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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 97-C-2434

JOHN DOE AND MARY DOE, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE MINOR CHILD, M. C. DOE versus JOHN PARAUKA, FATHER JOSEPH CHOTIN, OUR LADY OF THE LAKE PARISH, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, PHILLIP M. HANNON, ABC INSURANCE COMPANY AND XYZ INSURANCE COMPANY

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH CIRCUIT, PARISH OF ORLEANS

TRAYLOR, Justice

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This case arises out of child abuse allegedly committed by John Parauka, principal of Our Lady of the Lake School. We granted writs to determine whether the trial court, as affirmed by the Court of Appeal, abused its discretion in rendering a directed verdict dismissing plaintiff's claim against the Archdiocese, finding that there was no basis whereby a reasonable juror could have found that an employer-employee relationship existed between the Archdiocese and Parauka. Because we find that there exists sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could find that Parauka was the Archdiocese's employee, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in granting a directed verdict in favor of the Archdiocese. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Plaintiffs, John and Mary Doe, individually and on behalf of their minor child, M.C. Doe, filed suit alleging that between September 1986 and February 1987, M.C., while attending kindergarten at Our Lady of the Lake School, was sexually abused by John Parauka, the principal of the school. Along with Parauka, plaintiffs named as

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Calogero, CJ., not on panel. Rule IV, Part 2,

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