$238,652 Verdict Against Sheriff Whose Deputy Blocked I-210 for a Funeral Procession

On December 13, 2010, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office Funeral Division was escorting a procession from a Lake Charles funeral home toward Dry Creek. Where the procession reached the entrance ramp to Interstate 210, a deputy was assigned to control traffic as it merged onto the highway.

Wayne LaGrappe was driving east on I-210 with his wife, Jean Ann, approaching the Lake Street exit. He saw brake lights ahead, slowed, and stopped on the crest of the Lake Street overpass. He left space in front of the car, turned on his flashers, and watched in his mirror as a white Ford van came up behind them and hit the car. The impact pushed it into the vehicle ahead and crushed the right side inward onto Mrs. LaGrappe. Rescuers needed the jaws of life to cut her out.

Mrs. LaGrappe's injuries included fractures in both shoulders and an eight-centimeter scalp laceration closed with twelve staples. Both arms were in slings for three months. Frozen shoulders then required a manipulation under anesthesia, followed by about seventy-nine physical therapy sessions. Her right collarbone did not heal properly, and her right shoulder now droops with less strength and range of motion. Mr. LaGrappe had bruising, a head hematoma, and neck and back pain that limited his gardening, fishing and woodworking.

The LaGrappes sued the van's driver, his employer and their insurer, along with the Sheriff and his insurer. The claims against the van's driver and employer were resolved before trial. The Sheriff fought liability, arguing that motorists had stopped as a courtesy and that the van driver alone caused the crash. The case went to a jury on January 13, 2014, with ten fact witnesses and two traffic reconstruction experts, who agreed the deputy had no need to block both lanes. Aaron Broussard of Broussard & Hart in Lake Charles, now Broussard Knoll Law Firm, represented the LaGrappes.

The jury assigned 65 percent of the fault to the Sheriff and 35 percent to the van's driver. For Mrs. LaGrappe it awarded $34,156.52 in medical expenses and $333,000 in general damages, a gross total of $367,156.52. Louisiana holds each defendant liable only for its own share of fault, so the Sheriff's 65 percent of her award comes to $238,651.74. For Mr. LaGrappe it awarded $25,637.43 in medical expenses and $70,000 in general damages, a separate award for his own injuries.

The Sheriff and ACE American Insurance Company appealed. On December 23, 2014, the Third Circuit affirmed in full. It held that the deputy's blocking of the interstate was a cause in fact of the collision and that 65 percent was within the jury's discretion. It also upheld the funeral-procession procedures admitted at trial and both damage awards.

The Sheriff then asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to take the case. It denied the writ application on April 17, 2015. Justices Clark and Crichton would have granted it to revisit the allocation of fault.