Burch v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.

172 So. 2d 165, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1167
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 21, 1964
DocketNo. 6275
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 172 So. 2d 165 (Burch v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burch v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 172 So. 2d 165, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1167 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

ELLIS, Judge.

We have under consideration in this case a judgment of the District Court wherein it “ * * * ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the exceptions of prescription of one year filed by Drs. Thomas R. Jenkins, Jr. and Joseph P. Tomsula, defendants herein, be and the same are hereby maintained, and that the original and supplemental petitions be and the same are hereby dismissed as to the said Drs. Thomas R. Jenkins, Jr. and Joseph P. Tomsula.”

The lower court in its reasons for judgment has correctly set forth the necessary facts upon which it based its judgment and upon which this court must adjudge the correctness thereof upon this appeal. We therefore quote:

“REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
“The matter before this court is a plea of prescription of one year filed March [166]*1662, 1964, by Dr. Thomas R. Jenkins, Jr., and Dr. Joseph P. Tomsula, made defendants herein by plaintiffs’ third amended petition filed herein on January 17, 1964. It is necessary to recite a partial chronological history of the pleadings.
“Plaintiffs are husband and wife. Mrs. Burch is claiming damages for personal injuries for negligent administration to her of X-ray and radium therapy under the supervision of Dr. Leo M. Abraham, Dr. Thomas R. Jenkins, Jr. and Dr. Joseph P. Tomsula and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. Mr. Burch is seeking reimbursement of medical expenses incurred and paid by him on behalf of his wife, Mrs. Burch.
“On March 19, 1959, the original petition was filed alleging that in March 1957 Mrs. Burch consulted and engaged Dr. Abraham for medical treatment; that she subsequently was referred to Dr. Jenkins for treatment; that X-ray and radium therapy was administered to her under the supervision of Dr. Abraham and Dr. Jenkins at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital; that the results of the treatment were kept from her and she first learned in June 1958 that her injuries and damages were caused by the negligence of Drs. Abraham and Jenkins and the hospital in the application of excessive X-ray and radium. It is alleged that the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company was the public liability insurer of Dr. Abraham and that the Travelers Insurance Company was the insurer of Dr. Jenkins and the hospital. Only the two insurance companies were cited as defendants. Neither Dr. Abraham nor Dr. Jenkins nor the hospital was made a defendant. They were the only doctors mentioned in the original petition.
“One supplemental petition was filed asking for the case to be tried by a jury, and on July 22, 1960, the second amended petition was filed alleging that St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company and not The Travelers Insurance Company, as originally alleged, was the insurance carrier for Dr. Jenkins, and his said insurer was made a defendant. A plea of prescription of one year was filed by St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, which plea was sustained and the suit dismissed as to that insurance company only.
“On January 17, 1964, the third amended petition was filed changing certain allegations of the original petition to say that Dr. Abraham referred plaintiff to Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula; that the X-ray and radium treatments were administered under the supervision of Dr. Abraham, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital and because of the negligence of the doctors and the hospital in specified particulars she was damaged. The original petition said she learned about her injuries and damage in June of 1958 and this allegation was not changed. In this third amended petition it is alleged that Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula and the hospital compose a partnership, but the partnership was not made a party defendant. Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tom-sula were cited as additional new defendants in this third amended petition.
“On February 21, 1964, the fourth amended petition was filed by plaintiffs impleading the alleged partnership as a party defendant on the allegation that the partnership is liable for the torts of the partners, Dr. Jenkins, Dr. Tomsula and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.
“Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula excepted to plaintiffs’ original and all the amended petitions on the ground that the cause of action set forth is prescribed by a lapse of one year from defendants’ treatment and from plaintiffs’ discovery of the condition of Mrs. Burch in June 1958.
“The only defendants' in this suit on January 17, 1964, when Dr. Jenkins and [167]*167Dr. Tomsula were first made defendants, were the public liability carrier of
Dr. Abraham and the public liability carrier of the hospital. Plaintiffs im-plead Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula as defendants over five and a half years after plaintiffs first learned of their alleged damages resulting from treatment administered nearly seven years before the citation of Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula as defendants. The time lapse is not important. It is a fundamental rule in this State that timely action against one solidary obligor interrupts the running of the liberative prescription against any other obligor who is liable in solido with the obligor against whom the action was timely brought.”

Based upon the above facts the District Court held the rule that timely action against one solidary obligor interrupts the running of the liberative prescription against any other obligor who is liable in solido with the obligor against whom the action was timely brought did not apply in this situation and assigned the following written reasons therefor, which we quote:

“Assuming there is liability on the part of Dr. Abraham, that liability, whatever it is, is solidary with his insurer, the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. Assuming there is liability on the part of the hospital, that liability, whatever it is, is solidary with its insurer, The Travelers Insurance Company. But there is no solidary liability as between the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. There is no soli-dary liability as between The Travelers Insurance Company and Dr. Abraham. It is as simple as that, according to my view.
“The reason for this is, for instance, that the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company has by its policy obligated itself to pay the debt of Dr. Abraham incurred within the coverage, but it has not obligated itself to pay the debt of the hospital, or of Dr. Jenkins or of Dr. Tomsula. Neither has The Travelers Insurance Company obligated itself to pay the liability of Dr. Abraham, or of Dr. Jenkins, or of Dr. Tomsula. This is true particularly under the allegations of the petition that Dr. Jenkins, Dr. Tomsula and the hospital are members of a partnership, the activities of which partnership and its members resulted in the alleged damages to plaintiffs. There is no evidence as to what kind of a partnership it is supposed to be, but it is safe to say that it is an ordinary partnership, so that any liability of each member would be only for a virile share. The insurer of one member is not obligated to pay any portion of the liability of another member. [LSA-] Civil Code 2091 defines an obligation in solido on the part of debtors as existing when all the debtors are obliged to the same thing. Therefore, the citation of the insurer of Dr. Abraham and of the insurer of the hospital did not interrupt the running of prescription in favor of Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Tomsula.

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Bluebook (online)
172 So. 2d 165, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burch-v-hartford-accident-indemnity-co-lactapp-1964.