Stewart v. Calcasieu Parish School Board

762 So. 2d 38, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1193, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 376, 2000 WL 233365
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 2000
DocketNo. 99-1193
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 762 So. 2d 38 (Stewart v. Calcasieu Parish School Board) 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
Stewart v. Calcasieu Parish School Board, 762 So. 2d 38, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1193, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 376, 2000 WL 233365 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

JjDOUCET, Chief Judge.

The Plaintiff, Wiley Stewart, appeals the trial court’s judgment dismissing his claim that the Defendants wrongfully terminated his health insurance coverage.

After thirty years working as a coach and teacher with the Calcasieu Parish school system, Wiley Stewart retired in 1987. At that time, he chose to continue his School Board sponsored health and life insurance coverage with Washington National Insurance Company by paying premiums. He asked that the premiums be deducted from his pension checks but was told that this option was not available.

At some time between December 1992 and February 1993 Stewart’s insurance was canceled for non-payment. The Plaintiff brought this suit alleging wrongful termination. He also alleged that the Board was statutorily required to deduct premium payments from his pension checks. After a trial on the merits, the trial court instructed the jury that the law did not require the Board to deduct insurance premiums from pension checks. The jury found that the policy was properly canceled. The trial court then rendered judgment dismissing Stewart’s claim pursuant to the jury verdict. Stewart appeals.

On appeal, the Plaintiff raises four assignments of error. He alleges that the instructions and jury verdict sheet were erroneous and misleading, that the court erred in commenting on the facts and the evidence; that the court erred in ruling on the question of whether deduction of premiums was mandatory, thus removing that issue from the jury; and, finally, that the verdict was contrary to the law and the facts.

JURY VERDICT

The standard of review applicable to jury verdicts is well settled.

Lit is well settled that a court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in the absence of “manifest error” or unless it is “clearly wrong,” and where there is conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330, 1333 (La.1978); Canter v. Koehring, 283 So.2d 716, 724 (La.1973). See also, Sevier v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 497 So.2d 1380, 1383 (La.1986); West v. Bayou Vista Manor, Inc., 371 So.2d 1146, 1150 (La.1979); Davis v. Owen, 368 So.2d 1052, 1056 (La.1979); Cadiere v. West Gibson Products Co., 364 So.2d 998, 999 (La.1978); A. Tate, “Manifest Error” Further observations on appellate review of facts in Louisiana civil cases, 22 La.L.Rev. 605, 611 (1962). The appellate review of fact is not completed by reading only so much of the record as will reveal a reasonable factual basis for the finding in the trial court, but if the trial court or jury findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Arceneaux, supra at 1333, Watson v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967 (La.1985). In applying the manifestly erroneous— clearly wrong standard to the findings [40]*40below, appellate courts must constantly have in mind that their initial review function is not to decide factual issues de novo. See, F. Maraist, The Work of the Louisiana Appellate Courts for the 1978-1979 Term — A Faculty Symposium, Civil Procedure, 40 La.L.Rev. 761, 764 (1980); Comment, Appellate Review of Facts in Louisiana Civil Cases, 21 La.L.Rev. 402, 412 (1961); Cf. Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985); Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U.S. 100, 89 S.Ct. 1562, 23 L.Ed.2d 129 (1969).
When findings are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, the manifest error — clearly wrong standard demands great deference to the trier of fact’s findings; for only the factfinder can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener’s understanding and belief in what is said. Canter, supra at 724; Virgil v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., 507 So.2d 825, 826 (La.1987); Boulos v. Morrison, 503 So.2d 1, 3 (La.1987); Williams v. Keystone General Contractors, Inc., 488 So.2d 999, 1001 (La.1986); Johnson v. Insurance Co. of North America, 454 So.2d 1113, 1117 (La.1984); Berry v. Livingston Roofing Co., 403 So.2d 1247, 1249 (La.1981); Crump v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 367 So.2d 300, 301 (La.1979). Where documents or objective evidence so contradict the. witness’s story, or the story itself is IsSQ internally inconsistent or implausible on its face, that a reasonable fact finder would not credit the witness’s story, the court of appeal may well find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. See, Wilson v. Jacobs, 438 So.2d 1119 (La.App. 2d Cir.1983), writ denied, 443 So.2d 586 (La.1983). Cf. State v. Mussall, 523 So.2d 1305 (La.1988); Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985); U.S. v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 68 S.Ct. 525, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948). But where such factors are not present, and a factfinder’s finding is based on its decision to credit the testimony of one of two or more witnesses, that finding can virtually never be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. See, Jackson v. Tate, 428 So.2d 882, 884 (La.App. 1st Cir.1983), citing McDonald v. Book, 215 So.2d 394 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1968), overuled[overruled} on other grounds, Celestine v. Hub City Motors, Inc., 327 So.2d 700 (La.App. 3d Cir.1976). Cf. Anderson, supra, at 575, 105 S.Ct. at 1512; Schexnider v. McDermott International Inc., 868 F.2d 717, 720 (5th Cir.1989); Employers Ins. of Wausau v. Suwannee River Spa Lines, Inc., 866 F.2d 752, 770 (5th Cir.1989); U.S. v. Hibernia National Bank, 841 F.2d 592, 595 (5th Cir.1988); Hanson v. Veterans Administration, 800 F.2d 1381, 1388 (5th Cir.1986).

Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844-45 (La.1989) (emphasis added) (footnote omitted).

In this case, the Plaintiff testified that he or his daughter would pay the premium on his insurance by taking the payment to the School Board office. He testified that on February 4, 1993 his daughter returned from attempting to pay his premium and told him that the payment had been refused.

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Related

Stewart v. Calcasieu Parish School Board
933 So. 2d 797 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
Wiley Stewart v. Calcasieu Parish School Board
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006

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762 So. 2d 38, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 1193, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 376, 2000 WL 233365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-v-calcasieu-parish-school-board-lactapp-2000.