Langlinais v. Guillotte

407 So. 2d 1215
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided December 14, 1981·No. 81-C-1712·Published·Cited by 32 cases

Opinion

407 So.2d 1215 (1981)

Brenda Ann LANGLINAIS
v.
Richard GUILLOTTE, et al.

No. 81-C-1712.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 14, 1981.

William R. Collins, New Iberia, for plaintiff-applicant.

Alex A. Lopresto, III, Roy, Forrest & Lopresto, Ltd., New Iberia, Anthony J. Fontana, Jr., Theall & Fontana, Abbeville, for defendant-respondent.

CALOGERO, Justice.

The issue presented for our consideration is whether a timely filed tort suit against a person in his individual capacity as the owner and purported operator of a negligently driven vehicle, and against his insurer, interrupts prescription on a claim asserted by plaintiff in an amended petition against the same timely sued defendant for his vicarious liability, and against that same defendant as administrator of his minor daughter's estate, the amended petition asserting that the daughter, not the father, was in fact the driver of the vehicle.

On February 22, 1977, plaintiff, Brenda Ann Langlinais, was injured in an automobile accident when the car she was driving was struck from the rear. In plaintiff's original petition, filed February 17, 1978, she alleged that defendant, Richard Guillotte, had negligently driven the rear-ending vehicle at the time of the accident. She also contended that Richard Guillotte was the owner of the vehicle and that it was insured by the co-defendant State Farm Insurance Company. Defendants filed an answer to the petition on December 6, 1978, generally denying the allegations. On November *1216 7, 1979, State Farm filed a motion in the trial court and secured an order permitting it to deposit the policy limits ($10,000.00) in the registry of the court.

On May 27, 1980 defendant Richard Guillotte filed a motion for summary judgment with attached affidavits, an exception of no cause of action and an exception of res judicata, alleging among other things, that plaintiff's petition did not assert a cause of action against him because he was not the driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident. By affidavit, defendant alleged that his minor daughter, Katherine Guillotte, was driving the automobile at the time of the accident.

On that same day, plaintiff filed a pleading entitled "First Supplemental and Amending Petition" in which she asked to be permitted to amend her original petition to assert that defendant's minor daughter, Katherine, had negligently operated the offending vehicle and to name Richard Guillotte in his capacity as administrator of the child's estate. In response to this amendment to plaintiff's petition, defendant filed an exception of prescription claiming that the so called amendment to plaintiff's petition actually stated a new cause of action against him and added a new defendant (Richard Guillotte in his capacity as administrator of his minor daughter's estate); and since the amended petition was filed more than a year after the accident, these claims had prescribed.

The trial judge sustained defendant's exception of prescription stating that he felt bound to do so by the prior jurisprudence, although he conceded that defendant here actually had adequate notice of the claims by virtue of the original petition. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court ruling. 398 So.2d 106 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1981). Upon application by plaintiff, this Court granted writs to review the lower court rulings.

Generally, tort actions prescribe one year from the date of the offense or quasi-offense. La.C.C. art. 3536. The burden of proof rests upon the party pleading prescription. Pearson v. Hartford, 281 So.2d 724 (La.1973). Defendant Guillotte contends that the amended petition added a new cause of action and since it was filed some three years after the accident, it had prescribed. Absent the interruption of a running of the one year prescriptive period, defendant's contention would be correct.

The question presented is whether the timely filed petition against Richard Guillotte in his individual capacity as the alleged owner/operator of the automobile interrupted the prescription which might otherwise have run against his minor daughter's estate, and against him as pertains to his individual vicarious liability for his minor daughter's tort.

Plaintiff contends that under La.C.C.P. art. 1153 the demand in the supplemental and amending petition relates back to the date of the filing of the original petition, and that therefore prescription is not a bar to the demand. La.C.C.P. art. 1153 provides:

When the action or defense asserted in the amended petition or answer arises out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the filing of the original pleading.

Recently, in Baker v. Payne & Keller of La., Inc., 390 So.2d 1272 (La.1980) this Court was confronted with an argument similar to that urged upon us by plaintiff here. In Baker the plaintiff filed her original wrongful death action against her deceased husband's employer, Payne & Keller of La., Inc., and its insurer, Maryland Casualty Company, alleging that the accident was caused by the employer's failure to provide a safe place to work, safety procedures and medical and emergency treatment. The employer excepted to plaintiff's suit asserting that plaintiff's exclusive remedy was under the worker's compensation act. The employer's exception was sustained, the employer was dismissed from the suit, and plaintiff was granted fifteen days to amend and state a cause of action against Maryland. After the one year prescriptive period *1217 had run, plaintiff filed her amended petition naming Mr. Payne and Mr. Keller individually, as well as three other employees of the Payne and Keller company, and alleging that Maryland Casualty Co. was the liability insurer of these five persons. It was alleged that the accident was caused by the fault of these individuals.

The Court in Baker held that the amendment to the timely filed petition related back to the date the original pleading was filed. The Court stated, "[i]t is well established that Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1153 permits amendment despite technical prescriptive bars where the original pleading gives fair notice of the general fact situation out of which the amended claim or defense arises." We further held that "[w]here there is `some factual connexity between the original and amended assertions, together with some identity of interest between the original and the supplemental party' amendment should be allowed. 43 Tul.L.Rev. 211, 234."

Likewise, for the reasons stated below, we find that the original pleading did give fair notice of the general fact situation out of which the amended claim arose, and that there is sufficient factual connexity between the original and amended assertions, together with some identity of interest between the original and the supplemental party, such that the amendment should be allowed to relate back to the date of the filing of the original petition and should not be barred by prescription.

Plaintiff's original petition gave Mr. Guillotte and his insurer notice of the fact that plaintiff was seeking to recover from them for injuries she suffered as a result of an automobile accident in which she was rear-ended on February 22, 1977 by an automobile owned by defendant Guillotte and insured by defendant State Farm. In the original petition plaintiff mistakenly alleged that Richard Guillotte was operating the automobile at the time of the accident. In the amended petition, plaintiff alleged that Mr.

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