Laforge v. State ex rel. Division of Administration

88 So. 3d 1183, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1286, 2012 WL 965877, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 372
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 21, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-CA-1286
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 88 So. 3d 1183 (Laforge v. State ex rel. Division of Administration) 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
Laforge v. State ex rel. Division of Administration, 88 So. 3d 1183, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1286, 2012 WL 965877, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 372 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

| Mean Laforge, wife oí/and Jay Michael Napolitano (collectively hereinafter, “the Napolitanos”), the plaintiffs/appellants, appeal the judgment denying their request for a permanent injunction against defendants/appellees, BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (“BellSouth”) and the State of Louisiana, through the Division of Administration, in its capacity as successor to the Board of Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District (“OLD”).1 After reviewing the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

At issue in this case is BellSouth’s construction of a cabinet — a telecommunications network facility — in Floral Park, one of the interior parks in the Lake-Vista Subdivision.2 Floral Park is owned by OLD, a state agency and is state land.3

LWhen the Lake-Vista Subdivision was created in 1947, the state and the neighborhood homeowners association entered into a covenant that mandated that all telecommunication equipment be located underground and not within sight. Residents of the neighborhood are required to agree to be subject to strict building restrictions that, among other things, governed the height of homes, the square footage of homes, and any fencing the residents may have desired.

All building plans were required to be submitted to the state, through OLD, for approval prior to commencing construction. OLD enforced the provisions of the building restrictions, and made sure that all construction was in compliance with restrictions.

The Napolitanos appreciated the unobstructed green space offered by Floral Park and protected by the Lake-Vista [1185]*1185Subdivision Building Restrictions. When a property lot along Floral Park became available, the Napolitanos bid on the property, and the bid was accepted by OLD. The property, Lot 36-C, was conveyed by OLD to the Napolitanos on 10 October 2003.

The act of cash sale made reference to the Lake-Vista East Subdivision building restrictions and a copy of the Building Restrictions was attached to the act of sale. The act of sale conveyed to the Napolitanos “all the rights, ways, privileges, servitudes, advantages, etc. thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining” to the property as described therein. That act of sale, together with the survey and the building restrictions, were registered in the Office of the Orleans Parish Register of Conveyances on 22 October 2003.

|sThe Napolitanos hired an architect to design the plans and specifications for the house they desired to have constructed. The view of Floral Park, adjacent to the lot, was an attractive view from the property. Accordingly, the house was designed so that the den, master bedroom, study, and back porch were on the Floral Park side of the house.

After the plans and specifications were completed, the plans were first submitted to the OLD Engineering Department for approval. The plans were revised several times to meet the specifications and requirements of the OLD and conform to the neighborhood’s building restrictions.

On 20 January 2005, the Chief Engineer of the OLD stamped his approval on the plans for the construction of the home. A letter of “no objection” was issued and sent to Mr. Napolitano on that date by Stephen G. Spencer, P.E., Chief Engineer of the OLD. Thereafter, the plans were submitted to the Lake Vista Property Owners Association Incorporated for its approval, which was a condition precedent before obtaining a building permit. The plans were approved by the neighborhood building association and thereafter the plans and specifications were taken to the New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits for issuance of a building permit. On 16 February 2005, the department issued a building permit for the construction of a two-story family residence at 114 Lark Street, the municipal address for Lot 36-C.

Construction of their home began in March 2005. By the end of August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina approached the city of New Orleans, the house had |4been framed, the windows and doors had been hung, sheeting had been installed upon the exterior walls of the house, and the roof had been covered with roofing felt, thus completely sealing the interior of the house from ordinary water intrusion. The Napolitanos thereafter evacuated to Florida and did not return to New Orleans until June of 2006, although Mr. Napolitano made visits to the city, partially to check on the house.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city’s critical infrastructure, including, but not limited to vital telecommunications services. Particularly, BellSouth’s 1976 telecommunications structure, which provided telecommunications services to the Lake-Vista Subdivision and surrounding neighborhoods, was ruined by flood waters. As such, it was necessary for Bell-South to construct and install the cabinet in Floral Park in order to restore and maintain telephone and other telecommunications services in the Lake-Vista Subdivision in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The cabinet houses the wires, fiber optic cables, and other electronic equipment necessary to transmit voice, data, and video. Additionally, the cabinet provides tele[1186]*1186phone, internet, and similar telecommunications services to BellSouth’s customers in the Lake-Vista Subdivision and to customers of other telecommunications providers who provide service over Bell-South’s transmission network.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, BellSouth provided its telecommunications network services through large buried copper trunk cables that were interconnected |Rto the wires serving individual residences and buildings. Even though the cables were buried below ground, the interconnection between the trunk cables and the wires to individual homes occurred in facilities called “cabinets” and/or “cross boxes” that were located above-ground. Since 1976, BellSouth had one of its aboveground cross boxes in Floral Park, immediately adjacent to the current telecommunications network facility at issue in this litigation, the cabinet.4

Because the flood waters destroyed Bell-South’s 1976 copper-wire based cross box, BellSouth decided to upgrade its network to fiber-optic cables in order to safeguard against wind, water, and flooding associated with future tropical storms or hurricanes. Given that fiber optic cables were involved, and building codes required new structures to be elevated (in a post-Katrina era), BellSouth’s new telecommunications network facility, the cabinet, had to be larger than the cross box that it replaced. Like the 1976 cross box, the cabinet would serve as the central interconnection point between the network of underground cables and wires to individual houses. As such, it had to be located where the cables and wires came together. After investigating several locations, it was decided that the best location was immediately adjacent to BellSouth’s damaged 1976 cross box in | ^Floral Park; the site was already an established interconnection point where the cables and wires converged.

Because OLD owned Floral Park, Gary Majors, BellSouth’s right-of-way agent, sought a 30 by 30 feet servitude from OLD granting BellSouth permission to construct and install the cabinet in Floral Park where it currently sits. In connection with its request for a servitude, BellSouth explained to OLD exactly what it intended to construct upon that servitude.

Mr.

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Related

State v. Mahogany
225 So. 3d 489 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)

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Bluebook (online)
88 So. 3d 1183, 2011 La.App. 4 Cir. 1286, 2012 WL 965877, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laforge-v-state-ex-rel-division-of-administration-lactapp-2012.