Entrevia v. Hood

• Decision Date: 23 February 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-C-1437,82-C-1437
• Parties: Andrea ENTREVIA v. A.E. HOOD, Jr.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 1146

427 So.2d 1146

Andrea ENTREVIA v. A.E. HOOD, Jr.

No. 82-C-1437.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Feb. 23, 1983.

Rehearing Denied March 25, 1983.

Joseph H. Simpson, Amite, for applicant.

Douglas T. Curet, Curet & Curet, New Orleans, for respondent.

DENNIS, Justice.

The question presented in this case is whether the owner of a remote, unoccupied farm house, which was surrounded by a fence and posted with "no trespassing" signs, is strictly liable for damages occasioned when a trespasser was injured by the collapse of the building's rear steps. The court of appeal held that the owner was responsible, reversing the trial court's judgment for the owner. We reverse and reinstate the trial court's judgment. Under the circumstances of this case, in light of all relevant moral, economic and social considerations, the defective steps did not pose an unreasonable risk of harm to others.

The building involved in this case was a vacant house located on a remote piece of rural property surrounded by a fence posted with "no trespassing" signs. The plaintiff, Andrea Entrevia, and her friend, Loretta Dixon, entered the premises to peer through the windows of the building. Entrevia was seriously injured when the rear steps to the house collapsed as she descended.

After listening to the conflicting testimony of the witnesses, the trial court found that Entrevia and her friend had gone upon the property without the knowledge or consent of its owner. The defendant owner, A.E. Hood, Jr., and his tenant who resided across the road from the house in question testified that they had neither rented the property nor given Dixon permission to use it. Dixon testified that she had spoken to Hood's tenant about the house and intended to rent it. The trial court stated that it did not believe her testimony. The surrounding circumstances corroborate the trial court's findings. Dixon's husband, a convicted robber and burglar, was a Tangipahoa Parish Jail prisoner, but he was permitted to leave the prison during the day on work release. On a previous occasion, Dixon and her husband had entered the house without a key for an unauthorized conjugal visit. On the day of the accident, Dixon did not have a key to the house and made no effort to obtain one. The house had no electricity, had not been prepared for tenants, and had been used for storing hay.

Based on these findings of fact, the trial court further determined that there had been no unreasonable risk of harm to Entrevia posed "by steps to a porch of a house sitting off the road, enclosed by a fence with a closed gate and with 'no trespassing' signs, wherein it is assumed by law that all people will respect the privacy of another's property." Accordingly, the trial court rendered judgment for the defendant, rejecting the plaintiff's demands.

On appeal, the court of appeal reversed and awarded damages to the plaintiff, holding that it was sufficient for recovery under civil code articles 2317 and 2322 that the plaintiff had proved that the defendant's defective steps had caused plaintiff's injuries, because the defendant had failed to prove any affirmative defense. 413 So.2d 954. We granted writs because the holding of the court of appeal appeared to conflict with our previous interpretations of civil code articles 2317 and 2322.

Civil code article 2317 provides: "We are responsible, not only for the damage occasioned by our own act, but for whom we are answerable, or of things which we have in our custody. This, however, is to be understood with the following modifications." ¹ Article 2322, which further defines the application of Article 2317's general principle to the owner of a building, provides: "The owner of a building is answerable for the damage occasioned by its ruin, when this is caused by neglect to repair it, or when it is the result of a vice in its original construction."

This court has recognized that the same principle of legal fault underlies both Article 2317 and 2322 (as well as Articles 2318, 2319, 2320 and 2321). In Loescher v. Parr, 324 So.2d 441, 446-47 (1976), we summarized this principle recognized in favor of an injured person himself without fault:

When harm results from the conduct or defect of a person or thing which creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others, a person legally responsible under these code articles for the supervision, care, or guardianship of the person or thing may be held liable for the damage thus caused, despite the fact that no personal negligent act or inattention on the former's part is proved. The liability arises from his legal relationship to the person or thing whose conduct or defect creates an unreasonable risk of injuries to others.

