Revere v. Canulette5/15/1998
97 0552 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/15/98)
RODNEY REVERE v. PATRICK J. CANULETTE, ET AL.
APPEAL FROM 22ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, PARISH OF ST. TAMMANY, NOS. 94-13866-E, 95-13040-D AND 95-14940-C, STATE OF LOUISIANA.
This is an appeal by plaintiff, Rodney Revere, from a judgment in three consolidated cases, dismissing plaintiff's petitions for writs of mandamus and civil penalties.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Request for Personnel Records
By letter dated February 22, 1993, plaintiff requested that the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office (the Sheriff's Office) provide him with the termination or retirement records or forms for Kenneth Savignol, a former officer of the Sheriff's Office, and for Guy LeBlanc, Jr., a former detective in the Sheriff's Office, along with the department policy regarding the inventory of vehicles. This request was denied by the Sheriff's Office via letter dated March 2, 1993. On April 20, 1993, plaintiff filed an application for writ of mandamus requesting that the sheriff of St. Tammany Parish (defendant) be required to provide plaintiff with the requested information. On April 30, 1993, the trial court denied that request, but the ruling was reversed on appeal and remanded for a contradictory hearing.
Initially, this matter was mistakenly filed in the criminal proceeding against the plaintiff by the State of Louisiana. However, by court order dated September 6, 1994, the matter was transferred to the civil division of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court and was subsequently allotted civil docket number 94-13866-E. The matter was heard on February 13, 1995, and the trial court rendered a judgment on February 22, 1995, granting plaintiff's request for access to the public records. On March 27, 1995, plaintiff filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. On May 11, 1995, plaintiff filed a writ application with this court. The writ application was denied on the grounds that the February 22, 1995 judgment was a final, appealable judgment. Revere v. James, 95-0991 (La. App. 1st Cir. 6/2/95). Thereafter, no appeal was taken by either plaintiff or defendant.
Request for Photographs
By letters dated January 9, 1995, and January 31, 1995, plaintiff requested from the Sheriff's Office copies of photographs or access to the public records to make copies of photographs related to the criminal case against him. The Sheriff's Office responded to the request with a letter dated February 17, 1995, informing plaintiff of the cost associated with making prints of the negatives and asking plaintiff to inform them of the number of prints he wished to obtain. Plaintiff responded that the cost estimate was not a "reasonable fee" and asked that the Sheriff's Office provide him with a copy of the negatives within five days or he would file suit to obtain the records. By letter dated March 15, 1995, an attorney for the Sheriff's Office informed plaintiff that, in order to preserve the chain of custody, negatives could only be printed by their lab, the charge quoted to him was reasonable, and, as a cost saving measure, he was welcome to send a representative to review the investigative file to determine which photographs he actually needed.
On August 7, 1995, plaintiff filed a pleading entitled "PETITION FOR COMPLIANCE WITH LSA R.S. 44:1 ET SEQ. WITH RULE AS MANDATED UNDER LAW," naming Patrick J. Canulette, the Sheriff of St. Tammany Parish, as defendant. In the petition, plaintiff alleged that the sheriff's failure to provide him with photographs taken during the initial investigation of the criminal case against him, copies of the photographs, or a reasonable fee
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