 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Williams v. City Baton Rouge4/30/1998
Ä Ophelia Simmons, Evelyn (Gage) Sagna and Lubertha Ethel (Gage) Johnson: $28,000.00 for mental anguish;
Ä Ulysses Gage, Jr. and Leroy Gage for Ulysses Gage, Sr.: $20,000.00;
Ä Leonard Gage: $10,000.00;
The Rabys:
John B. Raby: $88,000.00 for mental anguish;
Ida Jane (Mrs. John B.) Raby: $75,000.00 for mental anguish;
John Raby, Jr. and Kathy Raby: $25,000.00 each for mental anguish.
On appeal, defendants urge the trial court erred because plaintiffs failed to prove psychic trauma of the nature or similar to physical injury . They further assert that even if plaintiffs are entitled to general damage awards, the amounts awarded by the trial court are abusively excessive. Plaintiffs, the Williams and Gage families, urge the general damage awards are abusively low.
An award for mental anguish as a result of damage to property is normally permitted in four instances: (1) property damaged by an intentional or illegal act; (2) property damaged by acts for which the tortfeasor will be strictly or absolutely liable; (3) property damaged by acts constituting a continuous nuisance; and (4) property damaged at a time which the owner thereof is present or situated nearby and the owner experiences trauma as a result. Louisiana Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Dunn, 484 So.2d 853, 856 (La. App. 1st Cir. 1986). Where the defendant trespasses upon plaintiff's property, it is clear plaintiff is entitled to recover damages for anguish, humiliation and embarrassment. Britt Builders, Inc. v. Brister, 618 So.2d at 903.
In the case sub judice, the trial court awarded general damages not only to Class I plaintiffs (those who were physically present and living on the land at the time of these events) but also to Class II plaintiffs (those who no longer lived on the family land but who continued to have contact with the family homes). Because the Class II plaintiffs were not in close proximity at the time of the trespass, the trial court apparently determined that the City/Parish's damage to plaintiffs' property was an illegal act. We cannot say that finding is manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.
It is clear that the excavation project, which was a trespass by the City/Parish, lasted approximately two months subsequent to January 6, 1984, and continued thereafter by the presence of the ditches on the plaintiffs' property. Plaintiffs suffered a most egregious violation of their private property ownership rights, and each testified that he or she was depressed and saddened by the actions of the City/Parish. Both the Williams family and the Gage family plaintiffs' collective testimony established that they were saddened due, in no small part, to the personal sacrifices their respective parents made to ensure that plaintiffs would be property owners; DPW's actions commencing on January 6, 1984, cast a long shadow on their parents' efforts. Frequent family reunions on the property were discontinued after DPW created the ditches. Plaintiffs testified that returning to the property after it was all dug up was simply too painful.
Plaintiffs endured some public exposure. John Raby's picture was printed in the newspaper, and television reporting crews were present at the time DPW arrived on the property accompanied by a police escort. During the entire time of the project and in broad daylight, a marked police vehicle guarded the location for all to see; at night, there were private security guards.
The collective evidence of plaintiffs established that during the excavation project, DPW draglines and bulldozers began at 6 A.M. and did not stop running until 6 P.M. The continuous noise w
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Louisiana Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|