Saizan v. Pointe Coupee Parish Sch. Bd.

49 So.3d 559

262 Ed. Law Rep. 1071

Edgar J. SAIZAN, Jr.

v.POINTE COUPEE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD.

No. 2010 CA 0757.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

Oct. 29, 2010.

C. Jerome D'Aquila, New Roads, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellant, Edgar J. Saizan, Jr.

Robert L. Hammonds, Pamela Wescovich Dill, Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendant-Appellee, Pointe Coupee Parish School Board.

Before CARTER, C.J., GAIDRY AND WELCH, JJ.

CARTER, C.J.

**2 This appeal stems from the dismissal by summary judgment of a public school teacher's action against a school board for extended paid sick leave, as well as damages and medical expenses associated with the denial of additional leave. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Edgar J. Saizan, Jr. ("Saizan") was a tenured teacher employed by the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board ("School Board").¹ During his employment with the School Board, Saizan accumulated sick leave pursuant to the provisions of LSA-R.S. 17:1201 ², which he utilized to receive his full rate of compensation after becoming ill during the 2002-2003 school year. On May 5, 2003, Saizan exhausted his accumulated sick leave, including his annualten-day allowance for that school year. Pursuant to the provisions of LSA-R.S. 17:1202 ³, Saizan requested and the School Board granted, ninety additional days of extended sick leave, beginning on May 6, 2003, during **3 which Saizan received sixty-five percent of his regular compensation. In November 2003, Saizan was informed that his extended sick leave would expire on December 12, 2003.

Claiming that he was suffering from a catastrophic and long-term illness, Saizan requested that the School Board grant him an additional period of extended paid sick leave. The School Board informed Saizan that its unwritten policy was to treat all sick leave, catastrophic and otherwise, the same. Therefore, the School Board denied Saizan's request for additional extended paid sick leave and placed him on leave without pay, effective December 13, 2003 through the end of the 2003-2004 school year. The School Board formally adopted a written sick leave policy on December 18, 2003, reiterating and clarifying that sick leave for employees with catastrophic and long-term illnesses would be treated the same as sick leave for employees suffering from other illnesses. Saizan remained on leave without pay status until he retired on July 28, 2004.

Shortly after his retirement, Saizan filed this lawsuit against the School Board seeking to be placed on leave with pay, presumably for the time period that he had been denied additional extended paid sick leave through the date of his official retirement. Saizan complained in his petition that at the time that he was denied additional paid leave he was suffering **4 from a catastrophic and long-term illness, and the School Board did not have a policy in effect addressing such illnesses as required by LSA-R.S. 17:1202 E(2)(d)(i). Saizan later supplemented his petition to further allege his entitlement to general damages for mental pain and suffering and loss of earnings, as well as special damages for all of his past and future medical expenses.

The School Board answered Saizan's allegations by general denial. On November 22, 2005, the School Board filed an initial motion for summary judgment, supported by numerous affidavits and exhibits. The School Board's position was that Saizan had been placed on leave without pay only after he had exhausted all accumulated and extended sick leave to which he was entitled under law, citing LSA-R.S. 17:1201 and 17:1202. The School Board also argued that its existing policy on long-term and catastrophic illnesses was to treat such illnesses the same as any other illness for sick leave purposes. The School Board formally confirmed and ratified this policy in a written resolution at a meeting on December 18, 2003. Saizan opposed the School Board's initial motion for summary judgment, primarily arguing that genuine issues of material fact and lawexisted regarding whether he suffered from a catastrophic and long-term illness, and whether the School Board satisfied the mandates of LSA-R.S. 17:1202 regarding a specific sick leave policy for catastrophic and long-term illnesses.

After a hearing, the trial court denied the School Board's initial motion for summary judgment, finding genuine issues of material fact surrounding the nature of Saizan's illness and opining in dicta that the Legislature intended that school boards provide "unique and specific" **5 policies regarding catastrophic and long-term illnesses rather than adopt identical policies for all types of illnesses.⁴ The School Board applied for supervisory writs to this Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court, but both applications were summarily denied in unpublished writ actions. ⁵

On June 30, 2009, the School Board filed a second motion for summary judgment, which is the subject of the instant appeal. In its second motion, the School Board sought dismissal of Saizan's lawsuit because the facts material to the controlling and determinative legal issues were undisputed, including the nature of Saizan's illness that the trial court specifically found was contested at the time of the initial motion for summary judgment.⁶ Saizan opposed the second motion for summary judgment with the same argument that the School Board could not satisfy the statutory mandate by adopting a sick leave policy for catastrophic and long-term illnesses that simply restated the policy that was applicable to other illnesses. Essentially, the parties relied on the same evidence submitted in support and in opposition to the initial motion for summary judgment.

On September 15, 2009, the trial court issued a judgment granting the School Board's second motion for summary judgment, and dismissing **6 Saizan's case with prejudice. Saizan filed a timely motion for new trial based on the law of the case doctrine, citing the trial court's denial of the School Board's initial motion for summary judgment. After issuing written reasons, the trial court denied Saizan's motion for new trial clarifying that the School Board was within the comports of LSA-R.S. 17:1202 E(2)(d)(i), and ruling that there was no prohibition against hearing a second motion for summary judgment on the same issue with a different result. Saizan filed this appeal, challenging the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the School Board, as well as the denial of his motion for new trial.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

On appeal, summary judgments are reviewed de novo, using the same criteria that govern the trial court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Bozarth v. State, LSU Medical Center/Chabert Medical Center, 09-1393 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/12/10), 35 So.3d 316, 323.The motion should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966 B; Id.

The burden of proof on a motion for summary judgment is on the movant. However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial on the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the movant's burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party's claim, action, or defense, but rather to point out to the court that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the adverse party's claim, action, or defense. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails to provide factual evidence sufficient to **7 establish that he will be able to satisfy his evidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966 C(2).

A fact is material when its existence or nonexistence may be essential to plaintiff's cause of action under the applicable theory of recovery. Facts are material if they potentially insure or preclude recovery, affect a litigant's ultimate success, or determine the outcome of the legal dispute. Bozarth, 35 So.3d at 324. Because it is the applicable substantive law that determines materiality, whether a particular fact in dispute is material can be seen only in light of the substantive law applicable to the case. Id.

In the renewed motion for summary judgment, as in the original urging of the motion, the School Board "points out" that Saizan will be unable to meet his burden of establishing his right to additional extended paid sick leave pursuant to LSA-R.S. 17:1202 or otherwise. For purposes of the second motion for summary judgment, the School Board does not dispute any material facts regarding Saizan's illness or the application of the School Board's extended sick leave policy. The School Board maintains that Saizan contests only conclusions of law surrounding the interpretation of the applicable statutes and how those statutes apply to the undisputed facts. The School Board argues that such a challenge is insufficient to create a genuine issue that would defeat summary judgment.

Saizan argues that the School Board failed to meet its statutory obligation because it failed to adopt a separate policy for catastrophic and long-term illnesses until after he had requested additional extended paid sick leave. Because the facts remain the same as when the trial court denied the first motion for summary judgment, Saizan argues that the "law of the case" **8 doctrine or res judicata prevents a different conclusion on the School Board's second motion for summary judgment.

We find no merit in Saizan's assessment of the discretionary law of the case doctrine.⁷ The denial of an initial motion for summary judgment does not bar a second motion for summary judgment. Bozarth, 35 So.3d at 323. The denial of a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory judgment, which the trial court may change at any time up...