Sheree Glass, Individually and on behalf of her minor child Julius Leroy Morgan v. Microtel Inn & Suites Ponchatoula and Wilshire Insurance Company

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

SHEREE GLASS, INDIVIDUALLY NO. 2020 CW 0419
AND ON BEHALF OF HER MINOR
CHILD JULIUS LEROY MORGAN

VERSUS

MICROTEL INN & SUITES NOVEMER 09, 2020
PONCHATOULA AND WILSHIRE
INSURANCE COMPANY

In Re: Microtel Inn & Suites Ponchatoula and Wilshire
Insurance Company, applying for supervisory writs,
21st Judicial District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa,
No. 20170001892.

BEFORE: MCCLENDON, WELCH, AND HOLDRIDGE, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The Arial 5, 2020 judgment
court' s May
which denied the motion for summary judgment filed by
defendants, Microtel Inn & Suites Ponchatoula and Wilshire
Insurance Company, is reversed. When the mover will not bear
the burden of proof on the issue that is before the court on the
motion far summary judgment, the mover` s burden does not require
him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party' s
claim; but rather to point out to the court the absence of

factual support for one or more elements essential.. to the
adverse party' s claim. La. Code Civ. P. art. 966( 1))( 1). The
owner or custodian is
of a thing answerable for damage
occasioned by its vice or defect only upon a
showing that he
knew or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known
of the vice or defect which caused the damage, that the damage
could have been prevented by the exercise of reasonable care,
and that he failed to exercise such reasonable care. In this
case, defendants pointed out an absence of evidence as to their
actual or constructive notice of a defect in the treadmill at
issue. There was no evidence that defendant, Microtel Inn &
Suites Ponchatoula, had actual notice of an defect.
alleged
Constructive notice requires that the plaintiff prove the
condition existed for some time period prior to the incident.
Clark v. East Baton Rouge Parish Department of Public Works,
201! 7-- 1445 ( La. App. lst Cir. 4/ 6/ 18), 248 So. 3d 409, 414.
Plaintiff herein, Sheree Glass, failed to produce evidence
sufficient to establish the existence of a genuine issue of
material fact as to the element of actual or constructive
notice, and therefore, defendants are entitled to summary
judgment. The motion for judgment
summary filed by defendants,
Microtel Inn & Suites Ponchatoula and Wilshire Insurance
Company, is granted, and the claims of plaintiff, Sheree Class,
individually and on behalf of her minor child, Julius Morgan,
are dismissed.
PMC

JEW
GH

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT