McCoy v. Town of Rosepine

187 So. 3d 562, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 898, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 472, 2016 WL 889511
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 9, 2016
DocketNo. 15-898
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 187 So. 3d 562 (McCoy v. Town of Rosepine) 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
McCoy v. Town of Rosepine, 187 So. 3d 562, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 898, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 472, 2016 WL 889511 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

PETERS, J.

hThe plaintiff, Virgil McCoy, and the intervenor, Cleco Corporation, appeal the trial court’s grant of two summary judgments dismissing their claims against the defendants, Rosepine Seniors Apartments Partnership,1 MAC-RE, LLC, Scottsdale Insurance Company, and the Town of Rosepine. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court judgment and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

On July 2, 2012, Mr. McCoy, an employee of Cleco Corporation (Cleco), sustained an injury to his left foot and ankle while working on an electric meter located on the side of a building comprising part of an apartment complex known as Rosepine Apartments 1 in Rosepine, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. His injury occurred when he stepped into an uncovered water meter, located in close proximity to the building where he was working, and fell backwards into shrubs growing along the building.

In his original-and supplemental pleadings, Mr. McCoy named a number of defendants whom he claimed were liable to him for the injuries. Additionally, Cleco intervened in Mr. McCoy’s suit to recover the workers’ compensation benefits it had [564]*564paid on his behalf as a result of the accident. Subsequent pleadings by Mr. McCoy and Cleco resulted in the dismissal of all defendants except the Town of Rose-pine; Rosepine Seniors Apartments Partnership; MAC-RE, LLC; and Scottsville Insurance Company (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the defendants”).

| ¿This appeal arises because the trial court granted the defendants’ motions for summary judgment dismissing both Mr. McCoy’s and Cleco’s claims against them. The trial court granted the defendants relief based on their argument that the uncovered water meter was an open and obvious hazard presenting no unreasonable risk of harm. Both Mr. McCoy and Cleco appeal this judgment.

In his appeal, Mr. McCoy raises one assignment of error:

The Trial Court erred in granting Defendants’ motion for summary judgment where there were genuine issues of material fact concerning whether the uncovered water meters constituted an unreasonable risk of harm.
Cleco raises four assignments of error in its appeal:
1. The trial judge erred in granted [sic] defendant’s [sic] motion for summary judgment, and otherwise holding that the uncovered water meter constituted an open and obvious hazard, as opposed an unreasonably dangerous condition, and dismissing intervenor’s lawsuit.
2. The trial judge erred as a matter of law in finding that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact that plaintiff and intervenor could not prove all elements of their case at trial on the merits and otherwise finding that defendants had no duty as a matter of law to protect plaintiff and pedestrians from the conditions present.
3. The trial judge erred as a matter of law by not holding that reasonable persons could disagree about whether Rosepine Apartments’ action in the water meter hole uncovered constituted leaving an unreasonable risk of harm, and therefore should have been deemed a genuine issue of material fact.
4. The trial judge erred in finding that genuine issues of material fact do indeed exist that may or may not affect the respective degree of fault of the parties in applying comparative negligence, commensurate with a proper duty risk-analysis as dictated by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

OPINION

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 966 has been amended significantly over the past three years, and the rules applicable to summary |,judgment procedure depend on when a summary judgment might be filed and considered. In this case, three of the four defendants (Rosepine Seniors Apartments Partnership; MAC-RE, LLC; and Scottsville Insurance Company) filed their motion for summary judgment on September 29, 2014, and the Town of Rosepine filed its motion for summary judgment on November 14, 2014. The trial court heard the motions on November 24, 2014, and executed a written judgment the next day. We will consider the summary judgments based on the version of La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 in effect at the time of the hearing.2

Despite the recent amendments to La. Code Civ.P. art. 966, the appellate stan[565]*565dard of review with regard to summary judgment decisions has remained the same. “Appellate review of the granting of a motion for summary judgment is de novo, using the identical criteria that govern the trial court’s consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate.” Smitko v. Gulf S. Shrimp, Inc., 11-2566, p. 7 (La.7/2/12), 94 So.3d 750, 755. Furthermore, nothing in the recent amendments changed the legislative assertion that summary judgment procedure is “favored” and is “designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action, except those disallowed by Article 969.” La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(A)(2).

Summary judgment, itself, shall be rendered:

[I]f the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, .and admissions, together irith the affidavits, if any, admitted for purposes of the motion for summary judgment, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B)(2) (emphasis added).

14Pertinent to this appeal is the question of who bears the burden of proof. Pursuant to La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(C)(2), the burden remains with the movant:

However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial on the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the movant’s burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense, but rather to point out. to the court that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails tQ produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to satisfy his evidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact.

The underlying claim at issue in this matter arises "from La.Civ.Code art. 2317, as modified by La.Civ.Code art. 2317,1. Louisiana Civil Code Article 2317 provides responsibility “for the damage occasioned by our own act,” as well as the damage “caused by the act of persons for whom we are answerable, or of the things which we have in our custody.” This responsibility is modified by the articles that follow, including particularly La.Civ.Code art. 2317.1', which provides:

The owner or custodian of .a thing is answerable for damage 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.

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187 So. 3d 562, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 898, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 472, 2016 WL 889511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccoy-v-town-of-rosepine-lactapp-2016.