Prator v. Caddo Parish

• Decision Date: 01 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 2004-C-0794.,2004-C-0794.
• Citation: 888 So.2d 812
• Parties: Steve PRATOR, Sheriff of Caddo Parish, Louisiana v. CADDO PARISH.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

888 So.2d 812

Steve PRATOR, Sheriff of Caddo Parish, Louisiana v. CADDO PARISH.

No. 2004-C-0794.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 1, 2004.

Wiener, Weiss & Madison, APC, John M. Madison, Jr., Susie Morgan, Michael Allyn Stroud, Mark Lane Hornsby, Shreveport, Counsel for Applicant.

Pugh, Pugh & Pugh, Robert G. Pugh, Shreveport, Charles Carr Grubb, Parish Attorney, Alex James Washington, Jr., Assistant Parish Attorney, Counsel for Respondent.

Usry, Weeks & Matthews, Thomas Allen Usry, John Franklin Weeks, II, New Orleans, Counsel for Amicus Curiae Louisiana Sheriffs' Association.

Dannie P. Garrett, III, Baton Rouge, Roland John Dartez, and William J. Doran, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Amicus Curiae Police Jury Association of Louisiana, Inc.

Patrick Richmond Jackson, Counsel for Amici Curiae Bossier Parish Police Jury and Webster Parish Police Jury.

WEIMER, Justice.

This matter addresses a controversy between a parish government and a sheriff concerning the parish's claim to a credit for certain costs relative to the housing of out-of-parish inmates at the parish jail ("credit issue") and whether the parties' actions for declaratory judgments stated justiciable controversies.

We granted a writ in this matter to determine whether the court of appeal erred in finding a lack of justiciable controversies and dismissing a suit for declaratory judgment by Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator and a responsive reconventional demand by Caddo Parish, which also sought a declaratory judgment. Prator v. Caddo Parish, 38,085 (La.App. 2 Cir. 1/28/04), 865 So.2d 932, writ granted, 04-0794 (La.5/21/04), 874 So.2d 159. Finding the appellate court erred in holding no justiciable controversy as to the credit issue, we vacate that portion of the court of appeal decision. We remand the matter to the court of appeal to address the merits of Caddo Parish's (appellant's) assignment of error regarding its reconventional demand that urges Caddo Parish is entitled to a credit for certain costs relative to the housing of out-of-parish inmates at the Caddo Parish Correctional Center (CCC).

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The events that triggered this litigation are undisputed. On October 25, 2001, the Parish Administrator for Caddo Parish, William T. Hanna, Jr., and the Parish Attorney, Dannye Malone, met with Sheriff Prator for a discussion of funding for the CCC. Caddo Parish owns the CCC, which was constructed in the mid-1990s; Sheriff Prator is the keeper of the CCC and has the obligation to operate that facility. See, LSA-R.S. 15:704.¹

For accounting purposes, the sheriff's office is divided into two funds: the general fund and the CCC fund. The latter fund is at the center of this litigation. The CCC fund is comprised of revenues from a one-fourth cent sales and use tax; revenues generated at the CCC; per diem payments by the Louisiana Department of Corrections and others for state, federal and other non-parish prisoners; per diem payments of not less than $3.50 pursuant to LSA-R.S. 33:1432² by Caddo Parish for parish inmates; and other operating expenses paid by Caddo Parish for maintenance and equipment for the CCC. Both funds benefit from a one-tenth cent sales and use tax dedicated to deputy salaries that Sheriff Prator began collecting on January 1, 2003.

At the meeting, Hanna advised Sheriff Prator that "pursuant to a recently discovered statutory law," he believed Caddo Parish was entitled to a credit for fixed expenses attributable to the keeping of state prisoners at the CCC against payments the parish makes to the sheriff's office. He calculated these expenses at approximately $600,000 annually. The "statutory law" Hanna cited is LSA-R.S. 15:824(B)(1)(a) and (B)(2)³.

As the court of appeal acknowledged, Caddo Parish interpreted the provisions of LSA-R.S. 15:824 as giving the parish the authority to deduct from its per diem payments to the sheriff for parish prisoners a percentage of fixed expenses at the CCC based on the average number of non-parish inmates housed at CCC (approximately 25 percent of the inmate population).

At no time between the meeting in October of 2001 and the present has an agreement been reached between Sheriff Prator and Caddo Parish on the "credit issue."

Sheriff Prator responded to the parish's demand concerning the credit issue by filing a petition for declaratory judgment, which petition included numerous allegations of differences over the funding of the CCC in addition to the credit issue.

