Miller v. Poimboeuf

514 So. 2d 484, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 9982
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 13, 1987
DocketNo. 87-876
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 514 So. 2d 484 (Miller v. Poimboeuf) 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
Miller v. Poimboeuf, 514 So. 2d 484, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 9982 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an election contest. The plaintiff-appellant, Dr. Garland D. Miller, Jr., a candidate for Coroner of Sabine Parish, instituted this suit seeking to have the incumbent coroner, Dr. C.E. Poimboeuf, defendant-appellee, declared disqualified to run for the position of Coroner of Sabine Parish.

Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant denying the challenge of the plaintiff against the candidacy of Dr. Poim-boeuf and from that judgment the plaintiff-appellant has timely perfected this appeal.

The trial court issued well written Reasons for Judgment which completely address the factual and legal issues and which we adopt as our own with only slight additional comments.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

“Dr. Poimboeuf is a registered voter in Ward 7, Precinct 1, Sabine Parish and has been continuously since 1964.

“His address has been P.O. Box 66, Pleasant Hill, (Sabine Parish), Louisiana since 1961, continuously.

“This is the address at which he receives virtually all of his mail, professional and personal, and the one that is reflected on his driver’s license, personal professional cards, American Legion Card, Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiner card, Southern Medical Association card, card issued to him by the Secretary of State, [485]*485State of Louisiana, as Coroner of Sabine Parish, as well as the address at which he received personal mail.

“Dr. Poimboeuf has served as Sabine Parish Coroner for six (6) years, and prior to that served as Deputy Coroner for a number of years, at a time when his father was coroner.

“Dr. Poimboeuf is associated with the Pleasant Hill General Hospital, Inc., in Pleasant Hill, and is a part owner. He practices medicine in Sabine Parish, exclusively, on a full time daily basis, and has since 1961.

“His five children all attended and graduated from Pleasant Hill High School. In the 1970’s, during integration the question arose as to the residence of Dr. Poimboeuf and the propriety of his children attending the public school in Pleasant Hill. The result of Judge Tom Stagg’s decision allowed them to continue school in Pleasant Hill.

“The evidence established that defendant maintained a residence telephone number in DeSoto Parish since 1963, and that the telephone directory itself showed a corresponding DeSoto Parish address. However, this number was also shown by the facts to ring at a Pleasant Hill address in Sabine Parish, with all telephone bills received at the Pleasant Hill address.

“The facts show that both the DeSoto and Sabine Parish addresses consisted of two homes belonging to the defendant and his family. The DeSoto property consisted of a home and a farm approximately two or three miles from the city limits of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in Sabine Parish. This home according to defendant’s testimony, was where he spent primarily nights, on a frequent basis. The Sabine Parish address in Pleasant Hill, Louisiana consisted of a home and a lot within the main part of the city, about five blocks from the hospital where defendant worked.

“From the evidence, it can be adduced that the home in Pleasant Hill and the farm home in DeSoto Parish were acquired within a few years of each other over 20 years ago, and that the defendant and his family acquired the Pleasant Hill house as a residence and had always considered it as such. The Pleasant Hill residence is utilized by the defendant, his wife and children for sleeping, eating, and general domestic activities. The facts show that a housekeeper attends to the house, a washer, dryer, refrigerator, television and other appliances are located there, and clothes, furniture [,] furnishings and other significant possessions are kept there in order to maintain the place for the use and personal relationship generally connoted with a ‘residence’. The home contains three bedrooms, bathrooms, and requires constant upkeep and utility maintenance as any other residence would require.

“Testimony from the defendant indicated that he and his family had maintained the Pleasant Hill home as a residence continuously for the past twenty years, with no intention of ever abandoning it. In fact, the evidence showed that as soon in the near future that the defendant’s children are able to maintain the farm home in DeSoto Parish autonomously, the defendant and his wife will relinquish that property altogether in favor of the Sabine Parish home solely because it is easier to maintain and he spends most of his time in Pleasant Hill, in his medical practice.

“Article V, Section 29 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, provides as follows concerning the qualifications for the office of coroner:

“ ‘In each parish a coroner shall be elected for a term of four years. He shall be a licensed physician and possess the other qualifications provided by law.’

“This constitutional provision varies from that contained in Article VIII, Sec. 13, of the Louisiana Constitution of 1921. That article provided, in pertinent part, as follows:

“ ‘No person shall be eligible to any office, state, district, parochial, municipal, or ward, who is not a citizen of this State and a duly qualified elector of the State, district, parish, municipality or ward, wherein the functions of said office are to be performed.’

[486]*486“The provisions of Article VIH, Sec. 13 of the 1921 Constitution were not retained in the 1974 Constitution, nor were they carried forward as statutory law. On the contrary, under the express provisions of Article XIV, Sec. 17 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, the above referred to provisions of the 1921 Constitution were repealed, effective midnight, December 31, 1974.

“Therefore, at the present time there is no constitutional requirement that a candidate or office holder be a resident of, or a duly qualified elector of the district, parish, municipality or ward, wherein the functions of the office are to be performed. Williamson v. Village of Baskin, La.App.2nd Cir.1976, 339 So.2d 474.

“This brings us back to the portion of the 1974 Constitution which provides that the coroner shall, in addition to being a licensed physician, ‘possess the other qualifications provided by law’.

“What other qualifications does the law require?

“Referring to local candidates, which, in this case means a candidate for a parish office, LSA-R.S. 18:462(B) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

“ ‘Local and municipal candidates shall qualify for a primary election either with the Clerk of Court or secretary of the parish board of election supervisors for the parish in which the candidate is registered to vote.’

“In this case the evidence establishes that Dr. Poimboeuf is a registered voter of Sabine Parish.

“Clearly, as a registered voter of Sabine Parish, Dr. Poimboeuf was eligible to qualify with the Clerk of Court as a candidate in the upcoming primary election, for coroner of Sabine Parish.

“At first blush it would appear that the single issue before the Court at this time is whether Dr. Poimboeuf was registered to vote in Sabine Parish at the time he qualified as a candidate. If that is the sole issue, then he is qualified to be a candidate for coroner.

“However, plaintiff takes the position that the issue is whether or not defendant is a resident of Sabine Parish.

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Bluebook (online)
514 So. 2d 484, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 9982, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-poimboeuf-lactapp-1987.