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Stemley v. Foti10/26/2005
Before GASKINS, PEATROSS & LOLLEY, JJ.
Plaintiff, Louis Stemley, appeals the dismissal of his tort action against the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff and the Warden of the Richland Parish Detention Center as abandoned. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.
FACTS
Mr. Stemley is an inmate with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections ("DPSC"). In 1998, he filed a petition in the Fifth Judicial District Court against Charles Foti, then the Criminal Sheriff of Orleans Parish, and Ray North, the warden of the Richland Parish Detention Center ("RPDC"). In his petition, Mr. Stemley claimed that, while incarcerated, he had been denied access to legal materials, transferred between prisons on the eve of his mother's funeral and denied timely access to health care. Mr. Stemley further alleged that, on September 3, 1998, he was harmed at RPDC due to indiscriminate spraying of mace by deputies attempting to break up a fight at the prison. Mr. Stemley was afforded pauper status by the court for the case sub judice.
Mr. Stemley subsequently amended his petition to add the following defendants: the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Department ("OPSD"); Mark Terrell, "legal service" at RPDC; Trey Stokes, chief of security at RPDC; David Stewart, nurse; and the insurers of the aforementioned defendants. His allegations against these (new) defendants included complaints about access to legal materials and health care as well as an allegation of having been maced in a second incident.
The OPSD filed an exception of venue and RPDC, Mr. North, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Stewart filed an answer and a variety of exceptions to Mr. Stemley's petitions including an exception of no cause of action. In 1999, Mr. Stemley filed interrogatories and a Motion to Transport himself to a scheduled hearing. In early 2000, Mr. Stemley filed a request for notice of judgment, a request to set the matter for trial and a request for a jury trial. Mr. North, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Stewart opposed his last request. In April 2000, Mr. North, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Stewart filed a motion for a pre-trial conference and for a hearing of their opposition to a jury trial. No one appeared at the hearing on the appointed date, so the motions were continued without date. Mr. Stemley filed a Motion to Recuse the trial judge on June 23, 2000, which the trial judge denied, citing the absence of justification for recusal.
The hearing on the motions and exceptions was reset for August 2000 and Mr. Stemley filed another motion requesting to be transported to the hearing; that hearing was later reset to October 2000. The court held a hearing on the defendants' exceptions on October 13, 2000. Thereafter, RPDC, Mr. North, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Stewart filed a memo in support of their exceptions and attached a portion of the operating agreement between the Richland Sheriff and the operator of RPDC, Bayou Correctional Corporation. Mr. Stemley then filed a motion demanding the entirety of this agreement. In December 2000, Mr. Stemley filed a witness and exhibit list, an opposition to the pending exceptions and a pre-trial conference report. He further agreed to a bench trial.
In January 2001, Mr. Stemley filed another opposition to the still-pending motions and exceptions. There was a discovery dispute about an inmate report that was resolved against Mr. Stemley. On September 5, 2001, the trial court issued reasons for judgment concerning Charles Foti's exception of venue and concerning the pending exceptions. The court stated its intention to sustain the exception of venue and dismiss Mr. Foti as a party; the court also stated its intention to dismiss Mr. S
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