Richard v. National Surety Corporation

99 So. 2d 831, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 1002
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 1957
Docket4532
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 99 So. 2d 831 (Richard v. National Surety Corporation) 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
Richard v. National Surety Corporation, 99 So. 2d 831, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 1002 (La. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

99 So.2d 831 (1957)

Lita RICHARD et al.
v.
NATIONAL SURETY CORPORATION et al.

No. 4532.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 23, 1957.
Rehearing Denied February 3, 1958.
Writ of Certiorari Denied March 17, 1958.

*832 Pugh & Boudreaux, Lafayette, for appellants.

Mouton Champagne & Colomb, Davidson, Meaux, Onebane & Nehrbass, Lafayette, for appellees.

ELLIS, Judge.

On August 8, 1955, Roy J. Lester was electrocuted while working for the Universal Electric Construction Company who, in turn, had a contract with the City of Lafayette to erect and construct major electrical power lines improvements in and about the City of Lafayette, Louisiana, and particularly to make certain power line installations, on the property of the defendant city at its new City Power Plant. As a result of Lester's death this suit was filed by his widow individually and for the use and benefit of her minor son, John William Lester, against the City of Lafayette and its insurer as third party responsible because of the alleged negligence of the city.

Counsel for the defendants filed an exception of vagueness on the ground that the petitioners had failed to allege a specific manner in which the deceased was injured. This exception was not passed upon in view of the lower court's sustaining of an exception of no cause and right of action.

Counsel for defendants also filed an exception on the ground that the plaintiffs' "Petitions do not disclose a right or cause of action against exceptors in that the deceased was an employee of a sub-contractor of the City of Lafayette and, consequently, his sole and exclusive remedy would be under the compensation laws of the State of Louisiana." The Lower *833 Court, upon the theory that the defendants had filed an exception of no right of action, over the objection of counsel for plaintiffs, which objection was made general by order of the court, allowed the specification for additions to the electric distribution system for the City of Lafayette, Louisiana, utility system which formed the basis of the contract between the city and the Universal Electric Construction Company and also heard testimony.

The Lower Court ordered the case to be submitted and the parties to file briefs. After consideration of the record judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiff maintaining the exception of no right and no cause of action filed herein by the defendants and dismissing plaintiffs' suit at their costs. From this judgment the plaintiffs have appealed.

The first question which this court must decide is whether the grounds which were stated by exceptors as a basis for their exception of no right or cause of action render the exception as one of no cause of action only, as contended by counsel for plaintiffs. If the exception is one of no cause of action then, of course, no testimony was admissible.

This court had occasion in two recent decisions to consider this question. In Leteff v. Maryland Casualty Company, La.App., 82 So.2d 80, 82, the lower court, after hearing evidence, sustained the exception of no right and cause of action filed by the defendant, Maryland Casualty Company. In dealing with the question in this case we stated:

"Before any evidence was taken, both plaintiff and codefendant Ventress, Jr., objected to the admission thereof on the ground that the exception filed by defendant insurer was in reality an exception of no cause of action, although denoted as an exception of no right and of no cause of action.
"It is well settled that there is a distinction between the exception of no right of action, and the exception of no cause of action. As stated in Roy O. Martin Lumber Co. v. Saint Denis Securities Co., 225 La. 51, 72 So.2d 257, at pages 258-259:
"`Generally speaking, an exception of no right of action serves to question the right of a plaintiff to maintain his suit, i. e., his capacity to sue or his interest in the subject matter of the proceeding, whereas an exception of no cause of action addresses itself to the sufficiency in law of the petition and the exhibits attached thereto. Outdoor Electric Advertising v. Saurage, 207 La. 344, 21 So.2d 375; Termini v. McCormick, 208 La. 221, 23 So.2d 52 and Bartholomew v. Impastato, La.App., 12 So.2d 700. The latter is triable entirely on the face of the papers, while evidence may be received under an exception of no right of action for the purpose of showing that plaintiff does not possess the right he claims or that the right does not exist. Soniat v. White, 153 La. 424, 96 So. 19; Schmidt v. Conservative Homestead Association, 181 La. 369, 159 So. 587; Duplein v. Wiltz, supra, La.App., 174 So. 652 and La Casse v. New Orleans, T. & M. R. Co., 135 La. 129, 64 So. 1012.'
* * * * * *
"We are reinforced in these conclusions by Judge McCaleb's learned discussion of these two exceptions, in which he states; Duplain v. Wiltz, La.App., 174 So. 652, at pages 654-655:
"`The ground upon which the defendant bases her exception of no right of action is that she is not the owner of the property in which the plaintiff was injured. This question is purely one of fact and does not militate against plaintiff's legal right to maintain the action. If, on the trial *834 of the merits of the case, it is decreed that, as a matter of fact, the defendant is not the owner of the premises, and therefore not responsible for the injuries resulting from its vices and defects, such finding will not be destructive of plaintiff's inherent right to sue the defendant, but will serve to show that the plaintiff was without justification or cause to enforce her right against the defendant. In other words, we think that there is a vast difference between the right of action, to which plaintiff is entitled as a matter of law, and the resultant liability vel non of the person against whom she causes this right to be asserted. The right to sue is conferred either by statute or the jurisprudence, whereas the cause to sue is legally determined after investigation of the facts presented. Here, the real challenge is not made to plaintiff's right to sue but is truly aimed against the legal lack of cause or reason for the action.'"

In the case of Maryland Casualty Company v. Gulf Refining Company, La.App., 95 So.2d 734, 735, we dealt with the same subject matter as is before the case at bar, and we stated:

"Defendants filed exceptions of no right and of no cause of action.
"Over objection of counsel for the plaintiff, the District Court permitted certain evidence to be received in disposing of the alleged exception of no right of action; and then sustained same, dismissing plaintiff's suit; hence this appeal.
* * * * * *
"Stated otherwise, defendants seek to explain by extraneous evidence that J. W. Stewart, `distributor of Gulf Refining Company products' was an independent contractor of Gulf rather than merely a buyer of its products.
"If the defense raised by this exception relates to plaintiff's `right of action' rather than to (as plaintiff argues) his `cause of action', the District Court correctly admitted evidence over plaintiff's objection in reaching judgment thereupon; for while extraneous evidence may be introduced in the determination of an exception of no right of action, it is equally well settled that the exception of no cause

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Bluebook (online)
99 So. 2d 831, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richard-v-national-surety-corporation-lactapp-1957.