Carter v. Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana, Inc., (2003)

• Court: Tunica-Biloxi Tribal Court
• Decision Date: 14 February 2003
• Docket Number: 2001-0110
• Citation: Carter v. Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana, Inc. (Tunica-Biloxi Tribal Ct. 2003)
• Parties: MELINDA ROSE CARTER FOLLY v. TUNICA-BILOXI INDIANS OF LOUISIANA

MELINDA ROSE CARTER FOLLY v. TUNICA-BILOXI INDIANS OF LOUISIANA

No. 2001-0110

Tunica Biloxi Tribal Court Tunica Biloxi Reservation Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

February 14, 2003

OPINION

Plaintiff Ms. Folley (now Ms. Ames) brings this action for trauma which she claimed was induced by eating food at Marcelines Restaurant in the Paragon Casino owned and operated by the defendant.

Plaintiff testified that she and her brother attended Paragon Casino and there engaged in playing black jack. She claims not to have eaten solid food for a period of thirty-six hours before entering Marcelines Restaurant at 1:00 O'Clock A. M. on the 14th of March in the year 2000. Her answers to interrogatories indicates she had had no solid food for three days prior thereto. She and her brother went to eat. The brother ate apple pie and left. She had ordered steak, baked potato, a salad, some shrimp and apple pie with ice cream. Her testimony is that she was very hungry and the meal "took forever" to be served. While awaiting the steak she ate apple pie and ice cream and ate some salad with wilted lettuce and a considerable amount of Blue Cheese salad dressing. When the other food came she complained that the steak was over cooked around the edges. She fixed her potato with cream. She ate steak from the center part and ate some fried shrimp. She said she was angry (mad) because the food was so slow in being served and that she complained. She said some corn was served with the steak but she ate none of it. The meal was served complementary because they were patrons of the black jack table.

She was given a card to file a complaint but did not fill it out at the time.

Her testimony is that she returned to the gambling table after her meal and went back to the restaurant at 5:00 A. M. to file a formal complaint.

At this juncture it is appropriate to discus a portion of the testimony of her brother, Jim D. Wells who accompanied her. He verified that she ate the pie while awaiting the other food, ate a little salad with a lot of dressing on it but that they returned to Alexandria immediately thereafter instead of continuing to gamble. While she did not complaint of stomach or digestion problems, he said she began complaining immediately. He said that his sister "eats a lot".

Plaintiff testified that she returned to Alexandria and to her sister's home. She went to sleep and was awakened at approximately 9:30 A. M. on March 14 with severe stomach cramping and was taken to the emergency room where she was treated for vomiting and stomach upset. She described her pain as very severe. She was discharged at 9:00 P. M. on that day but suffered with soreness for two or three days afterward.

The Court was not favored with medical opinions as to...