The fault of the person thus liable is based upon his failure to prevent the person or thing for whom he is responsible from causing such unreasonable risk of injury to others. Thus, the person to whom society allots the supervision, care, or guardianship (custody) of the risk-creating person or thing bears the loss resulting from creation of the risk, rather than some innocent third person harmed as a consequence of his failure to prevent the risk. His fault rests upon his failure to prevent the risk-creating harm and upon his obligation to guard against the condition or activity (by the person or thing for which he is responsible) which creates the unreasonable risk of harm to others.

This jurisprudence recognized that the injured person must prove the vice (i.e., unreasonable risk of injury to another) in the person or thing whose act causes the damage, and that the damage resulted from this vice. Once this is proved, the owner or guardian responsible for the person or thing can escape liability only if he shows the harm was caused by the fault of the victim, by the fault of a third person, or by an irresistible force.

The legal fault thus arising from our code provisions has sometimes been referred to as strict liability.

And in Olsen v. Shell Oil Co., 365 So.2d 1285 (La.1979), this court reaffirmed that under Article 2322 the owner of a building has a non-delegable duty to keep his building and its appurtenances in repair so as to avoid unreasonable risk of injury to others. Id. at 1292.

Accordingly, in order to recover in strict liability under Article 2317 or 2322 against the owner of a building, the injured person must prove that the building or its appurtenances posed an unreasonable risk of injury to others, and that his damage occurred through this risk. Upon proof of these elements, the owner is responsible for the damages, unless he proves that the damage was caused by the fault of the victim, by the fault of a third person, or by an irresistible force. The owner is absolved from his strict liability neither by his ignorance of the condition of the building, nor by circumstances that the defect could not easily be detected. Olsen v. Shell Oil Co., supra; Loescher v. Parr, supra.

Consequently, it was clear error for the court of appeal to reverse the trial court judgment and award damages merely because the plaintiff had proved she sustained injuries caused by the collapse of the steps. It was incumbent upon her to prove that her injuries were caused by a quality of the building that posed an unreasonable risk of harm to persons. The trial judge recognized the correct legal principle and concluded that the defendant's building did not constitute an unreasonable hazard of injury to others. We will proceed, therefore, to determine whether his application of the precept was warranted by the evidence.

The requirement that an injured person in order to recover under Article 2317 or 2322 must prove that the risk from which his damage resulted posed an unreasonable risk of harm places a limitation on a building owner's strict liability. He cannot be held responsible for all injuries resulting from any risk posed by his building, only those caused by an unreasonable risk of harm to others.

The unreasonable risk of harm criterion, however, is not a simple rule of law which may be applied mechanically to the facts of a case. It is a concept employed by this court to symbolize the judicial process required by the civil code. Since Articles 2317 and 2322 state general precepts and not detailed rules for all concrete cases, it becomes the interpreter's duty to decide which risks are encompassed by the codal obligations from the standpoint of justice and social utility. Geny, Method of Interpretation and Sources of Private Positive Law § 174 (Louisiana State Law Institute trans. 2d ed. 1963). To recognize the necessity for this process and to give directions for the judge's consideration of the facts and their relation to the ideals of justice and social utility, this court has said that the owner of a building which presents an unreasonable risk of harm to others shall be responsible to a person injured by realization of that risk unless the victim's damage was caused by the fault of the victim, the fault of a third person, or an irresistible force. These conceptions only provide approaches to the decision of concrete cases, however, and the interpreter must be wary of the illusion that he can find a ready solution in their revelations. Except in the clearest of cases, it is necessary for the judge, in shaping his decision about how the law applies to the facts, to consider the particular situation from the same standpoint as would a legislator regulating the matter. Geny, supra, § 173; Cf. Id. at §§ 175, 183. Although the judge, unlike the legislator, is constrained by the concrete problem before him and the ambit of his limited authority, he nevertheless must consider the moral, social and economic values as well as the ideal of justice in reaching an intelligent and responsible decision. See Geny, supra, §§ 173-174; Cf. Id. at § 170. See also Dixon, Judicial Method in Interpretation of Law in Louisiana, 42 La.L.Rev. 1661, 1678 (1983); J. Cueto-Rua, Judicial Method of...