Acadian Heritage Realty v. City of Lafayette

451 So. 2d 17, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 8486
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided April 11, 1984·No. 84-35·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

451 So.2d 17 (1984)

ACADIAN HERITAGE REALTY, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
The CITY OF LAFAYETTE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 84-35.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 11, 1984.
Rehearing Denied May 7, 1984.
Writ Denied June 25, 1984.

*18 Voorhies & Labbe, Marc W. Judice, Lafayette, for defendant-appellant.

Jefferson D. Hughes, III, Walker, Ronald G. Gossen, J. Minos Simon, Domengeaux & Wright, Bob F. Wright, Joseph Koury of Koury & Koury, Kenneth W. DeJean of Fruge & DeJean, J.M. Wooderson, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before CUTRER, STOKER and DOUCET, JJ.

STOKER, Judge.

Before us in this appeal is a judgment dated September 10, 1981, which grants a "conditional permanent injunction" in favor of certain intervenors in this case. The injunction sets out specific guidelines to be followed by the City of Lafayette in its operation of a sanitary landfill and, in effect, makes the landfill subject to the management of the trial court. A motion to dismiss the appeal was filed by the intervenors and was referred to the merits. In this opinion, we first address the motion to dismiss which we conclude should be denied. We will then address the merits of the injunction.

FACTS

The circumstances leading up to the filing of the present appeal are somewhat lengthy and confusing, but a recitation of these circumstances is necessary to an understanding of the motion to dismiss.

Suit was originally filed by Acadian Heritage Realty (Acadian) against the City of Lafayette. Acadian sought to enjoin the City from beginning operation of a landfill in an area which it was developing into subdivisions. Acadian also sought damages for the negligent placement of the landfill. Acadian's suit for damages was dismissed on an exception of no cause of action. The dismissal of the suit was reversed on appeal by this Court in an opinion reported at 394 So.2d 855 (Acadian # 1). The trial court ultimately refused to enjoin the construction of the landfill at the instance of Acadian, but this action was not appealed by Acadian. Acadian does not figure in this appeal.

In the meantime the landfill had begun operations, and several landowners in the area (referred to as the Gossen and Guilbeau groups) intervened in the suit filed by Acadian seeking damages for loss of value and nuisance and seeking to enjoin further operation of the landfill. However, Acadian's principal suit and the interventions were tried separately and came up on appeal separately. After trial between the landowners and the City, on September 10, 1981, the district court issued the injunction before us in this appeal. Thus, in this appeal the intervenors, the Gossen and Guilbeau groups, are the appellees. It has recently become apparent that the City obtained an order of appeal, timely signed by the trial judge, granting an appeal and setting bond. The trial court refused to stay the injunction and, on application for writs to this Court, the City was granted a stay of the injunction during the pendency of the appeal. The original order of appeal was not filed with the parish clerk of court at this time, but a revision of the order dated September 23, 1981 deleting the bond requirement was filed and sent to this court on September 24. This revision does not refer to a particular judgment or original order of appeal, but it is now apparent that the only appealable judgment in the record at that time was that of September 10, 1981. The writ granting a stay of the injunction was issued on September 30, 1981. (Our Docket Number # 8659.)[1]

*19 A judgment awarding money damages to the intervening landowners was filed on October 27, 1982, from which the City appealed. That judgment was affirmed by this Court in an opinion at 434 So.2d 182, writ denied 440 So.2d 733 (Acadian # 2). In that appeal both the City and the landowners argued the merits of the injunction, but we found that the record before us at that time contained only an order of appeal from the October 27, 1982 judgment. Thus we did not consider the injunction. In its application for rehearing in that matter, the City asserted only that our writ action on September 30, 1981 granted an appeal from that judgment. The rehearing was denied on July 14, 1983.

During the appeal proceedings on Acadian # 2, trial was held between the original plaintiff, Acadian, and the City resulting in a judgment for money damages in favor of Acadian on January 28, 1983. Our decision affirming that judgment was rendered on February 1, 1984. (Acadian # 3). Acadian Heritage Realty v. City of Lafayette, 446 So.2d 375 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1984). In that appeal, the City again attempted to bring the issues regarding the injunction before this Court and we pointed out that Acadian, the appellee in Acadian # 3, was not involved in the injunction and was not the plaintiff in whose favor the injunction was given. Thus, the City could not argue the injunction in its appeal against Acadian.

During the latter part of July, 1983, the clerk of this Court received a communication from the Lafayette Clerk of Court forwarding an order of appeal from the injunction judgment of September 10, 1981, requesting that the order be inserted into the record of Acadian # 3, at page 462A, et seq. This order of appeal was stamped as having been filed on July 26, 1983, with the Clerk of Court for Lafayette Parish, and, although it was signed by the trial judge, the date of the signing was not given. The order does contain a return date of October 12, 1981, evidently inserted in the appropriate blank by the trial judge.

During oral argument of Acadian # 3 the City's attorney, when advised that the injunction matter was not on appeal in that particular appeal, indicated the City's desire to have it docketed, heard and disposed of. Accordingly, a separate appeal was docketed and is the appeal now before us. (Acadian # 4.) When notice of the appeal was given to the intervening landowners, they filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as being untimely.

MOTION TO DISMISS

In support of the motion to dismiss the appeal as having been untimely filed, movers argue that the late filing of the order of appeal is an error attributable solely to the City. In fact, at oral argument on this matter, the City's attorney admitted that the unfiled order of appeal was finally located in his office files, and he then immediately filed it with the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court on July 26, 1983. Counsel stated that the usual procedure in Lafayette Parish was for the judge to sign an order of appeal, and someone from the judge's office would file it with the Clerk of Court. Counsel for the City speculated that the original order was apparently sent back to his law office and was inadvertently placed in his file under the erroneous impression that it was an information copy. We have no doubt that the search for the order was extremely tedious as the final Clerk's record in this matter contained more than 3800 pages. No doubt the file kept by the City's attorney must be even more voluminous.

Although the original order of appeal did not appear in the record until July 26, 1983, the revision of that order and the writ granting a stay of execution of the injunction did appear in the record and gave timely notice to the parties of a pending appeal. The two documents do not grant an appeal as argued by the City, but they do make it apparent that an appeal was intended. Even this Court was clearly under the impression that an appeal existed when the writ was granted.

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Acadian Heritage Realty v. City of Lafayette, 451 So. 2d 17, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 8486 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

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