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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 97-C-1086 c/w No. 97-C-1125 NEIL HARRISON ET AL. Versus STATE OF LOUISIANA, THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS AND OFFICE OF STATE POLICE ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE VICTORY, J.* We granted these writs to determine whether Harrah's Casino Shreveport ("Harrah's") and the Louisiana State Police are liable for false arrest for detaining two casino patrons for questioning whom Harrah's and the State Police suspected of cheating, or abetting a cheater, while playing blackjack. After reviewing the record and the applicable law, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal and find that neither Harrah's nor the State Police are liable. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Neil Harrison ("Harrison"), Larry Reeves ("Reeves"), Wayne Shaw ("Shaw"), and Kenneth Romero ("Romero") went to Harrah's casino on the afternoon of April 21, 1994, Harrah's second day of operation. Harrison, Reeves, and Shaw were Texas businessmen who owned racehorses and Romero trained racehorses. The four men were inexperienced gamblers who went to Harrah's together to celebrate the victory of a race horse owned by Reeves and trained by Romero at Louisiana Downs that morning. There were seven betting circles and six chairs arranged in a semi-circle around Table 115, where the four men were playing blackjack. They were positioned around

*

Knoll, J., not on panel. Rule IV, Part 2,

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Louisiana Law