Scott v. LeCompte

260 So. 2d 345, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6557
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 13, 1972
DocketNo. 8756
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 260 So. 2d 345 (Scott v. LeCompte) 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
Scott v. LeCompte, 260 So. 2d 345, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6557 (La. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

TUCKER, Judge:

This is a suit to enjoin permanently a nuisance allegedly created by the operation of a nightclub in a residential subdivision. Petitioners in this suit, Joseph Ruby Scott, Lucius Paul Pinel, Carroll Paul Scott, and Tracy P. LeBlanc, are all residents of Ridgeway Subdivision in the City of Hou-ma, Louisiana, and all live near Lot Three (3) of Block One (1) of Ridgeway Subdivision, which is owned by defendant Roosevelt G. LeCompte, and on which defend[346]*346ants Gordon Engeron and Thomas Enge-ron, operate a bar-nightclub cocktail lounge known as the “Two Wheel Night Club”, in premises leased from defendant Roosevelt G. LeCompte. Plaintiffs charge defendants Engeron with creating a nuisance “.in utter disregard of the rights of petitioners in that said defendants have allowed loud noises, consisting of talking, music, cursing and abusive language, fights, as well as excessive traffic and other nuisances and annoying circumstances to continue into the night until approximately 2:00 o’clock A.M. each night, or later,” all in violation of certain restrictions applying to Ridgeway Subdivision, as follows:

(1) All lots of Ridgeway Subdivision other than Lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block 1, and Lots 1, 2, and 3 of Block 4, shall be used for residential purposes only; Lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block 1, and Lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block 4 may be used for commercial purposes.
(2) There shall be no noxious or offensive trade or other activities carried on or engaged in upon lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block 1, and lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block 4 which may be used for business purposes, nor shall anything be done thereon which may be or become an annoyance or nuisance to the subdivision.
(18) If the parties hereto, or any of them or their heirs or assigns shall violate or attempt to violate any of the covenants herein, it shall be lawful for any other person or persons owning any real property situated in the said development or subdivision to prosecute any proceedings at law against the person or persons violating or attempting to violate any such covenant and either to prevent him or them from so doing or to recover damages for such violation.

The lower court judge found that the acts of which plaintiffs complained did constitute a nuisance within the meaning of the Subdivision Restrictions. Although stating that it found the case of Johnson v. Nora, 87 So.2d 757 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 1956) analogous and quoting at length from it, the lower court rendered a decision differing in a material respect from that of the Johnson v. Nora case. Whereas the Appellate Court in Johnson v. Nora enjoined the defendant from operating his business “in such a manner as to constitute a nuisance resulting in the undue and avoidable disturbance of the peace of the neighborhood and the normal enjoyment by the plaintiffs of their respective properties,” the judge in the instant case permanently enjoined defendants from the operation of the “Two Wheel Night Club” on the basis that anything less would be ineffective. The judge cited particularly the increased vehicular traffic and the fact that defendants were unable to control their patrons when they left the club. He said, also, “.we feel that under the circumstances here presented, a decree such as that rendered in Johnson, would be conducive to and even invite further litigation to determine whether any given alleged disturbance constituted a nuisance.”

From this judgment defendants-appellants have appealed to this court, alleging the following assignments of error:

I. THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED IN FINDING THE OPERATION OF THE TWO WHEEL NIGHT CLUB A NUISANCE.
II. THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED IN GRANTING A PERMANENT INJUNCTION AND IN NOT FOLLOWING THE RULING OF JOHNSON v. NORA.
III. THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED AND ABUSED HIS DISCRETION BY NOT GIVING PROPER WEIGHT TO THE TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES WHO HAD NO INTEREST IN THE LITIGATION.

The evidence indicates that defendant Roosevelt LeCompte bought Lot Three (3) [347]*347of Block One (1), Ridgeway Subdivision, in' 1962, subject to the restrictions which reserved the lot in question for commercial purposes. LeCompte bought the lot for a commercial purpose and proceeded to erect a building on this lot suitable for commercial ventures, prior to the time that any of the plaintiffs bought their lots. Since 1962 this building has been used variously ,as a dry goods store, a teen-age dance hall and restaurant known as the “Boondoggle,” the “Imperial Restaurant and Lounge,” the “Big Mamou,” and since 1969 as the “Two Wheel Night Club”. The residents of the Ridgeway Subdivision did not complain seriously about the usage of defendant’s building until the period of the operation of the “Two Wheel Night Club,” by defendants Gordon and Thomas Engeron, whom they now charge with creating a nuisance in violation of Restriction Two of the restrictions pertaining to the Ridgeway Subdivision.

The operation of a night club is not a nuisance per se in Louisiana. A very careful analyzation of plaintiffs’ six witnesses’ testimony reveals that the disturbances of which they complain are more in the nature of isolated acts of inconvenience and annoyance than of such sustained and violent character as would substantially interfere with the neighbors’ use and enjoyment of their own property, causing diminution in value thereby and constituting a nuisance within the understanding of Louisiana jurisprudence. See Robertson v. Shipp, 50 So.2d 699 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1951) and Hines, “Private Nuisance in Louisiana Law”, 15 La.L.R. 441, (1955) (both of the preceding deal with nuisance in general under Louisiana law, and not specifically with nuisance within the meaning of subdivision restrictions, but are instructive nevertheless).

When the actual facts attested by plaintiffs’ witnesses are rescued from the cloud of vagueness, conjecture, and hyperbole which enshroud them, it is discovered that only one witness saw as many as two fights, and the other six witnesses who testified to having seen fights may have been testifying to the same fight or fights. None of these fights seems to have been particularly serious, although they may well have caused concern to the neighborhood. Only two witnesses admitted to having thought the fights sufficiently serious to justify their calling the police. Apparently no arrests or other police charges were made as a result of these fights. No ambulances were called. No injuries were reported. In fact all testimony in regard to the fights was very vague and non-specific. It was not conclusively proven that the fights were all between patrons of the Two Wheel Night Club or in any way engendered by their attendance there. There was vague testimony as to cursing, abusive language, loud talk, and hollering on the occasions of the seven or fewer fights but not even one direct quote, or one specifically described and identified incident. One witness who complained bitterly of abusive language, on cross-examination admitted that this happened on only one occasion.

Two witnesses described an occasion in which a group of men standing in the street in front of the “Two Wheel” became angered when splashed by one of the witnesses driving by in her car and used abusive language, but again this incident was described in such generalities as to provide little factual information.

The testimony as to the annoyance of loud music emanating from the “Two Wheel” seems a little more convincing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
260 So. 2d 345, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-lecompte-lactapp-1972.