Caddo Parish answered the sheriff's petition and filed a reconventional demand asserting the credit issue as follows:

The Parish of Caddo appropriates and expends $7,659,000.00 annually for the arrest, confinement and prosecution of individuals accused or convicted of crimes under the provisions of La. R.S. 15:304.[⁴]

....

The Parish of Caddo is entitled to a credit from the Caddo Parish Sheriff for expenses incurred relative to housing DOC, federal and out-of-parish inmates in accordance with state law.

Additionally, Caddo Parish sought a declaratory judgment on the issue of whether it was entitled to a credit for the revenues generated at the CCC from the use and operation of such items as the commissary, telephones, vending machines, and medical expenses for federal inmates.

Trial on the merits was held on April 24, 2003. The court took the matter under advisement and rendered judgment on May 28, 2003. Addressing the merits of the parish's request for declaratory judgment on the credit issue, the trial court denied the request on the ground that "[a]ttempts to impose a share of fixed costs for jails have been soundly rebuffed" in the jurisprudence. The court cited Webre v. Wilson, 95-1281 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/4/96), 672 So.2d 1124, and City of Shreveport v. Caddo Parish, 27,519 (La.App. 2 Cir. 6/23/95), 658 So.2d 786, writs denied, 95-2285, 95-2298 (La.11/27/95), 663 So.2d 728-729.

Concerning Caddo Parish's request for declaratory judgment that it was entitled to a credit for the self-generated revenues at the CCC, the trial court found that such revenues were used by the sheriff to offset expenses of the jail which would otherwise be borne by taxpayers. The trial court noted the question of how these revenues should be spent was a matter that should be handled by contract between the sheriff and the parish, and denied the parish's request for declaratory judgment.

Caddo Parish appealed. Having prevailed on the two credit issues by the denial of the parish's requests for declaratory judgment, the sheriff did not answer the appeal.

After a discussion of the requirement of a justiciable issue, the appellate court dispensed with the credit issues as follows:

In its last two assignments of error, Caddo Parish contends that it is entitled to a credit for certain costs relative to the housing of out-of-parish inmates and for certain revenues generated at CCC. No evidence was presented that established that Caddo Parish actually deducted the above costs from the funding extended to CCC. This being the case, we find there is not a justiciable controversy regarding these issues, and thus, they were prematurely addressed by the trial court.

Prator, 38,085 at 12-13, 865 So.2d at 939.

DISCUSSION

Our sole concern in granting a writ in the instant case was whether a sufficiently justiciable controversy existed between the sheriff and the parish. Courts are without power to grant declaratory relief unless such a controversy exists. To avoid deciding abstract, hypothetical, or moot questions, courts require cases submitted for adjudication be justiciable, ripe for decision, and not brought prematurely. St. Charles Parish School Board v. GAF Corporation, 512 So.2d 1165, 1171 (La.1987)(on rehearing). "These traditional notions of justiciability are rooted in our constitution's tripartite distribution of powers into the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government." Perschall v. State, 96-0322, p. 15 (La.7/1/97), 697 So.2d 240, 251. Essential to the exercise of this state's judicial power is the threshold requirement of a dispute, that is, "adverse parties with opposing claims ripe for judicial determination." Id.

The courts of this state, as well as courts across the nation, have grappled with the difficult issue of when a controversy is justiciable as opposed to an abstract question that would result in a merely advisory opinion. Id."The difference between an abstract question and a `controversy' contemplated by the Declaratory Judgment Act is necessarily one of degree, and it would be difficult, if it would be possible, to fashion a precise test for determining in every case whether there is such a controversy." Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 512, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1941). We have declined jurisdiction over issues posed in the abstract. We have declined jurisdiction when actions do not involve specific adversarial questions asserted by interested parties based on existing facts. See cases cited in Perschall, 96-0322 at 16-17, 697 So.2d at 252.⁵ For example, in Stoddard v. City of New Orleans, 246 La. 417, 165 So.2d 9, 11 (1964), this court declined to rule on the constitutionality of a statute that authorized parishes, municipalities, and port authorities to engage in various activities aimed at promoting industrial development because the city had not taken any action to implement the statute.

In the instant case, the court of appeal cited several cases for the proposition that courts are not permitted to issue advisory opinions based on a contingency which may or may not occur. This is a correct statement of the law and as applied to the facts of this case was a valid reason for the appellate court's resolution of three of Caddo Parish's assignments of error. Addressing Caddo Parish's Assignment of Error No. 1, the appellate court stated the issue of whether or not Caddo Parish should pay for food preparation and laundry for the...