O'Keefe v. Burke

78 So. 2d 165, 226 La. 1039, 1955 La. LEXIS 1201
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided February 17, 1955·No. No. 42257·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

McCALEB, Justice.

This is the second time within two weeks that this case has come before us. It is an election contest arising out of the Democratic primary held on January 18, 1955, on a call issued by the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee for selection of the Democratic nominee in a special election called by the Governor for March 1, 1955, to fill a vacancy in the office of Assessor of the Fourth Municipal District, composed of the Tenth and Eleventh Wards of the City of New Orleans.

Six candidates qualified for this nomination and in the ensuing primary, the contestee, Richard F. Burke, who obtained over 7,000 of a total of approximately 10,-000 votes cast, was certified by the Orleans Parish Democratic Committee as the nominee. Thereafter, the contestant, Arthur J. O’Keefe, Jr., who received 1,656 votes, brought this suit under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 18:364, formerly Section 86 of Act 46 of 1940 (the primary election law), claiming that he had received a majority of the legal votes and was therefore entitled to the nomination. The gravamen of his complaint was that all votes cast for Burke were void because Burke fraudulently represented himself as a qualified elector of the district when, in truth and in fact, he was an ineligible candidate, not having been an actual bona fide resident of the State for two years prior to the election. In the alternative, he prayed that the primary election be annulled and set aside.

The contestee met the charges of the petition by excepting (1) to its being' filed and served on a Sunday, (2) to the jurisdiction of the court ratione materiae,. (3) to the failure to join the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee as party defendant, (4) that no right or cause of action was stated, (5) that it was vague, (6) that the action was premature and (?) that the contestant was estopped. In answer to the petition, it was alleged by Burke that he has been domiciled in the Fourth Municipal District of New Orleans all of his life and that, whereas he had lived in Harris County, Texas, for a short space of time, his residence in Texas was of a temporary nature, and it has always been his intention to maintain his residence at 3103 Chippewa Street in the Eleventh Ward, Fourth Municipal District of New Orleans.

After hearing arguments on the exceptions, the district judge sustained the exception to the jurisdiction ratione materiae, being of the opinion that, since O’Keefe had failed to avail himself of the proviT sions of LSA-R.S. 18:307 (which prescribe [1043]*1043that objection to the candidacy of any person qualifying as a candidate be filed with the Chairman or Secretary of the Committee calling the election within five days after the last date upon which notification of intention to become a candidate may be filed), the court could not entertain the suit, as it had only such jurisdiction as was conferred upon it by the primary law.

Upon judgment being rendered dismissing his suit, O’Keefe appealed to this court and, after a hearing, a majority of the court1 reversed the judgment, overruled the exception to the jurisdiction and remanded the case for further proceedings, holding the provisions of LSA-R.S. 18:307 Violative of Sections 4 and 12 of Article 8 of the Constitution insofar as those provisions required that a candidate file a protest with the Committee within a stated time1 to contest the eligibility or residential qualifications of an opposing candidate in the primary. See O’Keefe v. Burke, 226 La. 1026, 78 So.2d 161.

.Conformably with the ruling of this pourt, the case was thereafter tried in the District Court on the remaining exceptions and on its merits. Following the hearing, the judge overruled all of the exceptions and annulled the election on the ground that Burke was ineligible for the nomination to the office in contest as he had not resided in the Fourth Municipal District for two years next preceding the election and, therefore, was not a qualified elector of this State. Both parties have appealed from the decision, O’Keefe’s appeal being limited to that part of the judgment which denies his claim to the nomination.

We first address our attention to the complaints of Burke. His counsel initially insists that the judge erred in overruling the exception to the filing of the petition and service of citation on a Sunday inasmuch as Article 207 of the Code of Practice, as amended by Acts 98 of 1890 and 105 of 1952, prohibits the institution of a suit and the issuance of citation on legal holidays save in cases involving conservatory writs.

We think that the exceptions were properly overruled, as we do not regard the cited Article of the Code of Practice to be applicable to cases of this sort. The procedure in election contests is sui generis. Paragraph H of LSA-R.S. 18 :364 prohibits the court from entertaining an election contest “unless brought within two days after the official promulgation of the result of the election, * * * by respective committees as provided in this Part.” The promulgation of the returns by the Committee in this case was on a Friday and, under these circumstances, O’Keefe is not to be penalized for filing his suit on Sunday, which was the last day of the two day period allotted to him by law. And this, despite the jurisprudence, see State ex rel. Graham v. Republican State Central Com[1045]*1045mittee, 193 La. 863, 192 So. 374 to the effect that dies non are not to be counted in computing the two-day delay allowed by the primary election law and that, if the suit had been filed on the Monday following the Sunday, it would have been filed on time.

The exceptions of non-joinder of party defendant, of no right or cause of action, of prematurity and estoppel, interposed by Burke are all predicated upon O’Keefe’s failure to exert the remedy afforded him under LSA-R.S. 18:307, that is, his failure to make objection to Burke’s lack of qualifications before the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee within the time prescribed by law.

In view of the holding of this court on the exception to the jurisdiction, wherein the procedure adopted in Hall v. Godchaux, 149 La. 733, 90 So. 145, was upheld and approved, the district judge did not err in overruling all of these exceptions.2

The only other exception of counsel is that of vagueness, which was leveled at the failure of O’Keefe to specifically state in detail the grounds for the charges of fraud upon which he relied.

We find no merit in this exception and the judge properly overruled it because the petition sets forth that the only fraud attributed to Burke was his misrepresentation that he was a qualified elector.

The merits of the case involve the narrow issue of whether Burke was and is a qualified elector of this State and, therefore, eligible to the office for which he has been nominated. Section 13 of Article 8 of the Constitution provides that no person is eligible to any office in this State “* * * 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.” And Section 1(a) of Article 8 prescribes that, to be qualified as an elector, every citizen of this State “ * * shall have been an actual bona fide resident of the State for two years, of the parish one year * * * and of the precinct, in which he offers to vote, three months next preceding the election; * *

[1047]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

O'Keefe v. Burke, 78 So. 2d 165, 226 La. 1039, 1955 La. LEXIS 1201 (La. 1955).

78 So. 2d 165 (O'Keefe v. Burke) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

LaCaze v. Johnson
310 So. 2d 86 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1974)
Daley v. Morial
205 So. 2d 213 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1967)
Hodge v. Democratic Executive Committee
129 So. 2d 325 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1961)
Lewis v. Democratic Executive Committee
95 So. 2d 292 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1957)