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Eichelberger v. Sidney11/3/2000
CARAWAY, J., dissents with written reasons.
This action arose out of a physical altercation between co- employees of Defendant National Hair Care Center, Inc. ("National") which resulted in personal injury to Plaintiff, Patsy Eichelberger. Ms. Eichelberger filed suit against her fellow employee, Defendant Georgia Sidney, and National for damages sustained by her as a result of the intentional tort committed by Ms. Sidney. National filed a third party demand against its insurer, American Casualty Company ("American"). American filed a motion for summary judgment which was granted by the trial court, thereby dismissing it from the law suit. National then filed a motion for summary judgment alleging that, based on the facts as stated in Ms. Eichelberger's petition, it was not vicariously liable for Ms. Sidney's intentional tort as a matter of law. The trial court granted National's motion, without written reasons, thereby dismissing it from the law suit. The judgment granting National's motion was certified as final and Ms. Eichelberger now appeals that judgment. For the reasons stated herein, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
FACTS
Ms. Eichelberger and Ms. Sidney were both employed by National at the time of the incident, June 28, 1995. The two women worked in National's salon located in the super WalMart store in Monroe. Ms. Eichelberger was a hairdresser and Ms. Sidney was a receptionist. According to the petition, the following events took place on the day of the incident:
At all times pertinent hereto, on or about June 28, 1995, Patsy Eichelberger while acting in her course of employment as a licensed beautician, requested GEORGIA SIDNEY, who was employed as a receptionist, to select and place a movie into a video player to entertain the children of a customer to whom Patsy was applying a "permanent wave" to her hair. Georgia Sidney ignored Patsy's request to install the movie several times; therefore, Patsy Eichelberger, herself, retrieved a movie and placed it into the video cassette player. As Patsy Eichelberger stood up from the cassette player, Georgia Sidney walked over and suddenly grabbed Patsy by her arm and demanded to talk with her in a private office. Patsy refused and attempted to pull herself away from Georgia Sidney's grasp, but was unable and was physically pulled into a private office inside the hair salon where Georgia Sidney closed the door. Once inside, Georgia Sidney slapped, kicked and punched Patsy Eichelberger about the head, neck, back and knees. As a result of these intentional acts of violence, Patsy Eichelberger received numerous physical injuries which are made the subject of this petition (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "Subject Assault and Battery").
As previously stated, taking the above version of facts as true, National filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the undisputed facts established as a matter of law that Ms. Sidney's intentional acts were not within the scope of her employment and, therefore, National was not vicariously liable for any damages suffered by Ms. Eichelberger as a result of those intentional acts. After argument, the trial court granted the motion without written reasons.
DISCUSSION
We review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the district court's consideration of the appropriateness of summary judgment. Guillory v. Interstate Gas Station, 94-1767 (La. 3/30/95), 653 So. 2d 1152; Yarbrough v. Federal Land Bank of Jackson, 31,815 (La. App. 2d Cir. 3/31/99), 731 So. 2d 482.
The legal principles regarding summary judgment are well settled. A motion for summary judgment is properly granted only if
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