Crossett v. Campbell

Citations

• 122 La. 659
• 48 So. 141
• 1908 La. LEXIS 506

Syllabus

<p>False Impbisonment (§ 6*) — What Constitutes.</p> <p>Plaintiff entered upon grounds which were lawfully in possession of schoolboys, who were giving a free picnic, and who had given notice, in advance, that later in the day a game of baseball would be played, to which a trifling admission fee would be charged. When the game was about to begin he refused, though repeatedly requested so to do, to pay the fee or go out, and he was thereupon taken by the arm by a citizen — one of the assembled guests or patrons— acting in behalf of the boys, though without special authority, and led in the direction of the gate, always with the privilege of paying and staying, and the alternative of not paying and going. Before reaching the gate, he paid the fee, and thereafter stayed and witnessed the game.</p> <p>Held, that the restraint imposed was not total, and did not render it impossible for plaintiff to stay where he was or otherwise control his movements; that, being at all times able to release himself on payment of the fee, for which, if he stayed, he was morally and legally bound, the restraint imposed on him, merely as a means of his ejection, until he elected to pay, was the result of his voluntary persistence in an unlawful act, did not deprive him. of “free egress,” and affords no ground for an action in damages for false imprisonment.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see False Imprisonment, Cent. Dig. | 3; Dec. Dig. § 6.*]</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>