Case Name: Gordon J. TRENTECOSTA v. Robert BECK, Ronnie Jones, Kermit Smith and The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1998-02-25
Citations: 714 So. 2d 721
Docket Number: No. 95-CA-0096
Parties: Gordon J. TRENTECOSTA v. Robert BECK, Ronnie Jones, Kermit Smith and The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
Judges: Before BARRY, LOBRANO, ARMSTRONG, WALTZER and LANDRIEU, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 714
Pages: 721–727

Head Matter:
Gordon J. TRENTECOSTA v. Robert BECK, Ronnie Jones, Kermit Smith and The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
No. 95-CA-0096.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Feb. 25, 1998.
Opinion Granting Rehearing in Part May 13,1998.
Richard A. Tonry, Michael C. Ginart, Jr., Kim C. Jones, Law Office of Tonry & Ginart, Chalmette, for Plaintiff-Appellee Gordon J. Trenteeosta.
Richard Ieyoub, Attorney General, Gregory G. D’Angelo, Special Assistant Attorney General, Panzeca & D’Angelo, Metairie, for Defendant-Appellant The State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
Before BARRY, LOBRANO, ARMSTRONG, WALTZER and LANDRIEU, JJ.

Opinion:
|!WALTZER, Judge.
In No. 96-C-2388, the Louisiana Supreme Court set aside the judgments of the trial court and of this court and rendered judgment against defendant Kermit Smith and the State of Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections, in solido, for the damages caused by Smith's defamation of plaintiff, and remanded the case to this Court to fix the amount of those damages.
In the' Supreme Court's opinion, this court is directed to fix the amount of damages anew and, in so doing to consider that the defamation award must be based not on the damages caused by the arrest of plaintiff Trenteeosta or by the license suspension, but on the damages caused by the defamatory statement.
The Defamatory Statement
The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts that Officer Smith's statement that plaintiff was guilty of bilking thousands of dollars from charities using his Bingo Hall over the years was defamatory. This Court is now called upon to fix anew the damages that will reasonably compensate plaintiff for that defamation.
Damages for defamation can include injury to reputation, personal humiliation, embarrassment, and mental anguish and suffering. Thomas v. Busby, 95-1147 p. 8 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/6/96), 670 So.2d 603, 609. The Thomas court upheld a $25,000 defamation award based on plaintiffs testimony that he was ^embarrassed and humiliated by having been stopped at a Wal-Mart gardening center and accused in front of other customers of stealing three bags of soil that he was actually in the act of returning for a refund. Thomas testified that he was embarrassed and humiliated and that for the first few weeks was consumed by the incident, but sought no professional treatment.
In McGowan v. Warwick Corp., 96-0851 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/12/97), 691 So.2d 265, this Court affirmed a lower court award of $5,000 general damages and $990 in lost wages to a hotel employee who was falsely accused of robbing hotel guests and was incarcerated on the charge for six weeks. The employer did not answer the charges, and the employee obtained his judgment by default. There was no publication of the defamatory words.
In Smith v. Atkins, 622 So.2d 795 (La.App. 4 Cir.1993), this Court increased a defamation award to $5,000 on proof that a college teacher referred in class to plaintiff, a female student, as a "slut," causing negative reactions by her fellow students and requiring plaintiff to seek psychiatric help for depressive disorder.
An award of $500 was increased by $5,000 in Lege v. White, 619 So.2d 190 (La.App. 3 Cir.1993). White said on more than one occasion and to more than one person that she was an undercover narcotics officer for the Vermillion Parish Sheriffs Office and was investigation Lege for the use and sale of illegal drugs. Other rumors, allegedly emanating from White and White's aunt's ex-husband implicated Lege for drug use and for hosting parties involving nudity, Rsex, and drug use. The court of appeal accepted the trial court's credibility determinations that led it to award $500 arising out of one or two prior incidents of suspicious events dating back to 1970, and awarded an additional $5,000 for White's defamatory statements made in connection with a 1986 eviction proceeding.
In Melancon v. Hyatt, 589 So.2d 1186 (La.App. 4 Cir.1991), 592 So.2d 411 (La.1992), this Court reduced an award of $22,500 for loss of reputation, $45,000 for mental pain and suffering, and $22,500 for embarrassment and humiliation where there was no testimony as to plaintiffs loss of reputation in the community and he did not seek medical help for his alleged depression. The award was reduced to $10,000 for pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation, and loss of reputation, combined, then the highest reported Louisiana award in general damages for defamation.
The record supports an award of $50,000. The publication in our metropolitan area that plaintiff "bilked thousands of dollars" from charities was made with egregious and reckless disregard for plaintiffs unblemished reputation.
Damages caused to the business by reason of Officer Smith's defamatory statement.
The publication of the defamatory statement was made in May, 1989. Mr. Trentecosta's bingo hall showed cash flows between 1985 and 1988 of $162,439, $76,364, $47,810 and $182,810. After the publication, cash flow was $92,167 (1989), $75,449 (1990), $23,204 (1991) and $3,555 (1992). While State exhibit # 2, a chart showing St. Bernard Parish bingo rental revenues from 1988 to 1992, shows a dip from 1989 (approximately $950,000) to 1990 (approximately |4$850,000), those revenues increased in 1991 to approximately the 1989 level where it remained in 1992.
It is difficult to assess the relative proportion of this loss attributable to the defamatory statement and to the actual arrest. The highly defamatory nature of the publication leads us to attribute one-half of the decrease to the statement and one-half to the arrest. Thus, under direction from the Louisiana Supreme Court, the award for business losses arising out of the defamatory statement is found to be $94,357.50.
CONCLUSION AND DECREE
On remand from the Louisiana Supreme Court, and in light of the foregoing reasons, we render the following judgment:
To Gordon Trenteeosta for general damages: $50,000
To C&T Arabi, Inc. for losses attributable to defamatory statement of Officer Smith: $94,357.50.
JUDGMENT RENDERED AFTER REMAND.
LOBRANO, J., concurs.
ARMSTRONG, J., dissents for the reasons assigned by LANDRIEU, J.
LANDRIEU, J., dissents with reasons.
. The court of appeal also reversed an award of $5,000 for attorney's fees. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted writs and ordered that the case be re-argued before a five-judge panel pursuant to La. Const, art. V, section 8(b). Thomas v. Busby, 96-0891 (La.5/17/96), 673 So.2d 601. On remand, the court, constituted of five judges, reinstated its original opinion.