Cryer v. Cryer

70 So. 2d 747, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 617
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 29, 1954
DocketNo. 3781
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 70 So. 2d 747 (Cryer v. Cryer) 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
Cryer v. Cryer, 70 So. 2d 747, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 617 (La. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

This suit has grown out of a former litigation between the same parties, which' prior suit is entitled “John P. Cryer v. J. W. Cryer.” See.Cryer v. Cryer, La.App., 44 So.2d 517.

In the former suit the cause was remanded to the lower court and the district court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant who is plaintiff herein, dissolving the temporary restraining order issued therein, reserving to the present plaintiff the right to seek damages which he might have sustained by reason of the wrongful issuance of the restraining order.

The present suit on appeal was filed June 30, 1951 against the principal and the surety on the bond given in the former suit wherein the temporary restraining order was issued. Herein the plaintiff seeks damages he claims to have suffered by the wrongful issuance of the temporary restraining order. Exceptions of mis-joinder, improper cumulation, of .action, amended exceptions of mis.-joinder, exceptions to the jurisdiction rationae personae and rationae materia, , exceptions . of prematurity, exception to the citation, and exception of no cause of action were filed and overruled. A plea of prescription as well as a plea of estoppel were filed and referred to the' merits. Answer was then filed and it was specially plead that the plaintiff in the present suit, defendant in the former suit, had already consummated the actions which the: ■restraining order purported to prevent him from doing, and consequently he was not damaged.

A trial upon the merits resulted in a judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $425, with legal interest thereon from judicial demand until paid, together with all costs.

From this judgment the defendants have appealed.

The first exception filed herein was one of misjoinder of parties defendant upon the theory that plaintiff’s petition failed to show the defendants had a common interest; that the suit against John P. Cryer constituted a tort action, while that against J. S. Pickett was ex contractu. The petition sets forth that a bond was given by John P. Cryer to support a temporary restraining order and that Pickett was surety thereon. The bond was conditioned upon the obligation to pay J. W. Cryer, plaintiff in this suit, any damages he might recover against John P. Cryer for the wrongful issuance of the restraining order. To hold that the surety upon this bond could not be joined in this suit wo.uld destroy the very purpose of the bond, and consequently this exception was properly overruled by the trial court.

This first exception was filed on July 23, 1951 and was taken up on September 18, 1951. On October 15, 1951, the same day the exception of misjoinder was overruled, further exceptions of improper cumulation of actions, supplemental and amended exceptions of misjoinder of parties defendant, exception to the jurisdiction of the court rationae materia, exception to the jurisdic[749]*749tion of the court rationae personae, exception of prematurity and exception to citation were filed. On February 18, 1952 written objections were filed by the plaintiff to the taking up or considering of all these latter exceptions upon the basis that they were dilatory and could not1 be allowed Unless pleaded in limine litis. The trial court, on April 22, 1952, sustained the objections upon the basis that all of these latter exceptions were not timely filed and could .not be considered.

Article 333 of the Code of Practice provides :

“Method and time of pleading. — It is a rule which governs in all cases of exceptions, except in such as relate to the absolute incompetency of the judge before whom the suit is brought, that they must be pleaded specially in limine litis, before issue joined, otherwise they shall not be admitted.
“Hereafter no dilatory exceptions shall' be allowed in any case after a judgment by default has been taken; and in every case they must be pleaded in limine litis and at one and the same time, otherwise they shall not be admitted; nor shall such exceptions hereafter be allowed in any answer in any cause.
“No dilatory exception shall be allowed in any pending case unless the same shall be’ filed within ten days from the time this Act becomes effective. (As amended, Acts 1936, No. 124, § 1).”

Article 357 of the Code of Practice states:

“Cause at issue, when. — The cause is at issue when the defendant has answered, either by confessing or denying the. facts set forth in the petition, or by pleading such dilatory or peremptory exceptions as he is bound to plead in limine litis, pursuant to the provisions of this Code.”

The case of Strudwick Funeral Home v. Crawford, La.App., 35 So.2d 838, 840 holds:

“The failure to assert a dilatory plea before joinder of issue constitutes a waiver of the defendant’s rights to maintain the plea.”

The case of Diamond T. Motor Trucks, Inc. v. Heck, La.App., 13 So.2d 512, 515, states:

“Issue is joined by the filing of any exception or plea which is required to be filed in limine litis. It therefore follows that'issue is joined by the filing of a plea of non-joinder.” , .

All of the exceptions covered by the written objections are dilatory ones and certainly issue is joined by a plea of mis-joinder as well as a plea of non-joinder. Consequently, the trial court ruled correctly when the objection was sustained.

The defendants argue that their exception of no cause or right of action is based upon the fact that the last extension of the temporary restraining order expired August 28, 1949 while the motion to dissolve it was not filed until September 1; 1949; that according to the pleadings in plaintiff’s petition the restraining order had passed out of existence. The fact remains that the petition sounds in damages for tbs wrongful issuance of the temporary restraining order and discloses a clear cause of action as well as a right of action. In fact the trial Court sustained an exception of no cause or right of action to the rule to dissolve the temporary restraining order, and this Court of Appeals reversed that judgment remanding the cause for further proceedings, stating the defendant was entitled to have his day in Court, and if the temporary restraining order was illegally issued then he couid, ’ in a separate proceeding, sue for damages he might have sustained on account of unlawful issuance of the restraining order. See Cryer v. Cryer, La.App., 44 So.2d 517.

The exception of no right and no cause of action was properly overruled.

After all of the other exceptions were overruled a plea of prescription was filed, which was referred to the merits. After a trial upon the merits was set, a plea of estoppel was filed. This, too, was referred to the merits, and in the answer it was especially pleaded that at the time the [750]*750temporary restraining order was issued the defendant, plaintiff in this suit, had already consummated the actions he was sought to be restrained from committing, and consequently he had not been damaged by the issuance of the order.

The defendants in this cause maintain that in Cryer v.

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116 So. 2d 872 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1959)
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Cryer v. Cryer
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Bluebook (online)
70 So. 2d 747, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cryer-v-cryer-lactapp-1954.