Chaudoir v. Chaudoir

430 So. 2d 280
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 13, 1983
Docket82-308
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 430 So. 2d 280 (Chaudoir v. Chaudoir) 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
Chaudoir v. Chaudoir, 430 So. 2d 280 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

430 So.2d 280 (1983)

Nora Jean Hamilton CHAUDOIR, Defendant-In-Rule-Appellant,
v.
Richard E. CHAUDOIR, Plaintiff-In-Rule-Appellee.

No. 82-308.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 13, 1983.

MacAllyn J. Achee, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.

James C. Downs of Downs & Downs, J. Marc Lampert, Alexandria, for defendant-appellee.

Before FORET, CUTRER and DOUCET, JJ.

*281 FORET, Judge.

Nora Jean Hamilton Chaudoir (Mrs. Chaudoir) filed a rule against Richard E. Chaudoir (Mr. Chaudoir) to make past-due alimony and child support payments executory, and for an increase in the amount of child support fixed by a judgment signed on July 2, 1975, decreeing an absolute divorce between the parties. Mr. Chaudoir also filed a rule against Mrs. Chaudoir to terminate alimony fixed by the divorce judgment, and to fix certain visitation rights with the parties' minor child, Elizabeth Jean Chaudoir. Both rules were tried together by consent of the parties.

The trial court, after hearing the rules, rendered judgment on November 30, 1981, in favor of Mrs. Chaudoir, ordering Mr. Chaudoir to pay her the sum of $9,300, representing past-due alimony and child support through August 1, 1981, and amending the above mentioned divorce judgment to increase the amount of child support to $350 per month commencing August 1, 1981. The trial court further rendered judgment in favor of Mr. Chaudoir, amending the divorce judgment to terminate alimony for Mrs. Chaudoir, effective August 1, 1981, and awarding Mr. Chaudoir certain visitation rights with the child.

Mrs. Chaudoir appeals from the trial court's judgment, contending that it erroneously failed to award her legal interest from the date each alimony and child support payment was due but not paid. In response, Mr. Chaudoir filed a "MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL AND ALTERNATIVELY, ANSWER TO THE APPEAL" in this Court. In his motion, Mr. Chaudoir contended that Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal had been filed after the delays for taking an appeal had expired.

FACTS

This Court, in Chaudoir v. Chaudoir, 421 So.2d 256 (La.App. 3 Cir.1982), rendered judgment, finding that Mrs. Chaudoir had failed to timely perfect her appeal and dismissed it. Mrs. Chaudoir subsequently submitted a petition for rehearing, alleging that this Court had erred in dismissing her appeal. A rehearing was granted and, in Chaudoir v. Chaudoir, supra, on rehearing, 421 So.2d 257 (La.App. 3 Cir.1982), we held that:

"In our initial review of this appeal, we failed to recognize that one of the issues on appeal was the trial court's failure to grant legal interest on the award of past due alimony and child support.
`A rule to fix past due alimony is not a "judgment awarding ... alimony" within the contemplation of LSA-C.C.P. Art. 3943.' Mertens v. Mertens, 308 So.2d 506 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1975).
The appellant timely filed the appeal under the provisions of C.C.P. Art. 2087 which provides a sixty day limitation. Therefore, the appeal from that portion of the judgment not awarding legal interest on the past due alimony and child support is hereby reinstated. The dismissal as to all other elements of the appeal is affirmed at appellant's cost." (Emphasis ours.)

Meanwhile, Mr. Chaudoir filed another motion to dismiss Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal in the trial court, alleging that she had failed to timely pay the estimated costs of her appeal. The trial court, after hearing the motion to dismiss, rendered judgment in favor of Mrs. Chaudoir, denying the motion. The trial court further rendered judgment against Mrs. Chaudoir's attorney, assessing a $50 fine against him as provided by law. See LSA-C.C.P. Article 2126.

Mr. Chaudoir appeals from the trial court's judgment contending that it erred in failing to dismiss Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal. Mr. Chaudoir also filed a "MOTION TO CONSOLIDATE APPEALS" in this Court, seeking to consolidate his appeal with that portion of Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal that was reinstated.

MOTION TO CONSOLIDATE APPEALS

The questions involved in these appeals are intimately connected, and, for the interest and convenience of all parties concerned, we think the appeals should be heard and disposed of at one and the same *282 hearing. For this purpose, we have ordered the appeals consolidated. We know of no law or principle, and have been referred to none, which forbids this method of procedure. Nor can we conceive of any injury that Mrs. Chaudoir may suffer by reason of the consideration and disposition by this Court of both appeals simultaneously. See Louque v. Hercules Oil Company, 170 La. 355, 127 So. 866 (La.1929).

ISSUES[1]

(1) Whether the trial court erred in denying Mr. Chaudoir's motion to dismiss Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal on the grounds that she failed to pay the estimated costs of her appeal timely; and,
(2) Whether the trial court erred in failing to award Mrs. Chaudoir legal interest on the amount of alimony and child support it found to be past-due.

MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL

Mr. Chaudoir contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss Mrs. Chaudoir's appeal[2]. He argues that Mrs. Chaudoir's failure to pay the estimated costs of her appeal until approximately 3½ months after said costs were due constitutes more than a mere tardiness, and to allow the appeal would be counter to legislative intent and would make appeals endless. He further argues that plaintiff's counsel at the time was her attorney of record, and that his actions taken with respect to the trial, trial notices, timely filing of documents, etc., are to be imputed to her as if she had personally done them.

LSA-C.C.P. Article 2126 provides, in pertinent part, that:

"If the appellant fails to pay the estimated costs, or the difference between the estimated costs and the actual costs, within the time specified, the trial judge, upon motion by the clerk or by any party, and after hearing, may:
(1) Extend the time within which the costs may be paid, not to exceed thirty days with or without penalty upon appellant or his attorney; or
(2) Impose a fine, not to exceed one hundred dollars, upon the appellant, or his attorney, or both; or
(3) Dismiss the appeal.
If the appellant pays the costs required by this Article, the appeal may not be dismissed because of the passage of the return day without an extension being obtained or because of an untimely lodging of the record on appeal.
Amended by Acts 1976, No. 708, § 2; Acts 1977, No. 198, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 1978; Acts 1978, No. 449, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1979." (Emphasis ours.)

Williams v. Aetna Insurance Company, 368 So.2d 1252 (La.App. 4 Cir.1979), presented the first opportunity for appellate consideration of a dismissal of an appeal based on the late payment of the estimated *283 costs of appeal after expiration of the delay period for payment provided by LSA-C.C.P. Article 2126, as amended by Act # 198 of 1977. Williams stated that:

"It is evident that the 1977 amendment to C.C.P. art. 2126, which permits a fine as an alternative to dismissal of the appeal, was designed to provide for flexibility in penalties in recognition of the public policy of this state that appeals are favored and should be maintained whenever possible.

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Bluebook (online)
430 So. 2d 280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chaudoir-v-chaudoir-lactapp-1983.