.S. 33:4762(A)(2) necessitated review of the Mayor’s testimony regarding Digital Engineering/ Liang’s selection. This Court deems irrelevant all testimony not offered or available on the date of the Council hearing except as earlier described.

Mayor Yenni also presented 65 photographs taken the day of the hearing and admitted into evidence without objection. Mayor Yenni and Councilman Keith Rey-naud testified as to the numerous public complaints over more than a decade that each had received and as to the volume of files each had accumulated in the course of business regarding the condition of appellant’s property. Mayor Yenni had previously been Kenner’s Chief Administrative Office and thus had personal knowledge of the property.

Appellant objected to evidence of complaints; the trial court overruled objections and allowed the evidence to demonstrate the complaints’ having been subsequently referred to Kenner Code Enforcement office for inspection; and to demonstrate the weight of the evidence of this property’s long-term static condition.

| ^Appellant, through his father, contended that the structures in question were sound and secure. He contended that the visible appearance or condition of the bottom of the siding in no way affected the integrity of the building. He admitted that no utilities are connected to the house [1283]*1283and that the house has been uninhabited for years. Appellant testified that the holes along the slab were caused by subsidence and are present throughout Kenner.

Appellant responds that that he cleaned the yard, removed the offending fence, signed a contract for “cosmetic garage repairs” with Home Renovation Plus, and orally contracted with Castillo Construction for repairs to the house, with a written contract soon to follow the hearing date. Appellant complains that he received photos from October 2, 2012 to October 11, 2012, over four months old. He further contended that the City of Kenner entered the property and house without notice or request and thus violated his constitutional rights.

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Bluebook (online)
134 So. 3d 1279, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 793, 2014 WL 1238655, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 816, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jumonville-v-city-of-kenner-lactapp-2014.