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Williams v. City Baton Rouge4/30/1998
96 0675 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/30/98)
HUSTON R. WILLIAMS, ET AL. v. CITY OF BATON ROUGE, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE, ET AL. JOHN RABY, ET AL. v. CITY OF BATON ROUGE, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE, ET AL.
Rehearing Denied June 24, 1998.
APPEAL FROM NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, NOS. 304,882 AND 305,671, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE, STATE OF LOUISIANA, HONORABLE FRANK SAIA, J.
This is an appeal of a judgment awarding damages to plaintiffs.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs, the Williams family, the Gage family, and the Raby family, are owners of three adjoining tracts of land located on Staring Lane in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The property is primarily undeveloped land with a few houses, but the Raby tract has a small hotel located on it. In 1954, the Gage family granted a drainage servitude to the Department of Highways of the State of Louisiana, of which only a portion had been utilized to create a small ditch (the 1954 servitude ditch) in front of the Gage tract. When the Staring Lane roadway was created, a culvert box was tied into the 1954 servitude ditch for the outflow of rainfall runoff.
On the morning of January 6, 1984, defendant, the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge (City/Parish), through the Department of Public Works (DPW), sent employees to plaintiffs' property. Escorted by police officers of the City/Parish, DPW workers arrived with heavy construction equipment for an excavation project. Plaintiffs objected to their presence. Plaintiff, John Raby, demanded a court order from DPW officials. When DPW employee, Emmett Braud, presented some "papers," Mr. Raby requested that the accompanying City/Parish police officer, Michael Shavers, serve him with the DPW papers. Upon review of those papers, Officer Shavers did not believe DPW had the necessary authority to enter plaintiffs' property. At Mr. Raby's invitation, Officer Shavers used a phone to contact the police department's legal advisor, Richard Redd. Mr. Redd advised Officer Shavers that the papers did not authorize DPW's entry onto plaintiffs' property.
Mr. Braud advised Officer Shavers that DPW Assistant Director Robert Atkinson had assured him the papers were all that was needed. After Discussions with Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Braud and Officer Shavers went to a nearby shopping center to call Mayor James Patrick (Pat) Screen, Jr. Officer Shavers explained to the mayor that Mr. Redd had advised him the papers DPW had did not authorize entry onto plaintiffs' property. Mayor Screen responded that he was a lawyer and Mr. Redd's boss, and Officer Shaver's boss, that he knew DPW had the authority to enter the plaintiffs' property, and that Officer Shavers was "to do it." Officer Shavers told the mayor that he would check with his supervisor, Major Satterwhite.
Upon contacting Major Satterwhite, Officer Shavers was given "a direct order to go out [to the plaintiffs' property] and to assist ." Officer Shavers told Major Satterwhite that he would do so, but only after he spoke to Chief of Police Patrick Bonanno to explain the situation. Major Satterwhite subsequently advised Officer Shavers that he had talked to Chief Bonanno, who had talked to the mayor, and that Officer Shavers was being given "a direct order" to assist DPW.
At approximately 11:00 a.m., Officer Shavers returned to the plaintiffs' property and, pursuant to the direct order, assisted DPW. Thereafter, the City/Parish maintained a 24-hour police presence at the excavation site throughout the project until its completion. The City/Parish police officers assigned to detail the DPW project sat in a marked police vehicle, parked on Stari
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