Levert v. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign ex rel. Board of Trustees

857 So. 2d 611, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 2679, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2572, 2003 WL 22220188
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 26, 2003
DocketNo. 2002 CA 2679, 2002 CA 2680
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 857 So. 2d 611 (Levert v. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign ex rel. Board of Trustees) 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
Levert v. University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign ex rel. Board of Trustees, 857 So. 2d 611, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 2679, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2572, 2003 WL 22220188 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

KUHN, J.

Pursuant to these consolidated appeals, we review a judgment in which the trial court determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to resolve a dispute. The trial court also implicitly granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss by transferring plaintiffs’ suit to our sister state of Illinois. In one of the appeals, we conclude that the appeal was taken from an invalid judgment and that we have no jurisdiction to review it. In the other appeal, we address whether the trial court abused its discretion in declining to exercise jurisdiction over a sister state’s university board based on principles of interstate comity. We find that Illinois is a cooperative jurisdiction that has previously honored a sister state’s reservation of sovereign immunity by declining to exercise jurisdiction and would likely do the same if a Louisiana university board defended a suit on the basis of sovereign immunity. We likewise find that declining jurisdiction in this instance does not contravene the public or judicial policies of our state. Thus, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to exercise jurisdiction.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This appeal arises from two consolidated suits brought by plaintiffs-appellants con[614]*614cerning tickets that they ordered through the University of Illinois Athletic Ticket Office (“the Illinois Ticket Office”) for the January 1, 2002 Nokia Sugar Bowl Game. The Bowl Game featured Louisiana State University (“LSU”) versus the University of Illinois and was played in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Prior to the game, plaintiffs, most of who resided in Louisiana, realized that they might improve their chances of securing tickets for the Sugar Bowl game by attempting to purchase some of the 15,000 tickets that had been allotted to the | ¡¡University of Illinois for sale. The Illinois Ticket Office began selling these tickets during December 2001. Between approximately December 4th and December 10th, plaintiffs each ordered a number of tickets through the Illinois Ticket Office via its online website or via the telephone. With respect to the online transactions, plaintiffs alleged that the Illinois Ticket Office charged each respective purchaser’s credit or debit card and then confirmed the ticket purchase by sending a confirmation to each purchaser’s e-mail address. In the case of at least one telephone transaction, the plaintiffs-appellants assert that a ticket office representative assured the respective purchaser that the tickets would be mailed after taking his name, address, and credit card information. Several days later, the Illinois Ticket Office informed the individual plaintiffs either through an e-mail transmission or by telephone that because there was a high demand for Sugar Bowl tickets from donors of the Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund and public and student football season ticket holders, plaintiffs’ requests for Sugar Bowl tickets would not be accommodated. The Illinois Ticket Office reversed the respective credit or debit card transactions.1

On December 19, 2001, plaintiffs filed two suits that proposed the formation of a class of plaintiffs and set forth breach of contract claims against defendant- | ¿appellee, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (“the Board”).2 Martin Levert, Karen Leboef, Ann Rasmussen, and Kamron Lachney were the named plaintiffs in the suit filed first (hereinafter referred to as the “Levert” suit). Rusty Landeche, R. Bruce Macmurdo, Ricardo Torres, Jr., Henry Lazzaro, Charles S. McCowan, III, and Ellis Sehwartzenburg were the named plaintiffs in the second suit (hereinafter referred to as the “Lan-deche” suit).3 In each suit, the named plaintiffs sought mandatory injunctive relief ordering the Board to produce the Sugar Bowl tickets that each plaintiff had ordered. Alternatively, the plaintiffs prayed for compensatory damages result[615]*615ing from the Board’s alleged breach of contract.

When the suits were filed, the trial court ordered their consolidation. Thereafter, plaintiffs filed a motion to certify the suit for class action treatment, defining the proposed class as “[a]ll individuals or entities who purchased 2002 Sugar Bowl football tickets through [the Ticket Office], and have not received or have been advised by [the Ticket Office] that they will not receive their 2002 Sugar Bowl tickets.”

During a December 27, 2001 hearing, the trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion for certification but granted mandatory in-junctive relief in favor of the named | plaintiffs by awarding a specific number of tickets to each of them.4 The Board was directed to provide the named plaintiffs with a designated number of Sugar Bowl football tickets for purchase within 24 hours. Although a written judgment was not signed until after the game was held, there is no dispute that the named plaintiffs secured the tickets addressed in the ruling.

On March 8, 2002, plaintiffs in each suit filed an amending and supplemental petition. The Landeche suit was amended to substitute 6 new plaintiffs in lieu of the plaintiffs named originally.5 The Levert suit was amended to add 5 plaintiffs asserting breach of contract claims.6 Each of these plaintiffs set forth breach of contract claims based on allegations that tickets they had ordered from the Illinois Ticket Office were never received.

Thereafter, the Board filed a pleading pertaining to both suits that was entitled, “Defendant’s Exception of Lack Of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, or | (Alternative Motion to Dismiss, on Grounds of Sovereign Immunity and Comity .... ” The arguments supporting both the exception and the motion to dismiss were based on grounds of sovereign immunity and comity. The Board asserted that based on the Illinois Court of Claims Act, both the Board and the University of Illinois are arms of the State of Illinois for purposes of sovereign immunity and can only be sued in the Illinois Court of Claims.7 The Board urged that under principles of comity, the trial court should defer to Illinois’s law concerning sovereign immunity and [616]*616exclusive jurisdiction and dismiss plaintiffs’ claims. Following a hearing, the trial court orally reasoned that based on principles of comity and sovereign immunity, the remaining issues of the lawsuits should be adjudicated in Illinois’s Court of Claims. By judgment dated September 18, 2002, the trial court granted the Board’s exception as to both suits and further ordered, “Plaintiffs’ suit (sic) shall be transferred to the Illinois Court of Claims for further proceedings.” Plaintiffs in each suit have appealed this judgment, asserting that the trial court abused its discretion in: 1) finding that “principles of comity and sovereign immunity divested the Courts in Louisiana from subject matter jurisdiction,” and 2) “ ‘transferring’ this case to the Illinois Court of Claims for further proceedings.”

II. ANALYSIS

Because we do not reach the same conclusion in each suit regarding the propriety of the trial court’s judgment, we review the September 18, 2002 judgment with respect to each suit.

|7A. The Landeche Suit

(Docket Number 2002 CA 2680)

With respect to the Landeche suit, we conclude that the trial court had signed a final judgment prior to the time that it ruled on the exception and alternative motion to dismiss.

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Bluebook (online)
857 So. 2d 611, 2002 La.App. 1 Cir. 2679, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2572, 2003 WL 22220188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levert-v-university-of-illinois-at-urbanachampaign-ex-rel-board-of-lactapp-2003.