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 App. 1st Cir. 2/ 21/ 24) 2024 WL 702600 at * 4( unpublished).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

0

NO. 2025 CW 0714
PAGE 2 OF 2

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

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT