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Tauzier v. St. Patrick Parade Commitee of Jefferson1/29/2002
AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
This is an appeal by a rider of a parade float from a summary judgment dismissing most of the defendants in her personal injury suit. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.
Billie Tauzier was a rider on Float Number 14, "It's About Time," in the Metairie St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 14, 1998. Shortly after the parade began, as the line of floats was moving down Severn Avenue toward Metairie Road, a large audio speaker tied atop an outhouse on the float was knocked off by a tree branch overhanging the road. The speaker tumbled onto Tauzier's head, causing her serious injury .
Tauzier filed suit against Darlene Mims (owner of Float Number 14), the St. Patrick Parade Committee of Jefferson, Inc. (sponsor of the parade), and TIG Insurance Company (their insurer). Plaintiff alleged that Mims and the Parade Committee were negligent because the same incident had occurred on the same float previously, but defendants failed to inspect their float to be sure that it conformed with all rules and regulations for height, unnecessarily endangered petitioner, and failed to warn petitioner of the danger of riding on the float.
By supplemental and amending petition she later added the Parish of Jefferson as a defendant, on the basis that the Parish failed to insure that the tree limbs on the parade route were of a sufficient height to allow safe passage of floats.
The Parade Committee, Mims and TIG filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting they were entitled to the limited immunity from liability provided by La.R.S. 9:2796.1 because the undisputed material facts established they had not committed either deliberate and wanton acts or gross negligence that brought about the accident.
The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, dismissing the suit as to the Parade Committee, Mims and TIG. Plaintiff appeals.
The case turns on interpretation of La.R.S. 9:2796.1, which states in pertinent part:
Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no person shall have a cause of action against any organization which presents St. Patrick's Day parades or other street parades connected with any ethnic celebration, or against any nonprofit organization chartered under the laws of this state, or any member thereof, which sponsors fairs or festivals that present parades, for any loss or damage caused by any member thereof or related to the parades presented by such organization, unless said loss or damage was caused by the deliberate and wanton act or gross negligence of the organization. [Emphasis added.]
Plaintiff makes no assertion that the incident was caused by a "deliberate and wanton act." Rather, the issue on appeal is whether there are any genuine issues of material fact as to whether there was gross negligence.
Gross negligence has a well-defined legal meaning distinctly separate, and different, from ordinary negligence. Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Dep't Ambulance Serv., 93-3099 (La. 7/5/94), 639 So.2d 216, 220. In Ambrose the court cited various definitions of gross negligence by Louisiana courts:
Gross negligence has been defined as the "want of even slight care and diligence" and the "want of that diligence which even careless men are accustomed to exercise." . . . Gross negligence has also been termed the "entire absence of care" and the "utter disregard of the dictates of prudence, amounting to complete neglect of the rights of others." . . . Additionally, gross negligence has been described as an "extreme departure from ordinary care or the want of even scant care." . . . "There is often no clear distinc
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