Geiger v. State Through Dept. of Institutions
| Decision Date | 21 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 8157,8157 |
| Citation | 242 So.2d 606 |
| Parties | Miriam Bordages GEIGER v. STATE of Louisiana, Through the DEPARTMENT OF INSTITUTIONS. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
James H. Hynes, Baton Rouge, for appellant .
Jack P. F. Gremillion and David L. French, Baton Rouge, for appellee.
Before LANDRY, ELLIS and BLANCHE, JJ.
This is an appeal from a judgment sustaining a peremptory exception urging no cause of action filed in response to plaintiff's petition for damages. The pertinent allegations of plaintiff's petition are as follows:
'2.
'That on or about 11:00 a.m. on the 21st day of June, 1954 in the Parish of East Baton Rouge, your petitioner, Miriam Bordages Geiger, was the victim of a double attack of aggravated rape, which was forcibly inflicted on her without her consent by Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith, both inmates, at the time, of the State Industrial School for Colored Youths, under the control, direction and supervision of the Louisiana Department of Institutions, located in the Parish of East Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana.
'3.
'That the perpetrators of the aggravated rape, Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith, were assigned to a work detail on or near the grounds of the State Industrial School for Colored Youths in the Parish of East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the morning in question and through the negligence and lack of proper supervision by those placed in authority and in charge of the custody of said inmates, the two inmates, Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith, left the work detail without being impeded in any way, and went to the house of Phillip Geiger, Jr., which was some five hundred yards from the place they were working, and robbed and forcibly raped your petitioner, Miriam Bordages Geiger.
'4.
'The negligence of the State of Louisiana, through its Department of Institutions, consisted in its failure to provide adequate supervision, custodial care and control of the inmates of the institution, the Industrial School for Colored Youths, and particularly the failure to provide adequate supervision, custodial care, control and restraint on the work detail to which Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith were attached on the morning of June 21st, 1954.
'5.
'That the Department of Institutions of the State of Louisiana had been advised on September 28th, 1953, by the District Attorney of the Parish of East Baton Rouge that an inspection by the Grand Jury of East Baton Rouge Parish had revealed that twenty-seven (27) escapes were noted during the one hundred ten (110) days preceding September 20th, 1953, and that more stringent measures were necessary to prevent escapes to avoid a serious incident occurring.
'6.
'That, in spite of said warning, the authorities in charge of the State Industrial School for Colored Youths permitted the work detail to which Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith were assigned on the morning of June 21st, 1954, to go out without sufficient supervision, control and restraint of the inmates on said detail.
'7.
'In the alternative, the person or persons placed in charge of the work detail on the morning of the 21st of June, 1954, from which Carl Jackson and Wilbert Smith escaped and left to rob and rape your petitioner, Miriam Bordages Geiger, were inattentive, negligent and careless in the performance of his or their duties.
'8.
'That Carl Jackson, one of the inmates of the State Industrial School for Colored Youth, who raped your petitioner had a record of burglary and theft and had previously run away and escaped from said State Industrial School for Colored Youth the previous year and again the week previous to his acts complained of herein, and was the type of inmate from whom acts of the kind complained of herein could be expected, all of which was well known to, or should have been well known to the authorities in charge of his custody and control.
'9.
'That Wilbert Smith, one of the inmates of the State Industrial School for Colored Youth who raped your petitioner herein had a long record of theft, burglary and escape, and was the type of inmate from whom acts of the kind complained of herein could be expected; all of which was known to those in charge of his custody and control, or should have been well known to those in charge of his custody and control.' (Record, pp. 2--4)
Defendant-exceptor averred in the peremptory exception of no cause of action that assuming Arguendo the correctness of plaintiff's well-pleaded allegations of fact, the negligence of defendant and its employees, representatives, or personnel could not be as a matter of law the proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries and damages. The trial court accepted this contention of defendant-exceptor and sustained the peremptory exception. We reverse.
It is well established that an exception of no cause of action must be overruled unless the showing affirmatively establishes that under no evidence admissible under the pleadings would plaintiff have a cause of action; that is, unless the allegations show and exclude every reasonable hypothesis of facts other than those showing that the plaintiff cannot recover as a matter of law. Babineaux v. Southeastern Drilling Corporation, 170 So.2d 518 (La.App.3rd Cir. 1965), writ refused, 247 La. 613, 172 So.2d 700, appeal dismissed, Seacat Marine Drilling Co. v. Babineaux, 382 U.S. 16, 86 S.Ct. 67, 15 L.Ed.2d 12. The exception urging no cause of action should be overruled when the allegations of the petition, which must be construed most favorably for the plaintiff, disclose a cause of action, with all doubts being resolved in favor of the sufficiency of the petition, Thaxton v. Roberson, 224 So.2d 183 (La.App.3rd Cir. 1969); Bielkiewicz v. Rudisill, 201 So.2d 136 (La.App.3rd Cir. 1967).
In light of the foregoing applicable principles, we are not prepared to say that as a matter of law the alleged negligence could in no way constitute a proximate cause of the injuries and damages plaintiff claims to have sustained so as to warrant maintenance of the peremptory exception urging no cause of action. In particular, we note that plaintiff alleges the two inmates escaped from the work detail, went to her home which was...
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