Thomas E. Campbell v. City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton Rouge

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

THOMAS E. CAMPBELL NO. 2025 CW 0714 PAGE I OF 2 VERSUS

CITY OF BATON ROUGE, PARISH OCTOBER 24, 2025 OF EAST BATON ROUGE

In Re: City of Baton Rouge/ Parish of East Baton Rouge, applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 695811.

BEFORE: MCCLENDON, C. J., THERIOT, PENZATO, EDWARDS AND BALFOUR, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The trial court' s February 5, 2025 judgment

denying the motion for summary filed by defendant, judgment the

City of Baton Rouge/ Parish of East Baton Rouge (" City/ Parish"), is reversed. Under La. R. S. 9: 2800, in order to prove a public entity is liable for damages caused by a thing, plaintiff must establish: custody or ownership of the defective thing by the public entity; the defect created an unreasonable risk of harm; the public entity had actual or constructive notice of the defect; the public entity failed to take corrective action within a reasonable time; and

causation. See Robinson v. Pointe Coupee Par. Sch. Bd., 2023- 0215 La. App. 1st Cir. 2/ 21/ 24) 2024 WL 702600 at * 4( unpublished).

Failure to meet any one of these statutory requirements will defeat a claim against a public entity. Id. Plaintiff, Thomas E. Campbell, argued constructive the notice asserting City/ Parish would have noticed the condition at issue if it had conducted reasonable

inspections of the bike path. Constructive notice exists when the defect or condition has existed for such a period of time that it would have been discovered and had the remedied public body exercised reasonable care. Racca v. St. Mary Sugar Cooperative, Inc., 2002- 1766 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 2/ 23/ 04), 872 So. 2d 1117, 1126, writ denied, 2004- 0698 ( La. 5/ 7/ 04), 872 So. 2d 1083. However, the

City/ Parish' s duty to use reasonable care in maintaining its public ways does not encompass conducting periodic inspections . . . and

the failure to conduct such inspections does not imply knowledge of a dangerous defect. See Jones v. Hawkins, 98- 1259 ( La. 3/ 19/ 99), 731 So. 2d 216, 220. Furthermore, the failure to conduct inspections does not impute to the City/ Parish constructive knowledge of

defects in its public ways. See Id. We find plaintiff failed to carry his burden of producing factual support sufficient to

establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact as to the element of actual or constructive notice. Accordingly, the motion for summary judgment is granted, and plaintiff' s claims

against defendant, the City of Baton Rouge/ Parish of East Baton Rouge, are dismissed with prejudice.

PMC MRT

AHP

NO. 2025 CW 0714 PAGE 2 OF 2

Edwards and Balfour, JJ., dissent and would deny the writ.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT