Alengi v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.

165 So. 8, 183 La. 847, 1935 La. LEXIS 1781
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 2, 1935
DocketNo. 33611.
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 165 So. 8 (Alengi v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alengi v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 165 So. 8, 183 La. 847, 1935 La. LEXIS 1781 (La. 1935).

Opinion

HIGGINS, Justice.

Plaintiffs brought two separate suits against the defendants, in solido, to recover damages for personal injuries and property loss alleged to have resulted from the negligence of one of the defendants, who was driving an automobile which collided with the truck driven by one of the plaintiffs, in which the other plaintiff was riding. The defendants denied the charges of negligence and pleaded contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiffs.

There was judgment in favor of each of the plaintiffs and, being dissatisfied with the amount awarded, they appealed only from the judgment in so far as it did not allow the amount claimed. The defendants answered the appeal, praying that the demands of both plaintiffs be rejected in toto, on the grounds averred in their defenses. The Court of Appeal refused to consider the defendants’ contention as to the question of liability on the ground that the appeal having been granted for only a limited purpose, and the defendants having failed to appeal, that the only question before the' court was as to the correctness of the district court’s judgment on the question of quantum, and increased the amount of the award.

Defendants then applied to this court for a writ of certiorari, which was granted, and the matter is now before us for review.

Articles 592 and 888 of the Code of Practice read, respectively, as follows:

“592. Nevertheless, if the appellee complain of some parts of the judgment of the inferior court, he may, without appealing from the same, pray it to be set aside in those points in which he believes that he is aggrieved.” (Italics ours.)
“888. If the appellee has cause to complain of the judgment appealed from, he may, without appeal on his part, state in *849 his answer the points on which he thinks he has sustained wrong, and may pray that the judgment be reversed with respect to them, and confirmed with costs on the rest.”" (Italics ours.)

In the case of Lange v. Baranco, 32 La. Ann. 697, at page 699, the court said:

“The plaintiff objects to the trial of the case here as regards the reconventional demand, on the ground that the defendant did not appeal from the judgment dismissing that demand.
“It was unnecessary that she should do so. A judgment is the solemn adjudication of a court, established by law, made in a suit upon the relative claims of parties thereto, as disclosed by the record, and which passes on the matters so presented for determination. When it decides the issues submitted, it is an entirety, and, strictly, is indivisible; not so, however, as to compel a party who is only partly benefited to appeal from the judgment in his behalf. It may be rendered partly in favor of or against a litigant, and partly in favor of or against others. The party who appeals, whoever he be, theoretically brings up the entire judgment for revision to the appellate court; absolutely, as far as it aggrieves him, and conditionally as it affects others who are the appellees, and who can ask that the judgment, as to them, be re-examined and reformed. The Code of Practice, art. 888, recognizes undoubtedly this theory, by permitting expressly the appellee, in his answer, when seasonably filed, to ask a reversal in part and a confirmation in part, as he may choose to do.
“The whole judgment is therefore before us for review(Italics ours.)

In the case of Gormley v. Gormley, 161 La. 121, 108 So. 307 (syllabus), the court held:

“Where wife’s direct demand for sepa-, ration and husband’s demand therefor by way of reconvention were dismissed, and husband perfected appeal, wife’s answer to appeal and prayer for amendment of judgment was sufficient to authorize review on main demand as well as on demand in re-convention.”

See, also, Bacher v. Higgins (La.App.), 156 So. 826.

In the case of Hawford v. Moses and Solomon Adler, 12 La.Ann. 241, the plaintiff, a notary public, sued the succession for the sum of $502.50, for additional fees in preparing an inventory of the estate. There was judgment in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $36.75, and he appealed, seeking to have the amount increased. The appellees filed in this court a document in the nature of a motion, praying that the plaintiff’s demands be rejected entirely, as prayed for in the defendants' answer. The court said:

“We view this as an answer to the appeal, and a substantial compliance with the requirements of the Code of Practice, Articles 888 and 890” (the articles providing for an answer to an appeal). (Parenthesis ours.)

The court then proceeded to reverse the judgment of the lower court and gave judgment for the defendants, rejecting the plaintiff’s demand in toto.

*851 In the case of Hunter v. Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of St. Ann’s Chapel, 173 La. 454, 137 So. 850, 852, the plaintiff brought suit against the Rector, Wardens .and Vestrymen of St. Ann’s Chapel, and judgment was rendered and signed in his favor, against the defendants. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff ruled the defendants into court, to show cause why the judgment should not be amended, so as to state the correct corporate name of the defendant, i. e., “St. Ann’s Chapel of the State of Louisiana.” The rule was heard and dismissed, and plaintiff took a devolutive appeal for “the sole purpose of having said judgment corrected to include the true corporate name of defendant.” The appellee moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that to permit appellant to appeal for only a limited purpose would •deprive it of a substantial right, i. e., the right granted to an appellee of having the judgment appealed from set aside in those points in which he believes he is aggrieved by answering the appeal, under articles 592 .and 888 of the Code of Practice. We said:

“That would be true if the appeal applied for had not brought the whole case up for review, .and counsel for appellant concede that it has.”

It is stated that the above cases are not -in point, because there the appellant did -not expressly and specifically limit his appeal to a consideration of a part of the case. It is difficult to understand how the appellant, by limiting his appeal, can deprive the appellee of the rights, granted 'him by. articles 592 and 888 of the Code of Practice, to have the judgment reviewed in the respects complained of in the answer to the appeal, without appealing. A mere reading of those two articles clearly shows that it was never contemplated that the appellee’s right to have the judgment reviewed, by answering the appeal, could be taken away from him by the appellant appealing only for an express and specific, or limited purpose.

Counsel for the plaintiffs, in support of their argument that the appellate court will not pass upon the whole judgment of the lower court when an appeal has been granted only from a part of it, cite the case of De Bellevue v. Couvillion, 3 La. App. 568.

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Bluebook (online)
165 So. 8, 183 La. 847, 1935 La. LEXIS 1781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alengi-v-hartford-accident-indemnity-co-la-1935.