Davis v. Witt

796 So. 2d 38, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 894, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1844, 2001 WL 865369
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 1, 2001
DocketNo. 01-894
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 796 So. 2d 38 (Davis v. Witt) 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
Davis v. Witt, 796 So. 2d 38, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 894, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1844, 2001 WL 865369 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

| THIBODEAUX, Judge.

The Plaintiffs Appellees, Clifford Davis; Michael Davis; Wilford Davis; Tina Davis; Patricia Caillier; Janice Davis; Tammy Davis; Kathleen Davis; Nicole Davis; and Clement Davis, Jr., move to dismiss the appeal in the instant case on the ground that the Defendant Appellant, the State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of State Police, Troop I, failed to perfect this appeal in a timely manner. For the following reasons, we deny this motion to dismiss.

The Plaintiffs filed suit seeking damages arising out of a vehicular accident in which Clement and Mary Davis were killed. The bifurcated trial on the merits was held on September 11 through 15, 2000. The jury was assigned the duty of determining the amount of fault, if any, to assess against the State and the dollar figure of damages sustained by the Plaintiffs. A bench trial was conducted simultaneously as to the purported fault of the sheriff.

The jury returned a verdict finding that the Defendant, Charles Witt, who was the truck driver involved in the accident, was the sole cause of this wreck and assessed no fault on the part of the State. The trial judge, however, found that the sheriff was twenty percent (20%) at fault. A judgment was signed by the trial court on November 15, 2000, in accordance with the jury’s finding of no fault on the part of the State and the trial court’s finding of twenty percent liability on the part of the sheriff. The record reflects that notice of this judgment was mailed to all parties on November 28, 2000.

Although filed prior to the signing of the written judgment discussed above, on September 26, 2000, the Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Judgment | Notwithstanding the Verdict or, in the Alternative, Motion for New Trial. The motion asked that the [40]*40trial court find that the jury erred in failing to assess the State with any liability in the cause of this accident and asked that the damage award be increased. The trial court held a hearing on this motion on December 5, 2000. Subsequently, on January 8, 2001, the trial court entered a minute entry in which it ruled that the jury had erred in assessing no fault to the State. Therefore, the trial court granted the JNOV and found that the State was twenty percent (20%) at fault in causing this accident. The trial court ruled that the damage award was sufficient. Finally, the trial court ruled that in the event this court reversed the JNOV, then the motion for a new trial was granted.

The sheriff filed a Motion for Suspensive Appeal on February 14, 2001, which was signed by the trial court on February 16. The State filed a Motion for Suspensive Appeal on February 23, 2001, which was signed by the trial court on April 16, 2001.

Also on April 16, 2001, the trial court signed a judgment in conformity with the minute entry granting the JNOV and alternatively granting the new trial. Notice of the signing of this judgment was mailed to all parties on April 25, 2001. Then, on June 27, 2001, the State filed its second Motion for Appeal, which was granted by the trial court on June 28, 2001.

The record in this case was lodged in this court on July 11, 2001. On July 13, 2001, the Plaintiffs filed the Motion to Dismiss under consideration. The Plaintiffs’ motion only addresses the appeal filed by the State. No memorandum in support of this motion was filed by the Plaintiffs.

| gAt the outset, this court must determine the effect, if any, of the Plaintiffs’ premature filing of their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial filed on September 26, 2000. The time for filing a motion for new trial is set forth in La.Code Civ.P. art. 1974, and the time for filing a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict is provided by La.Code Civ.P. art. 1811. The former article reads, “The delay for applying for a new trial shall be seven days, exclusive of legal holidays. The delay for applying for a new trial commences to run on the day after the clerk has mailed, or the sheriff has served, the notice of judgment as required by Article 1913.” The pertinent portion of the latter article states, “Not later than seven days, exclusive of legal holidays, after the clerk has mailed or the sheriff has served the notice of judgment under Article 1913, a party may move for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict.” The 1984 comments on the amendments to Article 1811 that year explain in pertinent part that the delays for applying for JNOV were being changed to exclude the computation of holidays with the specific purpose of making the delays for applying for JNOV identical to those for applying for a new trial.

In the instant case, the motion for JNOV and new trial was filed prior to the signing of the written judgment sought to be revised in the Plaintiffs’ motion and was, consequently, filed prematurely. In determining the timeliness of an appeal in light of a prematurely filed motion for new trial in Deville v. Babineaux, 396 So.2d 978 (La.App. 3 Cir.1981), this court held that the motion for new trial filed prior to the signing of the written, final judgment had no effect on the delays for seeking an appeal from the later signed final | Judgment. The procedural facts involved in Deville were that the trial judge had issued written reasons for sustaining the defendant’s peremptory exception of no right of action and for dismissing the plaintiffs action on June 30, 1980. The plaintiff filed a motion for new trial on July 7, 1980; however, the trial court did not [41]*41sign the written judgment in conformity with the reasons for judgment until July 18, 1980, with the sheriffs office serving notice of the judgment on July 22, 1980. The trial court proceeded to deny the motion for new trial on November 12, 1980. The plaintiff then filed a motion for appeal on January 19,1981.

In finding that the appeal was untimely perfected, this court stated:

This court in Bordelon v. Dauzat, 389 So.2d 820 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1980) stated that an application for new trial filed prior to the signing of a final judgment was without effect. In doing so, we cited the case of Chamblee v. Chamblee, 340 So.2d 378 (La.App. 4th Cir.1976) which is factually similar to the present case.
In Chamblee, supra, the trial judge denied an application for a new trial on the same day he signed the final judgment which was filed seven days prior thereto. The court found the application for a new trial to be:
“premature, not timely, and, thus, without legal effect. Hence, this matter falls under subsection (1) of Art. 2087. Accordingly, under LSA C.C.P. Art. 1974, the delay for a new trial commences to run on the day after the judgment was signed ...”
Here, the trial judge signed the final judgment prior to denying plaintiffs application for a new trial. However, the application for a new trial was still filed prematurely. Thus, it could have no effect.
Since the application for a new trial was ineffective, the delay for filing an application for a new trial began running the day after the sheriff served notice of judgment, viz. on July 23, 1980. LSA-C.C.P. Article 1974(2). The delay for applying for |fia new trial is seven days exclusive of legal holidays. LSA-C.C.P. Article 1974(1). A devolutive appeal must be taken within 60 days of the expiration of the delay for applying for a new trial. LSA-C.C.P. Article 2087(1).

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Bluebook (online)
796 So. 2d 38, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 894, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1844, 2001 WL 865369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-witt-lactapp-2001.