McBride v. Lyles

303 So. 2d 795
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 27, 1974
Docket4776
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 303 So. 2d 795 (McBride v. Lyles) 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
McBride v. Lyles, 303 So. 2d 795 (La. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

303 So.2d 795 (1974)

Richard McBRIDE, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
William LYLES, Administrator of the Estate of Robert G. Lyles, a minor, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 4776.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 27, 1974.

*796 Brittain & Williams by Jack O. Brittain, Natchitoches, Polk, Foote, Randolph & Percy by William P. Polk, Alexandria, for defendants-appellants.

Gerard F. Thomas, Jr., Natchitoches, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before FRUGÉ MILLER and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

FRUGÉ, Judge.

The plaintiff, Richard L. McBride, brought this action against defendants, William Lyles, Robert G. Lyles, Paul Halbert, Otto S. Halbert, Thomas H. Litton, David R. Sanders, Stephen L. Bailey, Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, and Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company for injuries sustained by the plaintiff in a fight which he had with some of the defendants. The trial court found that the defendants had acted jointly and actively participated in the beating of the plaintiff, and held all the defendants, except Southern Farm, liable in solido. We affirm.

This case involves a fist fight which occurred on March 4, 1973, at Northwestern State University Prather Coliseum. The plaintiff was a 21 year old college student at the university and the defendants, Robert G. Lyles, Otto S. Halbert, Thomas Litton, David Sanders, and Stephen Bailey, were students at Rapides High School, who were attending a high school basketball game at the university.

The testimony of the witnesses who saw the fight is in conflict, and the trial judge made the following determination of fact. The plaintiff was attending the ball game with a date and was with Bruce Primm and his date. Primm had had words and had exchanged obscene gestures with some of the teenage defendants two or three nights previous to the March 4 ball game. On the date of the fight, the plaintiff observed Primm again exchanging obscene gestures and comments with one of the defendants. This happened while Primm was approaching the seat which the plaintiff had reserved for him in the seating area of the coliseum. Primm and one of the defendants, Robert Lyles, invited each other down to the concourse underneath the seating area to "have it out." As Primm and Lyles left the seating area to go downstairs, four of Lyles' friends followed, so there were five young men from Rapides High School going down with Primm. Observing this the plaintiff left his seat and walked down the stairs to see what was going on. While he was descending the stairs, and unknown to him at that time, Primm had slugged Lyles knocking him down and evidently ending the fight between Primm and Lyles. Lyles got up from the floor and was in the process of shaking hands with Primm when the plaintiff walked up to the group.

The trial judge accepted completely the testimony of Joffree Brooks, a 30 year old psychology major from the university who had observed the altercation. He was not *797 related to anyone involved in the matter and was found by the trial judge to be entirely disinterested in the matter. Brooks testified that the plaintiff had been held down on the floor by at least three of the defendants, with the plaintiff receiving multiple blows and at least one kick in his face. Brooks identified the five defendants to the Northwestern Campus Security officers, who immediately arrived at the scene of the altercation and who made a report of the incident and listed the names and addresses of the five defendants. The court also accepted the testimony of Officer Bryan Perot, one of the Campus Security officers who arrived at the scene of the fight just as it was ending. He stated that he found the plaintiff doubled up in pain on the floor, and identified the five defendants as the persons who had been in the fight. He further stated that all five of the defendants showed some signs of being in the altercation, some having their clothing torn and others having blood on their clothing. He also stated that all five of the defendants were very belligerent when he first arrived and would not stop fighting until they were threatened with his night stick.

All five of the defendants testified that only one person, Otto Halbert, fought with the plaintiff. But the court rejected the testimony of these five defendants in this regard. The court found that while three of the defendants actually beat and kicked the plaintiff as he was on the floor, the other two assisted in the beating by preventing Primm from going to the aid of the plaintiff in an attempt to minimize the injuries being received by him. The court found as a matter of fact that the plaintiff had done nothing to start the fight, had not threatened anyone, had not attempted to strike any of the defendants, and made no demonstration of hostility or anger prior to his being beaten.

After the altercation, the plaintiff was taken to the Natchitoches Parish Hospital where he was given emergency treatment. A laceration over his left eye was sutured in the emergency room at the hospital, but because of the multiple fractures of the nose, septum, the bone just under the right eye, and a fracture of maxillary sinus on the right, the doctor in Natchitoches sent plaintiff to Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria where he was immediately admitted under the care of Dr. James Tate. The plaintiff remained in the hospital from March 4 to March 8. Corrective surgery was performed by Dr. Tate, but the plaintiff remained disfigured with a crooked nose which, the court stated, was obviously noticeable. Dr. Tate had recommended additional surgery to correct the deviated nose. The court found that the plaintiff had suffered severe pain and that his face had been broken in several places. He had received damage to the tear duct of one eye, and missed six days of school, and was still experiencing breathing difficulties at the time of the trial, approximately one and one-half years after the injury.

The court awarded the plaintiff $8,000 for his pain and suffering, and $1,237.85 special damages.

The defendants argue on appeal that the plaintiff assumed the risk of being injured in a fight by leaving a position of safety and placing himself in a position of peril. Article 1005 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires that this affirmative defense be set forth in the answer. See also Trahan v. Nunez, 256 So.2d 150 (La. App. 3d Cir. 1972). This requirement was not met in the present case, nor were any facts constituting this affirmative defense alleged in the answers filed by the defendants. Under the circumstances we cannot consider this defense.

The defendants next argue that Primm and the plaintiff were acting jointly and that the aggression of Primm should be imputed to the plaintiff. As an aggressor the plaintiff would not be able to recover. However, the very analysis used by the defendants negates this argument. Their analysis separates the encounter between Primm and Lyles from that between *798 the plaintiff and the other defendants. This analysis demonstrates that actually two fights, not one, took place. This is in line with the conclusion reached by the trial judge, for he found that by the time the plaintiff arrived at the scene of the fight between Primm and Lyles, the fight was over and Lyles was in the process of shaking hands with Primm. The aggression of Primm ended before the plaintiff arrived. The next act of aggression was the blow which struck the plaintiff, and which was delivered by Otto Halbert. That act of aggression began the second fight.

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Bluebook (online)
303 So. 2d 795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcbride-v-lyles-lactapp-1974.