Labouisse v. Koppel

229 So. 2d 161, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5691
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 25, 1969
DocketNo. 4038
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 229 So. 2d 161 (Labouisse v. Koppel) 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
Labouisse v. Koppel, 229 So. 2d 161, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5691 (La. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinions

OPINION

REGAN, Judge.

The plaintiff, Carolyn Gay Labouisse, filed this suit against the defendant, Har-wood Koppel, endeavoring to have the defendant adjudicated an ineligible and unqualified candidate for the office of Councilman of District B of the City of New Orleans predicated on the hypothesis that he lacked the proper residence requirements. The plaintiff, who received the third largest number of votes in the first primary seeks to be declared the proper candidate to oppose the leading candidate, Eddie Sapir, in the second Democratic Primary election scheduled to occur on December 13, 1969. Plaintiff, in the alternative seeks to have the entire first primary election for councilman of District B which occurred on November 8, 1969, declared null and void and requests that we order that a new primary election be called for that office.

Eddie Sapir, who received a plurality of votes in the first primary election, filed a petition of intervention endeavoring to have the defendant declared ineligible and disqualified as a candidate in either the first or second Democratic Primary elections. The intervenor further sought judgment against the plaintiff, declaring her ineligible to face him in the second primary, thereby establishing him as the [163]*163nominee of the Democratic Party for the office of Councilman for District B in the general election scheduled to occur on April 7, 1970.

The defendant answered and generally denied the pertinent allegations of the plaintiff’s petition. In addition, he pleaded the exceptions of prematurity, no right or cause of action, lack of jurisdiction rationae materiae, non-joinder of parties defendant, and a plea of estoppel.

From a judgment maintaining the defendant’s exception to the jurisdiction of the court rationae materiae and his exception of no right of action, both the plaintiff and the intervenor have prosecuted this appeal.

The record discloses that in the first Democratic Primary held on November 8, 1969, for the office of Councilman of District B of the City of New Orleans, no candidate received a majority of votes. Eddie Sapir, the incumbent, finished first, followed by the defendant and then by the plaintiff herein, who finished third. Thus, plaintiff attacks the qualifications of the defendant in an effort to be placed in the second primary against the incumbent and front-runner, Sapir, in the place of Koppel.

The trial judge thoroughly analyzed both the facts and the law applicable to this case in his written reasons for judgment, which, in our opinion, encompasses the issues so fully, insofar as it maintains the exceptions to the jurisdiction of the court, that we adopt them as our own.

“Plaintiff contends that the defendant is not qualified to hold the office which he seeks and that, therefore, if elected, he may not be able to serve as councilman.

“The election which was held on November 8th and the election which will be held on December 13th, are primary elections, which, in the instant case, are held under the auspices of the Democratic political party, and hence are governed by the provisions of the Articles of the Revised Statutes governing the holding of primary elections.

“While it has been repeatedly held that the courts of this state have jurisdiction in matters involving the proper administration of the Primary Law by the officials charged with its execution, and that mandamus will lie to compel the performance of a ministerial duty imposed by the Primary Law (and an injunction will issue to restrain an attempted act in violation of its provisions), in State [ex rel. Rees] vs Foster, [111 La. 1087] 36 So. 200, the Supreme Court held that the provision in the Constitution of 1898 (the same as now contained in the Constitution of 1921) granting certain authority to the courts did not include the question of party nominations, which the Court said ‘must be determined by the party itself or by certain public officials as provided by the Statute.’

“Revised Statutes Title 18, Section 307, which followed earlier statutory provisions, enacted after the decision in the Hall vs Godchaux case,1 clearly defines the procedure to be followed in contesting the eligibility of a candidate to seek public office. Under the provisions thereof, any qualified elector has the right to question or object to the candidacy of any other person seeking to be a candidate in such primary election. The objection, however, must be filed within five days after the last day upon which notification of intention to become a candidate may be filed. If a party feels aggrieved by any decision of the Committee before whom the objection was heard, then, in that event, appeal may be had to a court of competent jurisdiction for determination of the correctness of such decision.

“There is, however, no provision which gives jurisdiction' to this Court once the Democratic Committee certifies a candidate as authorized to run in a primary election called by the Democratic political party, unless the Committee has failed to perform a ministerial duty. The Supreme [164]*164Court so held in the case LeBlanc [Le Blanc] vs Hoffman [Hoffmann], 175 La. 517, 143 So. 393, and, ever since that decision, the courts have uniformly held that all objections to the qualifications of a candidate in a primary election must conform with the provisions of LSA-R.S. 18:307, and that if they do not, the court is without jurisdiction to entertain the proceedings.

“While the case of O’Keefe vs Burke, 78 So.2d 161, 226 La. 1026, is cited to indicate a contrary view taken by our Supreme Court, following the many decisions holding as above stated, that case must be distinguished from the instant case in that the O’Keefe case was a contest brought about after the election which determined the party nominee. Ir. the O’Keefe case the final Democratic election had been held, and Mr. Burke, having been named by the Democratic party as its nominee— and there apparently being no other candidates, either independent or bearing other political party labels — was, in effect, elected. Hence, the real question presented to the Court was the qualification of Mr. Burke to take the office to which he had been elected.

“Prior to the decision in the O’Keefe vs Burke case, in the case of Blessing vs Levy, 214 La. 856, 39 So.2d 84 (in which it was contended that Blessing did not have the constitutional requirements to hold the office to which he was elected), although the issue was presented in the form of an “Intrusion into Office” proceeding, and the matter determined as such, the Court, with Justice McCaleb (who dissented in the O’Keefe vs Burke case) as the organ of the Court, said:

‘It is apt to observe that, if appellant believed that appellee was ineligible to hold the office of Judge of the Juvenile Court, she could have tested his qualifications before the Parish Committee and the Courts under the Section 28 of Act 46 of 1940 (Now LSA-R.S. 18:307), the primary law. Having elected not to exert this right, her belated complaint cannot now be entertained * * *’ (Emphasis by this Court).

“In the instant case, no one has been named as the nominee of the Democratic party. The Democratic party has merely held that Mr. Sapir and Mr.

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Heaslip v. Treen
318 So. 2d 95 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1975)
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256 So. 2d 494 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
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Labouisse v. Koppel
229 So. 2d 350 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
229 So. 2d 161, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/labouisse-v-koppel-lactapp-1969.