Lavergne v. Rapides Parish Police Jury

183 So. 3d 537, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 654, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2170, 2015 WL 6735698
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 4, 2015
DocketNo. 15-654
StatusPublished

This text of 183 So. 3d 537 (Lavergne v. Rapides Parish Police Jury) 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
Lavergne v. Rapides Parish Police Jury, 183 So. 3d 537, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 654, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2170, 2015 WL 6735698 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

PETERS, J.

liThe plaintiff, Cheryl Lavergne, seeks review of the district court judgment dismissing her appeal from the Rapides Parish Civil Service Board’s decision to uphold the termination of her employment by the Rapides Parish Police Jury. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court judgment in all respects.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

The undisputed facts with regard to the matter now before this court are that after an October 18, 2013 hearing, the Rapides Parish Police Jury (Police Jury) terminated Ms¿ Lavergne’s employment with it effective October 23, 2013. It is also undisputed that Ms. Lavergne was a classified employee of the Police Jury and subject to the protection of the Rapides Parish Civil Service Rules. Pursuant to those rules, Ms. Lavergne appealed the termination of her employment to the Rapides Parish Civil Service Board (Board), and following a February 20, 2014 hearing, the Board voted unanimously to uphold the Police Jury’s termination.1

On March 17, 2014, Ms. Lavergne filed a petition in the. Ninth, Judicial District Court,2 naming the Police Jury as a defendant and seeking a judgment reinstating her as a Police Jury employee retroactive to the date of termination and ordering the Police Jury to pay her back wages and benefits for the time between the termination of her employment and her reinstatement. In her petition, Ms. Lavergne traced the history of the termination process in her case and asserted that her discharge as a Police Jury employee was (1) without cause; (2) as a result of her exercise of her rights against self-inerimi-nation; (3) as a result of events that |2had no connection to her employment; (4) in violation of the Police Jury’s personnel policy; and (5) in violation of the Rapides Parish Civil Service Rules.

On April 8, 2014, the Police Jury filed an answer to Ms. Lavergne’s petition wherein it asserted additional background relative to. the facts and procedure involving Ms. Lavergne’s employment termination; asserted that the decision of the Board in upholding the action of the Police Jury “was not manifestly erroneous, arbitrary or capricious and was supported by the evidence adduced at the hearing[,]” and prayed for the dismissal of her petition. On April 10, 2014, the Police Jury amended its answer to add more factual background.

Sometime in the summer of 2014, Ms. Lavergne, through her trial counsel, scheduled six depositions for August 27, 2014. The Police Jury responded on August 15, 2014, by filing a motion to strike three3 of the six depositions and for a protective order to prevent Ms. Lavergne from taking those depositions in the future.4 Apparently, all of the noticed depo[539]*539sitions were continued from August 27, 2014, because on September 4, 2014, the Board, not the Police Jury, filed a motion to strike the other three depositions as well as a request for a protective order to prevent Ms. Lavergne from attempting to take these three depositions in the future.5 A hearing on both motions was scheduled for October 13, 2014.

IsOn September 19, 2014, the Police Jury filed a motion to dismiss Ms. Lavergne’s action pending before the district court based on her failure to comply with the applicable provisions of the Rapides Parish Civil Service Rules in attempting to perfect her appeal of the Board’s decision. Specifically, the Police Jury asserted that Ms. Lavergne failed to comply with Rule 4.16(a) of the Rapides Parish Civil' Service Rules, in that she did not timely serve the Board with a Written notice of appeal containing the information required by Rule 4.16(a). The Police Jury attached the affidavit of Linda Sanders, the Rapides Parish Civil Service Director, attesting to the fact that the Board did not .receive the notice required by Rule 4.16(a). The district court set that motion for October 13, 2014, as well.

On September 22, 2014, Ms. Lavergne amended her petition to join the Board as an additional defendant and to assert that the Board was “unlawfully constituted and appointed through the legal fault of Rap-ides Parish Police Jury” at the time it rendered the decision in favor of the Police Jury. Specifically, she asserted that two of the four members of the Board who presided in her case were not properly appointed. After thé filing of the amended petition, the district court continued the October 13, 2014 hearing at the request of Ms. Lavergne and without opposition from the Police Jury. At the request of the Police Jury, the district court reset the hearing for December 1, 2014. The motions were later reset for February 2, 2015.

The Board answered the amendment to the original petition on October 24, 2014. Its answer took the form of a general denial of the allegations of the amended petition. The Police Jury filed its answer to the amendment to the original petition on November 5, 2014. In its answer, the Police Jury asserted that Ms. Lavergne voluntarily participated in the Board hearing, that she did not raise a | ¿question concerning the legal status of the Board members during the hearing, and that she could not now raise these issues for the first time before the district court.

The record before us does not contain a transcript of the February 2, 2015 hearing on the motions.' The district court minutes of that day state that:

As to the motion to dismiss appeal-matter was taken under advisement; and as to the motion to strike deposition and quash subpoena-matter is now moot. A ruling.on the issue of a protective order by defendants was deferred until á ruling on the motion to dismiss appeal.

On February 25, 2015, the district court recorded its oral reasons for judgment in the district court minutes of that day. In its reasons, the district court cited the constitutional and statutory authority for the Board’s existence and authority; found Rule 4.16(a) to be applicable to Ms. Lav-ergne’s ‘legal action; found that she had not complied with Rule 4.16(a); and rendered judgment dismissing her appeal to the district court. However, in the pro[540]*540cess of setting fourth its oral reasons, the district court also referred to the constitutional provisions relative to civil service systems established directly by constitutional authority and without the necessity of statutory or local government implementation, as is the case with the Police Jury in Rapides Parish.

The district court signed a written judgment dismissing Ms. Lavergne’s appeal on March 18, 2015, and Ms. Lavergne responded by filing a motion for new trial on March 31, 2015. After an April 27, 2015 hearing, the district court rejected the motion for new trial. The record does contain a transcript of that hearing.

In her argument to the district court on the motion for new trial, Ms. Lavergne asserted that the Board had no authority to enact Rule 4.16 pursuant to the authority set forth in La.R.S. 33:2452(B)(3)(e), and that the Board’s authority to enact rules affecting the process does not extend past its authority to hold a ^hearing. To allow the Board such authority, she argued, would improperly divest the district court of its appellate jurisdiction and would deny her due process rights and access to the courts guaranteed by La. Const, art. 1, §§ 19 and 22. On the other hand, Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
183 So. 3d 537, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 654, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2170, 2015 WL 6735698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lavergne-v-rapides-parish-police-jury-lactapp-2015.