Yokum v. Pat O'Brien's Bar, Inc.

99 So. 3d 74, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0217, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1068, 2012 WL 3432595
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 15, 2012
DocketNo. 2012-CA-0217
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 99 So. 3d 74 (Yokum v. Pat O'Brien's Bar, 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
Yokum v. Pat O'Brien's Bar, Inc., 99 So. 3d 74, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0217, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1068, 2012 WL 3432595 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

PAUL A. BONIN, Judge.

| Peterson M. Yokum1 complains that Pat O’Brien’s Bar, Inc., violates applicable municipal noise ordinances and similar state statutes by playing excessively loud music, which prevents Mr. Yokum from comfortably enjoying his property.2 The [77]*77trial court issued a preliminary injunction against Pat O’Brien’s, which simply enjoined and prohibited Pat O’Brien’s from any violation of the specified ordinance and statutes. The trial court also set security for the issuance of the preliminary injunction at $5,000, which Mr. Yokum posted.

Pat O’Brien’s devolutively appeals the issuance of the preliminary injunction. See La. C.C.P. art. 3612 B. The company argues that because Mr. Yokum failed to establish any irreparable harm, he is not entitled to a preliminary injunction. Pat O’Brien’s also argues that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to admit the proposed testimony of its expert witness at the hearing on the | ¡.request for preliminary injunction and that the trial court abused its discretion in setting the amount of security required for the preliminary injunction’s issuance.

Because a showing of irreparable harm need not be made in instances dealing with preliminary injunctions in which the plaintiff seeks to enjoin conduct which violates a prohibitory law, as here, we reject that argument of Pat O’Brien’s. And because we do not find that the trial court has abused its discretion, we affirm the ruling of the trial court. With respect to Pat O’Brien’s argument that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing the live testimony of its expert, we conclude that because Pat O’Brien’s did not proffer the excluded testimony for our review, it cannot establish an abuse of the trial court’s discretion in that evidentiary matter. In considering the purpose of the requirement of furnishing security for the issuance of the preliminary injunction, we are not persuaded that the trial court abused its discretion in setting bond at $5,000. Finally, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Mr. Yokum had — on the basis of his expert’s affidavits — made a prima facie showing that he would prevail at the trial on the merits of the permanent injunction. We, accordingly, affirm the trial court. We explain in greater detail the various aspects of our decision in the parts which follow.

I

In this Part, we discuss the factual and procedural history of the case.

Mr. Yokum lives half a block away from Bourbon Street, and his rear balcony overlooks the two courtyards of two world famous entertainment venues, | sThe Court of Two Sisters and Pat O’Brien’s. The Court of Two Sisters’ courtyard is between Mr. Yokum’s balcony and Pat O’Brien’s courtyard. The upper floors of Mr. Yo-kum’s property have been continually used as a residence since the 1790’s. His family has occupied the residence since the 1920’s, and Mr. Yokum himself has resided there since 1966. Pat O’Brien’s began its operations approximately in 1933.

Mr. Yokum filed his petition on November 9, 2004, alleging that Pat O’Brien’s has prevented him from comfortably enjoying his residence. The following day he amended his petition to add the other listed plaintiffs in the suit.

On March 18-19, 2011, the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, while standing on his second-floor balcony overlooking Pat O’Brien’s, Mr. Yokum’s expert took sound measurements of the noises coming from the bar. These measurements were the plaintiffs’ evidence at the preliminary injunction hearing that Pat O’Brien’s violat[78]*78ed New Orleans City Code, § 66-202,3 La. R.S. 26:90 A(14)(a),4 and La. R.S. 26:286 [79]*79A(14)(a).5

| sThe motion for preliminary injunction was not heard until November 10, 2011, on account of various reasons not attributable exclusively to either side in this controversy. At the hearing, Pat O’Brien’s contended that is was already in compliance with the law and that the injunction would unfairly shift the burden of proof onto it instead of the plaintiffs in the event the plaintiffs allege that Pat O’Brien’s has violated the injunction and move for contempt.6 Pat O’Brien’s also contended that the shift in the burden of proof requires it to incur costly expert fees necessary to measure its sound output on a daily or weekly basis.

Pat O’Brien’s contends that the legally permissive sound limitations only restrict the volume of recorded or live music, not the sound level of the bar’s patrons. Further, Pat O’Brien’s contends that the plaintiffs’ sound measurement includes noises from other bars on Bourbon Street, which were playing excessively loud music. Without isolating the sounds coming from Pat O’Brien’s speaker system, Pat O’Brien’s contends that the plaintiffs’ measurements include extraneous sounds, which may push the measurement over the permissible limit even without the bar violating the ordinances or statutes. Pat O’Brien’s admits that it is possible to isolate the source of sounds and to measure the isolated sound level but contends that Mr. Yokum cannot prove that his measurements were isolated because his expert did not preserve any recordings of his measurements. Without the sound recordings as evidence of what his expert is measur[80]*80ing, Pat O’Brien’s ^alleges that Mr. Yo-kum asks the court to rely on unscientific testimony of his expert.

Pat O’Brien’s also argued that it would be impossible for the plaintiffs to prove that it did not comply with the noise ordinances and statutes unless they incur an exorbitant fee to have an expert isolate its music from all other noises in the area.

The costliness of the expert is the basis for Pat O’Brien’s challenging the sufficiency of the bond. Pat O’Brien’s contends that it will incur more than $5,000, the bond amount, in paying an expert to take sound measurements and that it is necessary to have an expert’s measurements when the plaintiffs allege that Pat O’Brien’s has violated the terms of the injunction.

The trial court granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction against Pat O’Brien’s, requiring that the bar simply not violate the law during the pendency of the lawsuit.7

II

In this Part, we explain our standard of review and the plaintiffs’ burden of proof at the hearing.

“A trial court has broad discretion in the granting or denial of a preliminary injunction, and will not be disturbed on review absent clear abuse of that discretion.” Cajun Elec. Power Co-op., Inc. v. Triton Coal Co., 91-1816, 590 So.2d7 813, 816 (La.App. 4th Cir.1991); Smith v. West Virginia Oil & Gas Co., 373 So.2d 488, 493 (La.1979). That broad standard is, of course, based upon a conclusion that the trial court committed no error of law and was not manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong in making a factual finding that was necessary to the proper exercise of its discretion. See South East Auto Dealers Rental Ass’n, Inc. v. EZ Rent To Own, Inc., 07-0599, pp. 4-5 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/27/08), 980 So.2d 89, 93.

In order for a plaintiff to meet his burden of proof at a hearing on a preliminary injunction, he must make a prima facie showing that he will prevail at the trial on the permanent injunction. See La. C.C.P. art. 3601; Mary Moe, L.L.G. v.

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99 So. 3d 74, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 0217, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1068, 2012 WL 3432595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yokum-v-pat-obriens-bar-inc-lactapp-2012.