Lally v. Taylor

117 So. 2d 602, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 855
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 1, 1960
DocketNo. 21319
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 117 So. 2d 602 (Lally v. Taylor) 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
Lally v. Taylor, 117 So. 2d 602, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 855 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

JANVIER, Judge.

On December 26, 1952, Joseph J. Lally, while a passenger in a taxicab of Checker [603]*603Cab Company of New Orleans, Inc., operated by James F. Jones, sustained physical injuries when that cab came into collision with.another taxicab of Nola Cabs, Inc., which was operated by Harry C. Taylor.

Alleging that the accident had been caused by negligence of both taxicab drivers, the said Lally, on December 17, 1953, brought this suit in the First City Court of New Orleans against both taxicab companies and also against Taylor, the operator of one of the taxicabs. He prayed for solidary judgment against the three defendants in the sum of $950.

On January 4, 1954, Checker Cab Company of New Orleans, Inc., filed exceptions and an answer. At that stage of the proceedings neither Nola Cabs nor Taylor made an appearance. The matter had not come to trial and there had been no judgment rendered when, on June 24, 1954, the plaintiff, Joseph J. Lally, died, leaving a widow, Mrs. Elsie Shelley Lally, and three children, one of whom, Joseph Dennis Lally, was a minor. In the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans the succession of said Lally was judicially opened and the widow was recognized as administra-trix. On May 4, 1956, there was judgment discharging the administratrix and sending the three children into possession of the estate of the decedent. Thereafter on October 15, 1958, which was more than four years after the death of Lally, the said widow, Mrs. Elsie Shelley Lally, styling herself as surviving spouse in community and appearing in her own behalf and on behalf of the minor son, Joseph Dennis Lally, filed in this suit which had been filed by the decedent a petition in which she alleged that she, as widow in community, and the said minor were entitled as plaintiffs to proceed with the said suit which had been filed by the deceased, Joseph J. Lally. To this petition all defendants filed pleas of prescription of one year and the defendants, Nola Cabs, Inc., and Harry C. Taylor, also filed answer. The other defendant, Checker Cab Company of New Orleans, Inc., as already stated, had filed answer previously.

There was judgment dismissing the suit as against all three defendants and Mrs. Lally has appealed on her own behalf and in behalf of the minor.

The sole question presented is whether or not the widow and the minor child, having allowed more than one year to elapse after the death of Lally before attempting to make themselves parties plaintiff, have lost such right as they may otherwise have had.

Counsel for the defendants rely on what they term the plea of prescription of one year, which more properly should be termed a plea of peremption. They rely on that part of Article 2315 of our LSA-Civil Code which provides that, in case of death, the action “shall survive * * * for the space of one year from the death * *

Counsel for the widow and the minor child, on the other hand, treat the matter as though the only question is whether at the death of Lally the action abated, and they have made an exhaustive study of the statutes and jurisprudence on the question of when a suit, as a result of the death of the plaintiff, abates. However, they have apparently failed to note the distinction between an action which is heritable and one which is purely personal, and they have also failed to note that the real contention is not that the action abated as a result of the death, but that peremption has resulted from failure to appear within the time prescribed.

Counsel especially fail to note that it is not the contention of defendants that the action was abated by the death of Lally. It is conceded that that action did not automatically abate when Lally died. All that counsel for defendants say is that the death of Lally before he had obtained judgment did not convert the action, which was purely personal, into one which was heritable and that, therefore, since the action which was personal to the original plaintiff and is still purely personal to the new plaintiffs was originally authorized by LSA-Civil Code, Article 2315, it is still controlled by the provisions of that article and that ac[604]*604cordingly in order that the new plaintiffs be permitted to proceed with that suit, they were.under the necessity of making themselves parties within one year of the death of the original plaintiff.

Thus the real question which is before us is not whether the action brought by Lally abated at his death, but whether it is controlled by Article 2315 of the LSA-Civil Code as it was controlled when it was filed.

Since there has been no judgment, no property right in favor of Lally came into being and therefore no heritable right in favor of Lally passed to his heirs. Castelluccio v. Cloverland Dairy Products Co., 165 La. 606, 115 So. 796.

Counsel for plaintiffs confidently point to Act 59 of 1954 which amends LSA-R.S. 13:3349 and Act 57 which expressly amends Article 21 of our Code of Practice, and which is in effect a reenactment of Article 361 of the Code of Practice and they insist that the language of those statutes makes it imperative that we recognize that not only did the action not abate at the death of Lally, but that, as a result of those statutes, the present plaintiffs were automatically and by operation of law substituted for the original plaintiff and that therefore, as automatically substituted plaintiffs, they were under no necessity of filing any appearance within the year which followed the death of Lally, and cannot be deprived of their rights except possibly by failure to prosecute within five years.

Our Supreme Court and other appellate courts in earlier cases have considered such a question and have given careful study to the wording of the codal articles which are involved, to-wit Article 21 of the Code of Practice, Article 361 of the same Code, and Article 2315 of the LSA-Civil Code and LSA-R.S. 13:3349, before the amendments which resulted from Acts 57 and 59 of 1954.

Referring to the non-abatement statute— LSA-R.S. 13:3349, which was in force prior to the amendment of 1954, the Supreme Court in McConnell v. Webb, 226 La. 385, 76 So.2d 405, 409, said:

“* * * The statute no doubt may have its proper application in all other actions but it cannot be held to have effected a change in the rights and obligations of parties arising under substantive law and sought to be enforced in actions that are strictly personal.”

The substantive law referred to is Article 2315 of the LSA-Civil Code, and what the Court held was that the provisions of the Revised Statutes did not, in an action brought under that article, eliminate the-requirement that, at the death of the original plaintiff, the provisions of the article-should remain effective. The fact of the-matter is that, as shown in Miller v. American Mutual Liability Insurance Company,, infra, the one-year provision of the article is a peremption as a result of which, at the expiration of one year from the death,, the right of the survivors terminated as a. matter of law and nothing that they could do thereafter brought that right back into-existence. The Court quoted from 13 Tulane Law Review, page 39, as follows:

“* * * A period of peremption admits of no interruption or suspensions. The performance of the required act must be accomplished within-the specified time at the peril of the party whose duty it is to perform such-act. A period of prescription differs-in that it may be suspended or interrupted for various reasons.

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Bluebook (online)
117 So. 2d 602, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 855, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lally-v-taylor-lactapp-1960.