Monnier v. Godbold

40 So. 604, 116 La. 165, 1906 La. LEXIS 482
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 12, 1906
DocketNo. 15,682
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 40 So. 604 (Monnier v. Godbold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Monnier v. Godbold, 40 So. 604, 116 La. 165, 1906 La. LEXIS 482 (La. 1906).

Opinion

Statement of the Case.

NIOHOLLS, J.

Plaintiff brought this suit for damages against defendants, as members •of the state board of pharmacy, established by Act No. 66, p. 74, of the General Assembly of the year 1888. He claims the sum of $3,884 for attorney’s fees and losses in business and exemplary damages from defendants in solido, by reason of their refusal to register as a pharmacist under the act mentioned, without examination, or the exhibition of a diploma, until ordered to do so by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the suit of State ex rel. Monnier v. Board of Pharmacy, 110 La. 99, 34 South. 159.

Plaintiff alleged that defendants, as members of the board, voted in favor of the said action taken by it. He avers that the action of the defendants in so doing was tortious, willful, and malicious.

Defendants set up various exceptions, such as no cause of action and the prescription of one year. They pleaded the general issue, and averred that their action was under and by virtue of a resolution of the board adopted in 1895, and that the then Attorney General of the state advised them that in his judgment the resolution was within the power of the board.

There was judgment in the district court in favor of the defendants, and plaintiff appealed.

Opinion.

The positions taken by plaintiff, as shown, by the brief filed on his behalf, were:

(1) A mistake as to his duty and honest intention will not excuse a public officer who neglects or refuses to do a ministerial act which the law requires absolutely to be done by him. A. & B. Enc. of Law, vol. 23, p. 377.

A public officer depriving one of his legal rights, through “novel but unsound principles,” cannot claim to be acting in good faith. All the more is he liable when the highest law officer in the state advises him that his action is, at best, doubtful. The act complained of was a continuous one. The plea of prescription of one year does not apply. [168]*168Drews v. Williams, 50 La. Ann. 579, 23 South. 897.

And those urged by the defendants were:

(1) When the defendants in a suit for damages, being public officers acting in the conscientious, even if mistaken, discharge of their duties, under the advice of competent counsel and of the highest law officer of the state, are admittedly without malice, they cannot be made liable in damages as for a tort.

(2) A plaintiff, an admitted violator of the law, now invoked by him for 14 years, lacks clean hands for recovery of damages against those charged with its execution, who conscientiously, even though mistakenly, but on the highest legal advice, refuse his claim for registry thereunder.

(3) Damages can be recovered only when the act complained of is the proximate cause. Brice v. Jones, 5 La. Ann. 635, 636.

(4) Attorney’s fees, if recoverable at all from the opposite party, are not so where the party has acted in good faith, except in certain cases specified in law.

(5) The prescription of one year from the. date of the alleged wrong is the prescription applicable to the cause at bar. Talle v. De Monasterio, 48 La. Ann. 1235, 20 South. 687; Edwards v. Turner, 6 Rob. 382; Crow v. Sheriff, 45 La. Ann. 1227, 12 South. 122; Brown v. Clingman, 47 La. Ann. 25, 16 South. 564.

It was the duty of the plaintiff to have done everything in his power to minimize the damages resulting (if any) from the situation. Levy v. Carondelet Canal Co., 34 La. Ann. 180; Tardos v. Railroad Co., 35 La. Ann. 16; Beers v. Board of Health, 35 La. Ann. 1132, 48 Am. Rep. 256; Insurance Company v. Werlein, 42 La. Ann. 1046, 8 South. 435, 11 L. R. A. 361.

The items of damages claimed by the plaintiff are set out in a bill annexed to plaintiff’s petition as follows:

Attorney’s fees for the institution and prosecution of suit No. 67,-743, the sum of................. $1,000 00

The costs of printing briefs filed in Supreme Court in said suit No. 67,743 ........................ 14 50

Expenses paid by plaintiff to competent persons, pharmacists, druggists, or apothecaries, at different times, to supply and fill plaintiff’s position as pharmacists in Robin’s Pharmacy, where'he was employed from beginning of said suit, including also the board of said respective parties, which was a part of the compensation or pay for said place, all as is shown in detail as to dates, names, and amounts, etc., in statement filed as part hereof, the sum of..................... 516 25

Amount of'actual loss of salary and board which plaintiff would have earned had he been in the actual pursuit of his occupation or employment in said place, during pendency of said suit, at a salary of $30 per month, and his board and lodging which he would have had, had he been able to discharge the duties of said position, $20.00 or $50.00 per month, for all of which he lost by reason of the acts and conduct of said defendants....... 516 25

Actual loss and damages resulting from the uneasiness, anxiety, and distress of mind caused to petitioner by the aforesaid willful, unlawful, and malicious acts and conduct of defendants, which were in flagrant contempt of the law.... 1,000 00

Punitory ,or exemplary damages for which each one of the defendants in this suit should be condemned to pay for their willful, malicious, and unlawful acts and conduct in the premises ....................... 1,000 00'

$4,047 00

The district court assigned the following reasons for its judgment:

“The evidence in this case failed to establish any malice on the part of the board of pharmacy at the time when they refused to register the plaintiff. On the contrary, it shows that they acted on the advice of two Attorney Generals of the state and of special counsel. However erroneous that advice might have been, and however mistaken they were, I am not of the opinion that they are liable in damages for their action. Public officers who, in good faith and in acting in the line of their duties, honestly mistake the extent Of their powers and the nature of their duties, are not liable for the damages caused by them in the honest discharge of those duties, however much they may be in error.
“Judgment for defendants.”

[170]*170The act for the violation of whose provisions in his favor plaintiff relies on is Act No. GO, p. 74, of 1888, entitled:

“An act to regulate the practice of pharmacy, to regulate the sale of compounded medicines, drugs, preparations and prescriptions, to regulate the sale of poisons, to create a state board of pharmacy and to regulate the fees and emoluments thereof, to prevent the practice of pharmacy by unauthorized persons, and to provide for the trial and punishment of violators •of the provisions of this act by fine or imprisonment.”

The first section of the act provides that it shall hereafter be unlawful for any other than a registered pharmacist to compound medicines, drugs, or chemicals, or to institute or conduct any apothecary or drug store, or pharmacy shop for compounding drugs, medicines, or chemicals, or for any person to be employed therein, or placed in charge thereof, for the purpose of compounding drugs or chemicals under prescription* or otherwise.

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Bluebook (online)
40 So. 604, 116 La. 165, 1906 La. LEXIS 482, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monnier-v-godbold-la-1906.