Court Opinion

ID: 9840762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-19 22:05:57.231846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:06:50.686742
License: Public Domain

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

                              STATE OF LOUISIANA

                                COURT OF APPEAL

                                  FIRST CIRCUIT

CW                                 2022 CA 0977

      PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS

                                     VERSUS

 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
    AND THOMAS GALLIGAN, INDIVIDUALLY AND IN HIS
 CAPACITY OF PRESIDENT OF LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

                               DATE OFjuDGmENT.          SEP 19 2023

     ON APPEAL FROM THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
          PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE, STATE OF LOUISIANA
                             NUMBER 702660, SECTION 25

                    HONORABLE WILSON E. FIELDS, JUDGE

Alysson L. Mills                            Counsel. for Plaintiff A
                                                                   - ppellee
Kristen D. Amond                            People for the Ethical Treatment
New Orleans, Louisiana                      of Animals

Winston G. DeCuir, Jr.                     Counsel for Defendant -Appellant
Carlton " Trey" Jones, III                 Board of Supervisors of Louisiana
Johanna A. Posada                          State University and Thomas C.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana                     Galligan, Individually and in his
                                           Capacity as Former Interim President
Sheri M. Morris                            of Louisiana State University
Christina Berthelot Peck
Katelin Hughes Varnado
Evan P. Fontenot
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

                  BEFORE: THERIOT, CHUTZ, AND HESTER, JJ.

Disposition: APPEAL DISMISSED. RELIEF REQUESTED IN ANSWER DENIED.
CHUTZ, J.

        Defendants -appellants, Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University

and Thomas C. Galligan, individually and in his capacity as an interim president of

Louisiana State University ( collectively LSU), appeal the trial court' s judgment,

ordering LSU to produce to plaintiff -appellee, People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals ( PETA), records related to the use of birds in research at LSU that PETA

requested pursuant to the Louisiana Public Records Act.

        Our review of the record shows that the trial court signed two judgments on

February 3, 2022, both of which LSU appealed but neither of which was final. In

accordance with our interim order, the trial court signed a final judgment on June

15, 2023, which was the subject of our review in the companion appeal. See People

for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Bd. of Supervisors of Louisiana State

Univ., 2022- 0976 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 09119123), ---         So.3d ---- n. 2, also rendered this

day. Because we have disposed of all of LSU' s contentions in the companion case,

this appeal is moot. See Cat' s Meow, Inc. v City ofNew Orleans Through Dept

ofFinance, 98- 0601 ( La. 10120198), 720 So. 2d 1186, 1193 (" A case is ` moot' when

a rendered judgment or decree can serve no useful purpose and give no practical

relief or effect.").

         PETA answered the lawsuit seeking attorney fees for defending the appeal.

See La. R.S. 44: 35( D)( 1).'         We decline to make such an award in this appeal. See

People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals v. Bd. of Supervisors of Louisiana

State Univ., --- So. 3d at ---- n. 13.

1 La. R.S. 44: 35( D)( 1) provides:

                If a person seeking the right to inspect, copy, or reproduce a record or to
        receive or obtain a copy or reproduction of a public record prevails in such suit, he
        shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and other costs of litigation. If such
        person prevails in part, the court may in its discretion award him reasonable
        attorney fees or an appropriate portion thereof.
      For these reasons, we dismiss the appeal. In accordance with our assessment

of costs in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Bd. of Supervisors of

Louisiana State Univ., --- So. 3d at ----, appeal costs in the total amount of $7, 396.00

are assessed one- half against defendants -appellants, Board of Supervisors of

Louisiana State University and Thomas C. Galligan, individually and in his capacity

as an interim president of Louisiana State University and one- half against plaintiff -

appellee, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

      APPEAL DISMISSED. RELIEF REQUESTED IN ANSWER DENIED.

                                            K