Rider v. Ambeau

100 So. 3d 849, 2011 La.App. 5 Cir. 0532, 26 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 44, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 89, 2012 WL 600969
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 1, 2012
DocketNo. 2011 CA 0532
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 100 So. 3d 849 (Rider v. Ambeau) 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
Rider v. Ambeau, 100 So. 3d 849, 2011 La.App. 5 Cir. 0532, 26 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 44, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 89, 2012 WL 600969 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

WELCH, J.

|?In this dispute arising out of the termination of the plaintiff, Antoinette M. Rider, from her employment with the St. Gabriel Police Department, Ms. Rider appeals a judgment of the trial court that granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of the defendant, United National Insurance Company (“United National”), the alleged liability insurer of the City of St. Gabriel (“the City”), on the grounds that the insurance policy did not provide coverage for the plaintiff’s claims, and dismissed the plaintiff’s claims against it with prejudice. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The factual and procedural history of this case is more fully set forth in this court’s earlier opinion, Rider v. Ambeau, 2007-0681 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/21/07), 973 So.2d 177 (unpublished), writ denied, 2008-0814 (La.3/14/08), 977 So.2d 937. Essentially, in May 1999, the City hired Ms. Rider to work for the St. Gabriel Police Department as a security officer, and after completing several training courses, she received several promotions. On June 29, 2000, while working as a patrol officer, Ms. Rider was injured in a motor vehicle accident and sustained injuries that rendered her unable to work at the St. Gabriel Police Department for approximately one year. Eventually, Ms. Rider was cleared by her treating physician to return to work on “light duty” status, and on July 23, 2001, Ms. Rider returned to work at the St. Gabriel Police Department as a desk sergeant. Ms. Rider remained in this position, until July 3, 2003, when the St. [852]*852Gabriel Police Department terminated her employment, purportedly as part of a reduction in work force, although a new chief of the St. Gabriel Police Department, Kevin Ambeau, Sr. (“Chief Ambeau”) had just assumed office two days earlier on July 1, 2003. On the same date that Ms. Rider was terminated, six other employees of the St. Gabriel Police Department were terminated and several new police officers were Isihired.

On July 6, 2004, Ms. Rider filed a petition for damages, naming as defendants the City, Chief Ambeau, and George Grace, Sr. (“Mayor Grace”), the Mayor of the City. In her petition, Ms. Rider asserted claims against the defendants for disability discrimination, handicap discrimination, religious discrimination, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliatory discharge for making a complaint of sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of La. R.S. 23:967 (the whistleblower statute) and Ms. Rider’s constitutional right to due process. Ms. Rider sought compensation for her lost income and benefits, loss of earning capacity, and past, present, and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, and mental anguish. Additionally, she sought reinstatement to her former position with the St. Gabriel Police Department.

All of Ms. Rider’s claims against Chief Ambeau and Mayor Grace were eventually dismissed. See Rider, 2007-0681 at p. 4, 973 So.2d 177. Additionally, Ms. Rider’s claims against the City for religious discrimination, sexual and religious harassment, retaliatory discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress, handicap discrimination, and violations of the whis-tleblower statute and due process were dismissed. See Rider v. Ambeau, 2007-0097 (La.App. 1st Cir.5/14/07) (unpublished unit action) and Rider, 2007-0681 at p. 2 n. 3 and p. 9, 973 So.2d 177. Therefore, Ms. Rider’s only remaining claims (against the City) are her claims for disability discrimination and gender discrimination. See Rider, 2007-0097 (unpublished unit action) and Rider, 2007-0681 at p. 2 n. 3 and p. 8, 973 So.2d 177.

On July 13, 2009, Ms. Rider filed a supplemental and amended petition adding as a defendant, United National. In this petition, Ms. Rider alleged that United National had issued a Public Officials Professional and Employment Practices Liability Policy (“POP-EPL”) to the City, which was in effect at the |4times relevant to Ms. Rider’s claims.1 On March 15, 2010, United National filed a motion for summary judgment2 seeking a determination that it was not obligated to indemnify [853]*853the City against the damages sought by Ms. Rider because her requests for relief (reinstatement as a patrol officer, sanctions, back and future wages and related benefits, loss of earning capacity, and damages for past, present, and future severe emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish, and pain and suffering) fell within policy exclusions, which United National claimed were clear and unambiguous. Further, United National contended that under the policy, its only obligation is to provide the City with a defense.

On June 24, 2010, the trial court issued written reasons granting the motion for summary judgment.3 In its reasons for judgment, the trial court stated that it was granting the summary judgment “begrudgingly” and found it “incredulous that as a consumer, the City, ha[d] purchased a policy such as” the policy at issue because the “policy cover[ed] no circumstances for which under the laws of Louisiana that an insured/employer may be sued and made to indemnify.” Further, the trial court noted that “[i]t seem[ed] as though, what [was] no doubt hefty | r,premiums expended by the citizens of St. Gabriel have been paid solely to an insurance company to defend the insured against claims for which the policy would never cover.” Lastly, the trial court stated that “it would have been better and would have made more sense if the City had known up front that the policy would not cover such circumstances as this case and would not have purchased this type of insurance” as “[t]he monies [it] could have saved on premiums could have been used to compensate for damages.”

On August 5, 2010, the trial court signed a judgment in favor of United National and against Ms. Rider granting United National’s motion for summary judgment and dismissing all demands against United National with prejudice. It is from this judgment that Ms. Rider appeals.4

On appeal, Ms. Rider contends that the trial court erred in granting United National’s motion for summary judgment because the policy provisions are vague and ambiguous and can be interpreted so as to afford coverage for Ms. Rider’s claims (thus rendering summary judgment inappropriate) and because the policy provisions violate public policy by restricting coverage to the extent that it affords no coverage for any injuries that it purports to insure. United National contends that there is no coverage for any of the plaintiffs gender discrimination and disability [854]*854discrimination claims based on policy exclusions “d.,” “j.,” and “m.” (as replaced and amended by several endorsements to the policy). Further, United National contends that the policy in this case is a “defense-only” policy, meaning it was purchased solely to provide a legal defense for the City in the event of a lawsuit and was not meant to provide indemnification or to be a source of payment for damages to an injured plaintiff.

|JI. LAW AND DISCUSSION

On appeal, summary judgments are reviewed de novo, using the same criteria that govern the trial court’s consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Lieux v. Mitchell, 2006-0382 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/28/06), 951 So.2d 807, 314,

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100 So. 3d 849, 2011 La.App. 5 Cir. 0532, 26 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 44, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 89, 2012 WL 600969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rider-v-ambeau-lactapp-2012.