Schexnayder v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development

128 So. 3d 499, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 330, 2013 WL 5850341, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2195
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 30, 2013
DocketNo. 13-CA-330
StatusPublished

This text of 128 So. 3d 499 (Schexnayder v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development) 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
Schexnayder v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development, 128 So. 3d 499, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 330, 2013 WL 5850341, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2195 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

HANS J. LILJEBERG, Judge.

| ¡¿Plaintiffs, Theodore and Lynell Schex-nayder, appeal a judgment rendered in accordance with a jury verdict in favor of defendants, dismissing plaintiffs’ claims against them. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case arises from a motor vehicle accident that occurred on September 18, 2007, on Louisiana Highway 18, commonly known as “River Road,” in St. Charles Parish.1 Theodore Schexnayder was operating a 2007 Kawasaki motorcycle in a westbound direction. At the same time, two bucket trucks, which were owned by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (“Bell-South”) and operated by Willard Smith and Gerard Zeringue, were traveling in an eastbound direction on River Road. As the vehicles approached or entered a sharp curve in the roadway, Mr. Schexnayder’s motorcycle collided first with the bucket truck operated by Mr. Smith and then with the bucket truck operated by Mr. Zeringue. As a result, Mr. Schexnayder suffered severe and debilitating injuries, and he is permanently quadriplegic.

Mr. Schexnayder and his wife, Lynell Schexnayder, filed suit against several defendants, including Mr. Smith, Mr. Ze-ringue, BellSouth, their insurer, and the State of Louisiana, through the Department of Transportation and Development (“the State”), asserting that these defendants are liable for the damages suffered by the Schexnayders. In their petition, plaintiffs assert that the collisions occurred when each of the BellSouth bucket trucks veered and crossed over the center line 14in the roadway, striking the motorcycle driven by Mr. Schexnayder. They allege that the negligence of both Mr. Smith and Mr. Zeringue caused these collisions and the resulting damages. Plaintiffs contend that BellSouth is liable as the employer of Mr. Smith and Mr. Zeringue, who were in the course and scope of their employment at the time of the collisions. Plaintiffs contend that the State is liable as the owner and custodian of the roadway, because the roadway contained defects that caused or contributed to the collisions in this case.

Defendants answered the lawsuit, generally denying the allegations of plaintiffs’ petition and asserting that the accident was caused solely by the negligence of Mr. Schexnayder. They claim that it was Mr. Schexnayder who failed to maintain his motorcycle in his lane of travel and veered across the center line, striking each of the BellSouth trucks and causing the resulting damages.

After pre-trial motions, including numerous motions in limine, were filed and heard, the matter came before the court for a jury trial on October 8, 2011. The trial concluded on October 7, 2011, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants, finding that plaintiffs did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Smith, Mr. Zeringue, BellSouth, or the State was negligent. On October 18, 2011, the trial judge signed a judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict, dismissing plaintiffs’ claims against all defendants with prejudice.2 Plaintiffs appeal this judgment.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

On appeal, plaintiffs set forth four assignments of error by the trial judge and/or jury. In their first assignment of [502]*502error, plaintiffs assert that the trial judge erred by denying their Batson3 objection, because defendants, with discriminatory intent, systematically struck all three African-American potential jurors — |Char-maine6 Williams, Earl Smith, and Sandra Woods — from the jury and failed to provide race-neutral reasons for these peremptory challenges. The record reflects that plaintiffs, Theodore and Lynell Schex-nayder, are African-American.

Defendants respond that plaintiffs did not carry their burden of showing purposeful discrimination, as required under a Batson analysis. They further assert that defendants would have had no plausible reason to exercise their peremptory challenges on the basis of race since one of the principal defendants, Willard Smith, is African-American. Finally, defendants contend that plaintiffs did not document the racial make-up of the entire jury venire, so there is no way to determine how many African-American potential jurors were in the venire. They note that the record reflects that Diana Oubre, an African-American, was excused from the jury for cause, so there were clearly more than three African-American potential jurors.

Equal protection prohibits the peremptory challenge of a prospective juror on the basis of race in both civil and criminal matters. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986); Ed-monson v. Leesville Concrete Co., Inc., 500 U.S. 614, 111 S.Ct. 2077, 114 L.Ed.2d 660 (1991). A civil litigant may raise the equal protection claim of a person whom the opposing party has excluded from jury service on the basis of race. Edmonson, 500 U.S. at 629-31, 111 S.Ct. at 2088; Richard v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co., 94-2112 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/23/95), 657 So.2d 1087, 1089; Smith v. Lincoln General Hospital, 27,133, p. 22 (La.App. 2 Cir.

6/21/95), 658 So.2d 256, 271, writ denied, 95-1808 (La.10/27/95), 662 So.2d 3. The approach set forth in Batson v. Kentucky, supra, whereby race-neutral explanations for peremptory challenges are required, after a prima facie showing of racial discrimination in the use of such challenges is established, is also applicable to civil cases. Edmonson, supra. >

li/To raise a Batson/Ed,monson challenge, the challenging party must first make a prima facie showing that the opposing party exercised a peremptory challenge on the basis of race. Batson, supra; Edmonson, supra. If a prima facie showing is made, the burden then shifts to the opposing party to articulate a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors in question, which is related to the case to be tried. Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-98, 106 S.Ct. at 1723-1724. This second step of the process does not demand an explanation that is persuasive, or even plausible. Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 768, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 1771, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995); Lester v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 10-743 (La. App. 5 Cir. 5/31/12), 102 So.3d 148, 161, writ denied, 12-2202 (La.4/19/13), 111 So.3d 1028. Unless a discriminatory intent is inherent in the striking party’s explanation, the reason offered will be deemed race-neutral. Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 358-59, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 1865-66, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991); Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768,115 S.Ct. at 1771.

In the third and final step of the analysis, the trial court must determine whether the party raising the Batson/Edmonson challenge has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination. Batson, 476 U.S. at 98, 106 S.Ct. 1723. At this stage, the trial court must consider the persuasiveness of the explanations. Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768,115 S.Ct. at 1771.

[503]*503In the present case, after the second panel of prospective jurors was questioned, plaintiffs’ counsel made a Batson/Edmon-son

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128 So. 3d 499, 13 La.App. 5 Cir. 330, 2013 WL 5850341, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schexnayder-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-transportation-development-lactapp-2013.