Peloquin v. Calcasieu Parish Police Jury

• Decision Date: 19 December 1979
• Docket Number: No. 7278,7278
• Citation: 378 So.2d 560
• Parties: Robert PELOQUIN, Individually, etc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CALCASIEU PARISH POLICE JURY et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 560

378 So.2d 560

Robert PELOQUIN, Individually, etc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CALCASIEU PARISH POLICE JURY et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 7278.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

Dec. 19, 1979.

Steven Broussard, Lake Charles, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Raggio, Cappel, Chozen & Berniard, Richard B. Cappel, Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, John S. Bradford, Lake Charles, for defendants-appellees.

Before DOMENGEAUX, FORET and SWIFT, JJ.

SWIFT, Judge.

This suit has been brought by Robert Peloquin, individually and on behalf of his two minor children, and by his wife, Ruth D. Peloquin, to recover damages for the conversion of their pet cat, George, which was alleged to have been trapped and destroyed by euthanasia. Named as defendants are Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Linscomb, State Farm Fire & Casualty Company (State Farm), the Linscombs' liability insurer, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury and the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (USF&G), the police jury's liability insurer.

Defendants filed exceptions of no cause of action and no right of action. The trial judge maintained these exceptions insofar as the claims for damages for mental anguish, pain and suffering resulting from the alleged conversion of the cat were concerned; thus, limiting plaintiffs' action to damages for the value of the cat. This court reversed and remanded, 367 So.2d 1246 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1979).

On remand, following a bifurcated trial, the trial judge found in favor of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury and the trial jury held in favor of the Linscombs, State Farm, and USF&G. From the adverse judgments, plaintiffs have appealed. We affirm.

The evidence reflects that the Linscombs had been having problems for several months with one or more cats climbing on their car and scratching the paint. In November, 1977, Mrs. Linscomb contacted the Calcasieu Parish Animal Control Center, a department or agency of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, in order to obtain a trap to catch the cat. Mr. Linscomb set the trap two nights and on or about November 15, 1977, caught a cat which was picked up by an employee of the animal control center and put to sleep.

The plaintiffs testified their pet cat, George, disappeared that same night. They contended the cat trapped by the Linscombs and put to sleep by the animal control center was their cat and that the defendants committed acts constituting conversion of their property.

In the present case five persons saw the trapped cat. Of these, three, Mr. and Mrs. Linscomb and Ferdis Terro, stated positively that it was not the same as the plaintiffs' cat in the pictures shown to them. One, John Cart, merely testified he could not identify...