Martin v. Garlotte

248 So. 2d 37, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6278
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 19, 1971
DocketNo. 8332
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 248 So. 2d 37 (Martin v. Garlotte) 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
Martin v. Garlotte, 248 So. 2d 37, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6278 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

TUCKER, Judge.

ON MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL

Here the plaintiff sued for herself and as natural tutrix for her four minor children for the death of her husband, killed by another officer, while decedent was employed as a police officer by the town of Franklin, Louisiana, and verdict was rendered by a jury awarding her individually the sum of $88,000.00 and as natural tutrix, the sum of $110,000.00 against defendants, Joseph Garlotte, Chief of Police of the Town of Franklin, and Travelers Insurance Co., insurer of the Town of Franklin.

From this judgment defendants filed a petition for appeal which was granted and made returnable June 26, 1970. Prior to the expiration of the original return date the Clerk of Court for the Sixteenth Judicial District filed a motion and was granted an extension of the return date to September 26, 1970, inasmuch as the record for appeal was not yet completed and ready for lodging.

By September 3, 1970, the record was completed, and appellants’ counsel was informed of this fact on September 4, 1970. A controversy as to costs ensued between the clerk of court and appellants, which was resolved and payment of all costs made to the Clerk of Court on September [39]*3928, 1970. Immediately after costs were paid, the Clerk of Court mailed the record, prepaid, to the Court of Appeal, where it was received on September 30, 1970.

A motion to dismiss the appeal was filed by appellees on October 1, 1970, on the basis of the appeal’s having been filed too late caused by appellants’ failure to pay costs timely. Defendant-appellants answered, saying that inasmuch as September 26 was a legal holiday, filing on the next legal day, i. e., September 28, 1970, was timely (C.C.P. sec. 5059). They argued further that mailing the record on September 28 satisfied requirements for “lodging” the record in the Court of Appeal as set forth in C.C.P. arts. 2126-2127, as well as requirements of Rule I, sec. 6 of the Uniform Rules for the Court of Appeal and L.R.S. 13:4445 which speak of “transmitting” the record. They alleged further that when a record is actually lodged in the Court, the question of whether or not the costs were paid timely becomes moot, under principles enunciated in Matlock v. Allstate Insurance Co., 153 So.2d 776 (La.App.3rd Cir. 1963).

The motion to dismiss the appeal was tried on November 16, 1970. The court held that “lodging” as required in C.C.P. 2127 meant that the record must actually be in the office of the Court of Appeal on the return date, and not simply mailed on that day. The fact that the record was not timely “lodged” opened the question of whether or not costs had been timely paid as required by C.C.P. 2127, which states that all costs must be paid by appellant to the Clerk of Court “not later than three days prior to the return day or extended return day.” Continuing, the court said “This requirement is for the obvious purpose of providing the clerk with three days to see that the record reaches the appellate court on or before the return day.” Martin v. Garlotte, 245 So.2d 517 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1970).

Accepting September 28 as the extended return day instead of -September 26 which was a Saturday, that would have meant that costs were to be paid three judicial days previously, or by September 23. The record shows that payment was not made until September 28 at 2:15 P.M., which was too late for the Clerk of Court to “lodge” the whole record and fees in the First Circuit Clerk of Court’s office. The Court, on November 16, remanded the case to the trial court to obtain appellants’ explanation for not having paid costs on time, inasmuch as they were still urging discrepancies in cost items. The court vouchsafed: “If there is in fact a legitimate controversy through no fault of appellants, then the delay in payment should not be imputed against appellants. However, if there is no discrepancy, we believe that appellants had ample time to satisfy the cost requirements.”

The case was remanded for the securing of evidence to be forwarded to the Court of Appeal which would enable the Court to determine whether or not the fault rested with the appellants in declining to pay the bill for costs or the Clerk of Court in forwarding and requesting payment on an erroneous statement.

In the Remand hearing held in the trial court on December 4, 1970, the following evidence was adduced:

Clerk’s bill, dated September 4, 1970 (a Friday) was received by Attorney, Mr. Coleman on September 7, 1970 (a Monday).

Original bill was mailed to Travelers Ins. Co., with cover letter from attorney dated September 8, 1970. Letter was sent to Mr. Perret, Claims Supervisor in Lafayette Office of Travelers.

A letter dated September 15, 1970, was addressed to Mr. Coleman, signed by Mr. Perret, requesting an itemized bill, which Mr. Perret later testified was requested due to the policy of his company, and not because he had any complaint with the clerk’s bill at that time (p. 25, testimony in December 4 hearing).

[40]*40On September 16, Mr. Coleman went to the Clerk’s office and requested an itemized statement. The deputy clerk, Miss Jane Coullard, testified that she offered to xerox for Mr. Coleman a copy of their docket sheet, but he said that he preferred to wait until Monday to talk to Mrs. Joyce Faucheux, who was in charge of appeals and would be back from her vacation at that time (pp. 49-50, transcript of December 4 hearing).

On Monday September 21, 1970, Mr. Coleman obtained an itemized statement from Mrs. Faucheux and mailed it to Mr. Perret.

On Monday, September 28, Mrs. Fau-cheux telephoned Mr. Coleman and informed him that that was the last day to send the record in the case to the Court of Appeal. Mr. Coleman then called Mr. Per-ret and requested a check in the amount of the bill ($1,110.50), plus $25.00, the filing fee for the Court of Appeal. Mr. Perret testified that after he received the xeroxed docket sheets on September 22, which he thought was the bill, but was not, he put it aside for a day or two, then made a tape on it, found some discrepancies, put it and aside and resolved to see Mr. Coleman the next time he went to Franklin (pp. 26-27, transcript of December 4 hearing). After Mr. Coleman’s call of September 28, he agreed to hand deliver him a check for the whole amount asked ($1,110.50), but with the understanding that they would review the bill and straighten it out later.

Both Mr. Coleman and Mr. Perret state that September 28 was the first time they were informed, or knew of the return date for the Court of Appeal. There is no testimony to the contrary.

When Mr. Coleman went to the Clerk’s office on September 28 and sat down and figured up the costs on an adding machine, he discovered that a $12.00 mistake had been made in favor of the Clerk of Court (p. 44, transcript of December 4 hearing). He paid the Clerk, however, and the Clerk deposited the record and fees in the mail shortly after 2:15 P.M.

Since it had already been determined on November 16, 1970, that the record in the case had not been lodged timely and the matter of timely payment of costs reopened, the case was remanded to determine whether or not it was the fault of the Clerk of Court of St. Mary Parish that the costs had not been paid timely.

The Clerk of the trial court completed his preparation of the record on September 3, and gave notice to the attorneys involved on September 4, that it was ready and also mailed them a bill for costs due.

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Related

Huff v. Caldwell
297 So. 2d 463 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
Edwards v. Edwards
268 So. 2d 682 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
Martin v. Garlotte
252 So. 2d 448 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 So. 2d 37, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-garlotte-lactapp-1971.