Nall v. Parish of Iberville

542 So. 2d 145, 1989 WL 35245
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 1989
DocketCA 88 0337
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 542 So. 2d 145 (Nall v. Parish of Iberville) 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
Nall v. Parish of Iberville, 542 So. 2d 145, 1989 WL 35245 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

542 So.2d 145 (1989)

Woodrow F. NALL, Dolores E. Nall, Individually and d/b/a Woodie's Body Shop and Wrecker Service
v.
PARISH OF IBERVILLE and Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Freddie H. Pitre, Sr.

No. CA 88 0337.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 11, 1989.

Jack Patrick Harris, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff Woodrow F. Nall, et al.

Edward A. Songy, Plaquemine, for defendant Parish of Iberville, et al.

Before CARTER, LANIER and LeBLANC, JJ.

LeBLANC, Judge.

The sole issue in this appeal is whether a parish is the employer of a deputy sheriff for purposes of imposing vicarious liability under La.Civ.C. art. 2320. The trial court concluded that it was not and dismissed plaintiffs' suit against the parish. We affirm.

On July 15, 1987, plaintiffs, Woodrow F. and Dolores E. Nall, individually and d/b/a Woodie's Body Shop and Wrecker Service, filed suit seeking damages for unfair trade practices and an invasion of privacy allegedly committed by deputy sheriffs employed by the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office. The suit named Iberville Parish, the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office and Freddie H. Pitre, Sr., Sheriff of Iberville Parish, as defendants. Subsequently, Iberville Parish (Parish), through the Iberville Parish Police Jury, filed a peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action and a motion for summary judgment. After a hearing, the trial court sustained Parish's exception and granted its motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, plaintiffs' suit against Parish was dismissed. Plaintiffs have appealed this judgment.

Whether the trial court was correct in sustaining Parish's exception and granting its motion for summary judgment turns upon the legal issue of whether Parish is vicariously liable for a tort committed by a deputy sheriff. If so, the trial court erred in both respects. However, if Parish has no vicarious liability for the tort of a deputy sheriff, both rulings of the trial court were correct.

In Foster v. Hampton, 343 So.2d 219 (La.App. 1st Cir.1977), this court held that "[t]here can be no vicarious liability on the part of the parish for the acts of the sheriff *146 or his deputies." 343 So.2d at 221.[1] Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed and adopted the above-quoted portion of the First Circuit opinion as its own, stating in dicta that the State was the real party vicariously liable for the tort of a deputy sheriff.[2]Foster v. Hampton, 352 So.2d 197 (La.1977). Subsequently, the plaintiff in Foster filed suit against the state and in Foster v. Hampton, 381 So.2d 789 (La. 1980), the Supreme Court specifically held that the state was vicariously liable for a deputy sheriff's tort.

However, following the Supreme Court's decision in the first Foster case, the legislature passed Acts 1978, No. 318, in an apparent attempt to legislatively overrule this case. Act 318 deleted language in La.R.S. 33:1433, relied upon by the Supreme Court in the first Foster decision, which formerly gave a sheriff general immunity from tort liability except for acts committed by deputy sheriffs in compliance with a direct order of and in the presence of the sheriff. Further, this act also added La.R.S. 42:1441, which provides in pertinent part that:

"The state of Louisiana shall not be liable for any damage caused by a ... sheriff ... or public officer of a political subdivision within the course and scope of his official duties, or damage caused by an employee of a ... sheriff, ... or public officer of a political subdivision. (footnote omitted)

In Jenkins v. Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, 402 So.2d 669 (La.1981), the Supreme Court re-examined the issue of vicarious liability for torts committed by deputy sheriffs in light of Act 318. Based on the following considerations, the court concluded that the actual employer of a deputy sheriff is the sheriff.

The sheriff, and not the state, hires and fires deputies, exercises direct and indirect supervision and control over them, fixes their time and place of work, and generally allocates their responsibility and assigns their duties. Although the money for the operation of the various sheriffs' departments may come from various sources of public funds (primarily fees as tax collector and in civil and criminal matters), the sheriffs disburse the allocated funds and actually pay most of the salaries of the deputies with these funds. No one but the sheriff can realistically be viewed as the employer of the deputies. Whether the sheriff is the appropriate governmental entity on which to impose liability for the employment-related torts of the deputy sheriff is a more difficult question.
The doctrine of respondeat superior is based on the rationale that the enterprise should pay for damages caused by one who is acting in furtherance of the enterprise. Here, there is no enterprise. The deputy on duty is acting in furtherance of the public good, and the damages caused by those actions of the deputy should be paid by public funds.
The Legislature, in enacting Act 318 of 1978, has clearly indicated its intention that governmental responsibility for torts committed by a public employee should be placed on the public officer most closely related to the tortfeasor. The Legislature also removed the previous statutory immunity enjoyed by the sheriff. Moreover, as noted in the discussion of the employment relationship, neither the state nor the parish (the other logical entities on which liability might be imposed) exercises any significant control over sheriff's deputies. We conclude that the sheriff is the appropriate governmental entity on which to place responsibility for the torts of a deputy sheriff.
However, in the employment relationship which gives rise to delictual responsibility, the sheriff acts solely in his official capacity; he cannot reasonably be viewed as acting in a personal capacity in *147 the employment relationship. Therefore, if the sheriff as an employer is to be held vicariou liable for the torts of his employee, he is liable only because he is sheriff and is only liable to the extent that he holds that office. He is not liable personally, and his personal funds and property cannot be subjected to execution of a judgment decreeing that liability. 402 So.2d at 671 (footnote omitted) (emphasis added)

Accord, Vance v. Orleans Parish Crim. Sheriff's Dept., 483 So.2d 1178 (La.App. 4th Cir.1986); Sciortino v. Alfano, 435 So. 2d 1010 (La.App. 5th Cir.), writ denied, 437 So.2d 1149 (1983).

Another significant case is Martinez v. Reynolds, 398 So.2d 156 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1981). In Martinez the court concluded that but for legislation passed subsequent to the first Foster decision, a plaintiff would clearly have a right of recovery against the state for a tort committed by a deputy sheriff. However, the Martinez court held that:

... [B]y enacting Act 318 of 1978 the legislature intended to legislatively overrule Foster v. Hampton I, ... by compelling victims of torts committed by deputy sheriffs to seek their relief from the deputies and the sheriffs who hire, control and supervise them, rather than the state, which has virtually no control over their activities. (398 So.2d at 159)

Accord, Sullivan v. Quick, 406 So.2d 284 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1981).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
542 So. 2d 145, 1989 WL 35245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nall-v-parish-of-iberville-lactapp-1989.