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FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE # 15

FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

The Opinions handed down on the 25th day of February, 2003 , are as follows:

BY KNOLL, J. :

2001-C - 3341

LAWRENCE MOORE v. TERRY WARE, CHAIRMAN OF THE WEST MONROE FIRE AND POLICE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD (Parish of Ouachita) For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, is reversed and set aside. The decisions of the West Monroe Fire and Police Civil Service Board and the district court are reinstated. REVERSED. JOHNSON, J., dissents and assigns reasons.

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 01-C-3341

LAWRENCE MOORE Versus TERRY WARE, CHAIRMAN OF THE WEST MONROE FIRE AND POLICE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL SECOND CIRCUIT, PARISH OF OUACHITA

KNOLL, Justice.

This case involves the review of a municipal civil service board's decision, affirming the denial of promotion for a municipal police officer. We are presented with questions of appellate review of facts, procedural due process, and equal protection. Finding that plaintiff failed to make a prima facie showing of racial discrimination and that the civil service board's decision was made in good faith and for legal cause, the record does not support that the appointing authority acted arbitrarily or capriciously, or as a result of prejudice. Accordingly, we reverse. FACTS AND PROCEDURE Prefatorily, we note that although this case involves numerous procedural matters which span a number of years, including hearings at the civil service board level, appeals and remands to the district court and the appellate court, and writ applications to this Court, all of which tend to be confusing, the facts are well developed in the record. When the facts are extracted from the proceedings, a good chronology of events emerges and the issues are easily placed into perspective. On January 21, 1997, Lawrence Moore, a black police officer employed in the West Monroe Police Department (WMPD) since 1988, was notified he passed the written Sergeant's test, a prerequisite for promotion to that position. Even though

there was no opening for a sergeant in the police department at that time, the WMPD advised Moore he was at the top of the promotion list for that position. Not long thereafter, Moore was provisionally promoted to sergeant for a three or four month period beginning on March 5, 1997, when Major Bobby Avery, a superior officer, went on sick leave. At that time, other superior officers moved up to take over the Major's position and the now vacated Captain's position. Moore assumed the provisional post of Sergeant, the last vacant position. Moore was the only black officer involved in this reshuffling of personnel. During the time Moore served as provisional Sergeant, particularly on July 11, 1997, Larry Laborde, the Chief of Police for the West Monroe Police Department, implemented a policy that any officer who had not successfully completed all aspects of the department's physical fitness test would be ineligible for promotion and would be unavailable for extra duty details. Shortly thereafter, on July 22, 1997, Major Avery left the police department amid controversy over his use of sick leave. The Sergeant's position, which Moore had provisionally filled, then became permanently vacant with Major Avery's departure. On August 14, 1997, Moore, who was 35-years of age, 6-feet, 1-inch tall, and weighed 355 pounds, was examined by Dr. William D. Smith, Jr., a cardiologist, as part of a physical examination for the police department. Dr. Smith described Moore as morbidly1 obese. Medical examination revealed Moore suffered from

hypertension, shortness of breathe with moderate exertion, and he endured knee pain and bilateral foot and heal pain with exercise that required analgesic medications. After administering a stress test,2 Dr. Smith allowed Moore to proceed with the police
In the context of medicine, "morbid" is understood as diseased, pathologic or abnormal. STEADMAN 'S MEDICAL DICTIONARY 888 (5th ed. 1982).
2 1

Dr. Smith's notes indicate as follows: 2

department's physical fitness test. On September 10, 1997, Captain Stan Hayden, a WMPD training officer, administered the department's physical fitness test. Moore failed the test which consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, and completion of an obstacle course; each of these tests required completion within a fixed time. Initially, Chief Laborde passed over Moore for promotion, the officer at the top of the promotion list, and offered the Sergeant's position to another officer because he was under the impression Moore did not want the Sergeant's slot and because Moore had recently failed the physical fitness test. Notwithstanding, when Chief Laborde presented the other officer's name to the West Monroe Fire and Civil Service Board (Board) for approval of promotion on October 14, 1997, the Board determined that Moore had been improperly passed over for the position. At that time, the Board ordered Chief Laborde to make an offer of promotion to Moore, subject to the physical fitness standards, and to provide the Board with a letter concerning his disposition of the matter. Chief Laborde complied with the Board directive and provided such a letter on October 27, 1997, detailing that Moore was passed over for Sergeant because he failed the medical and physical fitness exams. By letters dated October 28, 1997 and November 11, 1997, directed to the Board, Moore appealed the administrative decision to pass him over for promotion. Moore contended the administrative decision violated civil service law and was in contravention of the Board's rules and regulations. At the Board meeting of February 18, 1998, Moore, accompanied by legal counsel, explained he had not pressed for a more immediate hearing because there had been vacancies on the Board. He further asserted that it was his contention that

Stress test is technically negative at low level exercise. The patient does have a hypertensive blood pressure response at low level of performance due to physical deconditioning. 3

he could not be passed over for promotion because the physical fitness test was not part of the class plan.3 Moore's appeal was scheduled for the next month's meeting. The Board met on March 4, 1998, to hear Moore's appeal. After some discussion, mainly involving the nature of Moore's appeal (it appears the Board had not received Moore's more detailed second letter of appeal), the Board again directed Chief Laborde to offer Moore the position of Sergeant, if he was able to pass the medical and physical fitness examinations. Moore accepted the Board's offer without conceding his contention that the class plan did not include the successful completion of a physical fitness test. On April 3, 1998, Captain Hayden again administered the physical fitness test to Moore. At that time Moore was able to pass the push-up and sit-up portions of the test, but he was unable to successfully complete the obstacle course within the prescribed time limit. As noted by Captain Hayden, instead of completing the obstacle course in 2 minutes 30 seconds, it took Moore 3 minutes 12 seconds. After his failure to meet the conditions of the offer of promotion made to him during the March 4, 1998, Board hearing, Moore appealed to the district court. The district court then remanded the matter to the Board, finding it needed a more complete hearing at the Board level to fully consider the contentions Moore raised in his earlier appeal to the Board. The Second Circuit Court of Appeal denied Moore's attempt to appeal the district court decision, (La. App. 2 Cir. 2/25/99) (unpublished),

The words "class" and "classification plan" have the following meaning in the context of civil service. LA . REV . STAT . ANN .

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