Mid-States Insurance v. Ward

187 So. 2d 530, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4873
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 6, 1966
DocketNo. 2294
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 187 So. 2d 530 (Mid-States Insurance v. Ward) 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
Mid-States Insurance v. Ward, 187 So. 2d 530, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4873 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

SAMUEL, Judge.

This matter is before us on a motion to-dismiss the appeal and on the merits.

ON THE MOTION TO DISMISS

The motion to dismiss the suspensive-appeal taken by Carteret, Inc., a garnishee,, was filed by the plaintiff-appellee, Mid-States Insurance Company, and is based1 on the contention that the appeal was not. taken timely.

Judgment in the amount of $311.24, with-interest, attorney’s fees and costs, was. rendered in this proceeding in favor of' plaintiff and against Robert L. Ward, the defendant in suit. Plaintiff then obtained.: [532]*532a writ of fieri facias and made the present appellant garnishee. Interrogatories and notice of the seizure were served on appellant through its registered agent on October 23, 1963. The interrogatories had not been answered on November 25, 1963 and at that time plaintiff filed a motion for judgment pro confesso against the garnishee in the amount of plaintiff’s judgment against Ward and for an additional attorney’s fee for the prosecution of the rule, all under the provisions of LSA-C.C.P. Art. 2413. The trial court ordered Carteret to show cause on December 16, 1963 why such judgment should not be rendered. On December 13, 1963 Carteret answered the interrogatories denying any indebtedness to Ward.

Carteret was absent and unrepresented at the hearing of the rule on December 16, 1963. On that date the trial court rendered and signed a judgment on the rule as prayed except that the award for attorney’s fees contained in the judgment against Ward was not included in the judgment against Carteret.

On December 20, 1963 Carteret filed a motion for a new trial. That motion was heard on December 30, 1963 and February 6, 1964. It was submitted on the latter date and taken under advisement. On November 10, 1965 the trial court rendered judgment dismissing the rule and denying a new trial on the ground that the application had not been filed timely. We believe the delay in rendering the judgment was due to the illness of the trial judge. This appeal was taken on November 29, 1965 from the judgment pro confesso rendered and signed December 16, 1963.

Appellant makes the following contentions in opposition to the motion to dismiss : (1) Inasmuch as negative answers to the interrogatories had been filed in the record prior to the hearing of the rule for judgment pro confesso against appellant, no such judgment legally could be rendered; and (2) Appellant was not served with plaintiff’s motion for judgment pro confesso, the order to show cause on December 16, 1963 why that judgment should not be rendered, or notice of the signing of that judgment and, as the record fails to show that notice of the judgment denying the new trial was ever served on appellant, the delay for applying for a new trial never commenced to run and the appeal was taken timely.

Appellant’s first contention, relative to the filing of answers to interrogatories before the rule was heard, addresses itself to the merits of the case on appeal and cannot be considered in connection with the motion to dismiss. The only question before us under appellee’s motion is whether or not the appeal should be dismissed. The crucial point involved in a consideration of that question is contained in that portion of appellant’s second contention which is concerned with the alleged lack of service on appellant of the motion for judgment pro confesso and order to show cause and the lack of service on appellant of notice of the signing of that judgment.

Service of a copy of the motion for judgment pro confesso and the order setting the rule to show cause on December 16, 1963 was made by a deputy sheriff of Plaquemines Parish, the parish where the service was to be made and where the action was pending. The sheriff’s return of that service is contained in the record on the back of a true copy of that motion and order. Appellant contends the return is not clear and therefore should be disregarded. We cannot agree with the contention.

Under LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1292 the sheriff’s return, when received by the clerk, forms part of the record and shall he considered prima facie correct. And under our jurisprudence the return of a proper officer on judicial process is presumed to be correct, the burden rests upon those [533]*533who attack the return to prove its incorrectness, and the return cannot be overthrown except on clear and convincing evidence consisting of more than the uncorroborated testimony of a single witness. Canterberry v. Slade Bros., 232 La. 1081, 96 So.2d 4; Logwood v. Logwood, 18S La. 1, 168 So. 310, 311; Sims v. First Nat’l Bank of Ruston, 177 La. 386, 148 So. 505; Stewart v. Purcell, La.App., 131 So.2d 907; Smith v. Crescent Chevrolet Co., La.App., 1 So.2d 421; Wright v. Peters Furniture Co., La.App., 153 So. 548.

The return in the instant case is signed by the serving deputy sheriff and states that on December 4, 1963 at Pointe-a-la-Hache, Louisiana he served a copy thereof by personal service on “Robert L. Ward same on E. W. Gravolet”. Mr. Ward was the defendant in suit and Mr. Gravolet was appellant’s registered agent for service of process. The record also contains extracts from the minutes of the trial court for December 30, 1963 and February 6, 1964, the two dates on which the motion for a new trial was heard. Those extracts show the agent for service of process, Mr. Gravolet, and the deputy sheriff who made the service and signed the return appeared as witnesses and testified. But the record does not contain a transcript •of the testimony of those witnesses nor •does it contain any evidence of any kind that the service was not made or was in•correctly made. The record contains no •evidence relative to service of the motion for judgment pro confesso and of the •order to show cause except the sheriff’s return we have just described.

The testimony of the serving deputy •sheriff and the agent for service of process -could have been offered for only one conceivable purpose, to prove a proper service of the motion for judgment pro confesso and of the order to show cause or to prove the absence of such a proper -service. The service could be valid even ¡though the return might or might not be correct (O’Conner v. Jones, 7 Orl.App. 26S) and the trial court could allow amendment of proof of service unless it clearly appeared that material prejudice would result to the substantial rights of the party against whom the process issued (LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1292), and no such prejudice appears here. The trial judge heard the testimony of both witnesses and must have concluded that the service had been made properly. That judgment is presumed to be correct in the absence of proof to the contrary and the record contains no such proof. Therefore we must and do accept the fact that a proper service of the motion for judgment pro confesso and of the order to show cause was made on the appellant on December 4, 1963.

The law relative to the necessity of serving appellant with notice of signing of the judgment pro confesso is found in LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1913, as amended by Act 23 of 1961, which reads as follows:

“Notice of the signing of a default judgment against a defendant on whom citation was not served personally, and who filed no exceptions or answer, shall be served on the defendant by the sheriff, by either personal or domiciliary service.

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Bluebook (online)
187 So. 2d 530, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mid-states-insurance-v-ward-lactapp-1966.