Walters v. Rubicon Inc.

706 So. 2d 503, 1997 WL 805391
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 29, 1997
Docket96 CA 2294
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 706 So. 2d 503 (Walters v. Rubicon Inc.) 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
Walters v. Rubicon Inc., 706 So. 2d 503, 1997 WL 805391 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

706 So.2d 503 (1997)

Larry C. WALTERS and Harriet Tucker Walters
v.
RUBICON INC., R.H. Lane, Leonard B. Sanford, and John DeLaney.

No. 96 CA 2294.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 29, 1997.

*504 Dawn N. Guillot, Baton Rouge, for plaintiffs/appellants Larry C. and Harriet Walters.

Michael F. Weiner, New Orleans, for defendants/appellees Rubicon, Inc., R.H. Lane, Leonard B. Sanford, and John DeLaney.

Before FOIL, WHIPPLE and KUHN, JJ.

WHIPPLE, Judge.

This is an appeal by Larry C. (Mr. Walters) and Harriet Walters (Mrs. Walters) from a trial court judgment granting a peremptory exception of no cause of action on his claim for damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.[1]

*505 FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Larry C. Walters was employed by Rubicon, Inc. from July, 1977, through May 3, 1994. While employed by Rubicon, he held the positions of Environmental Engineer, Environmental Engineering Supervisor and Associate. Defendant, R.H. Lane, has been Rubicon's Manager of Safety, Health, and Environmental Affairs since July, 1988, and while serving in this position, was Mr. Walters' supervisor. Leonard B. Sanford, also a defendant herein, served as Rubicon's Industrial Relations Manager during the relevant time period. Likewise, defendant, John DeLaney, served as Rubicon's General Manager.

On May 2, 1995, Mr. Walters and his wife filed suit against Rubicon, Lane, Sanford, and DeLaney seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress and disability discrimination. In the petition, Mr. Walters sought damages for loss of past and future wages, loss of future earning capacity, loss of benefits, compensatory and/or punitive damages, damages for mental anguish, damages for loss of consortium, interest from the date of judgment, legal interest from the date of judicial demand, reasonable attorneys' fees, penalties, and costs of proceedings and trial by jury. In the petition, his wife sought damages for loss of service, consortium and assistance, emotional distress, and mental anguish.

In response, defendants filed a peremptory exception raising the objections of no cause of action and prescription. Before judgment was rendered on the exceptions, the Walters filed an amending and supplementing petition to allege additional facts and incidents involving the defendants. The exceptions were heard on February 26, 1996. The trial court granted the defendants' exception of no cause of action, dismissing Mr. Walters' claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but affording him 15 days to amend his petition to state a cause of action.[2] Additionally, the March 7, 1996 judgment rendered on the exceptions limited Mrs. Walters' claim to loss of consortium and the trial court deferred ruling on the prescription issue.[3]

In accordance with the judgment of the trial court, Mr. Walters again amended his petition, to which defendants again excepted. After a hearing, the trial court, granted the defendants' exception of no cause of action, dismissing all of Mr. Walters' claims against the individual defendants, as well as his intentional infliction of emotional distress claim against Rubicon.

On appeal, Mr. Walters contends the trial court erred, as a matter of law, in failing to find that the allegations contained in the petitions are sufficient to state a cause of action against defendants.

DISCUSSION

A peremptory exception of no cause of action is used by the defendant "to test the legal sufficiency of the petition by determining whether the law affords a remedy to the plaintiff on the facts that are alleged in the petition." Stevenson v. Lavalco, Inc. 28,020, p. 1 (La.App. 2 Cir. 2/28/96); 669 So.2d 608, 610. In determining whether a plaintiff has stated a cause of action, the court looks to the facts set out in the petition, accepting them as true without regard to extrinsic evidence. LSA-C.C.P. art. 931; Montalvo v. Sondes, 93-2813, pp. 5, 6 (La.5/23/94); 637 So.2d 127, 131 (La.1994). The court must accept well pleaded allegations of fact as true, and the issue at the trial of the exception is whether, on the face of the petition, *506 the plaintiff is legally entitled to the relief sought, based on allegations in the petition which the court accepts as true. Montalvo, 93-2813 at p. 6; 637 So.2d at 131. However, because Louisiana uses fact pleading, mere conclusory statements in the petition, without supporting facts, are insufficient to set forth a cause of action. Montalvo, 93-2813 at p. 6; 637 So.2d at 131. The purpose of the exception is only to determine if a cause of action exists and not whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail at trial. When it can reasonably do so, the court should maintain a petition against a peremptory exception so as to afford the litigant an opportunity to present his evidence. Kuebler v. Martin, 578 So.2d 113, 114 (La.1991).

An appellate court should review a trial court's ruling sustaining an exception of no cause of action de novo because "the exception raises a question of law and the lower court's decision is based only on the sufficiency of the petition." City of New Orleans v. Board of Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District 93-0690, p. 29 (La.7/5/94); 640 So.2d 237, 253.

The leading Louisiana case on intentional infliction of emotional distress is White v. Monsanto, 585 So.2d 1205 (La.1991), which made official Louisiana's adoption of intentional infliction of emotional distress as a viable cause of action. White, 585 So.2d at 1209. One who by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily harm. White, 585 So.2d at 1209. Thus, in order to recover, a plaintiff must prove (1) the conduct was extreme and outrageous, (2) the emotional distress of the plaintiff was severe, and (3) the defendant "desired to inflict severe emotional distress or knew that severe emotional distress would be certain or substantially certain to result from his conduct." White, 585 So.2d at 1209.

Although the Louisiana Supreme Court in White did not define extreme and outrageous, the Court noted that the conduct must "be so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency," and "be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community." White, 585 So.2d at 1209. Thus, disposing of the remains of a parent without authority is outrageous and will support a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Dufour v. Westlawn Cemeteries, Inc., 94-81, p. 6 (La.App. 5 Cir. 6/28/94); 639 So.2d 843, 848, citing Mavromatis v. Lou-Mar, Inc., 93-0379, 93-1212, p. 9 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/11/94); 632 So.2d 828, 835. Allegations regarding a co-employee's almost daily improper sexual comments and advances coupled with threats of physical violence and attempting to run over plaintiff with a forklift, have also been deemed to satisfy the White requirements. Bustamento v. Tucker, 607 So.2d 532, 543 (La.1992).

As noted in White, many intentional infliction of emotional distress cases arise in the employment setting where conduct which is otherwise inactionable can become actionable as "extreme and outrageous" when the offender is in a position of power and authority over the plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
706 So. 2d 503, 1997 WL 805391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walters-v-rubicon-inc-lactapp-1997.