Sid-Mar's Restaurant & Lounge, Inc. v. State ex rel. Governor

142 So. 3d 188, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 52, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1320, 2014 WL 2118379
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 21, 2014
DocketNo. 14-CA-52
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 142 So. 3d 188 (Sid-Mar's Restaurant & Lounge, Inc. v. State ex rel. Governor) 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
Sid-Mar's Restaurant & Lounge, Inc. v. State ex rel. Governor, 142 So. 3d 188, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 52, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1320, 2014 WL 2118379 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

|sThe State of Louisiana, defendant, appeals the judgment of the trial court in favor of the plaintiffs, Sid-Mar’s Restaurant & Lounge, Inc., Marion G. Burgess, and Sidney K. Burgess (hereinafter collectively “Sid-Mar’s”), finding that Sid-Mar’s had acquired ownership of certain Lots, in whole in or part, in Square 128 of the Metairieville subdivision of Jefferson Parish. Sid-Mar’s answers this appeal requesting that this Court clarify the trial court’s judgment as to what portion of Lot 4 of Square 128 and Plane Street it owns, as well as whether its “economic rights” relative to its lease of the area north of its “restaurant property” were interfered with by the State’s 2006 commandeering order. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment and render the specific finding that Sid-Mar’s is the owner of the portion of Lot 4 and Plane Street that was within Sid-Mar’s “restaurant property” as described in the petition. We also find that Sid-Mar’s lease of the property to the north of its “restaurant property” was interfered with by the State’s 2006 commandeering order.

\ ¿PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Sid-Mar’s filed suit against the State “through the governor and/or the division of administration, state land office” on June 2, 2006, alleging the State had illegally taken its “restaurant property” and interfered with its economic rights relative to the area north of its “restaurant property” without just compensation. Sid-Mar’s alleged that the State accomplished this taking when the restaurant property was commandeered as a result of Governor Blanco’s February 10, 2006 executive order.

The State answered Sid-Mar’s petition in early 2007.1 In its answer, the State admitted “that Executive Order KBB 2006-6 was issued on February 10, 2006 ... [and] that the executive order commandeered the ‘use’ of the property described therein for certain necessary work by the Corps of Engineers.” The State [191]*191further admitted that it had not offered any compensation to Sid-Mar’s as a result of its commandeering of the property Sid-Mar’s claimed. The State denied that Sid-Mar’s had owned the property it claimed.

On June 2, 2009, the State moved for “leave to file a third party demand” against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The State argued that it had entered into a cooperation agreement with the Corps whereby the State agreed to commandeer certain property, which included the property Sid-Mar’s claimed, and that the Corps would, in turn, condemn that property, take that property, pay the owners of that property, and build a pumping station on that property. The State alleged that the Corps had breached its agreement with the State by failing to condemn Sid-Mar’s property and provide payments for Sid-Mar’s property and damages.

lsOn June 3, 2009, while this suit was still pending, the United States filed two Complaints in Condemnation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. One complaint addressed a .088 acre tract, the other addressed a .166 acre tract. Those suits were later consolidated. The entities said to have an interest in the property were Sid-Mar’s, the Sheriff as ex-officio Tax Collector for Jefferson Parish, the State of Louisiana, and certain unknown owners. The parcels that Sid-Mar’s claims in this state court suit were among the parcels that were affected by the combined federal condemnation suit.

On June 5, 2009, Sid-Mar’s filed a motion for partial summary judgment seeking a judgment by the trial court that it owned the land it described as its “restaurant property” as of February 10, 2006, the date Governor Blanco issued her condemnation order.

On July 20, 2009, the East Jefferson Levee District Board of Commissioners (“EJLD”) moved for leave to file a petition of intervention, arguing that it was a necessary party in this litigation because it had an ownership interest in part of the property claimed by Sid-Mar’s. On April 24, 2013, the trial court issued an order allowing the EJLD to intervene in this action.2 Just before trial, on April 29, 2013, Sid-Mar’s answered the EJLD’s petition for intervention.

On July 21, 2009, the U.S. District Court issued an order staying the proceedings in this case. This stay remained in effect until December 18, 2012, when the U.S. District Court lifted the stay on this state court suit “for the limited purpose of determining title.”3

[192]*192[fiOn January 15, 2013, Sid-Mar’s moved for a partial summary judgment, seeking a judgment by the trial court finding that the Governor’s 2006 Commandeering Order “constituted a compensable taking by the State of Louisiana ..., by which the State of Louisiana acquired the relevant interest in the property identified in the Commandeering Order.” The trial court granted Sid-Mar’s motion for partial summary judgment on March 21, 2013, finding that “the Commandeering Order issued by Governor Kathleen B. Blanco on February 10, 2006 effected a ‘taking’ of plaintiffs’ property by the State of Louisiana. Accordingly, plaintiffs are entitled to compensation as allowed by Louisiana law.”4 The State sought writs of supervisory review of this decision to both this Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Those writs were denied. Sid-Mar’s Restaurant & Lounge, Inc., et al. v. State of Louisiana, 13-420 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/16/13) (unpublished writ) (stating, “After de novo review of the application and accompanying exhibits, we find no error in the trial court’s ruling of March 21, 2013, granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff.”); Sid-Mar’s Restaurant & Lounge, Inc., et al. v. State of Louisiana, 13-1519 (La.10/4/2013), 122 So.3d 1021.

On March 5, 2013, the State filed both an exception of nonjoinder and a motion for partial summary judgment. In its exception of nonjoinder, the State argued that Sid-Mar’s erred in failing to join the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a defendant in this action. In its motion for partial summary judgment, the State sought to defeat any claim by Sid-Mar’s that it had obtained ownership rights in the disputed property through acquisitive prescription. After a hearing on March 1722, 2013, the trial court issued an oral ruling denying both this exception and this motion for partial summary judgment.5

On March 26, 2013, the trial court issued a written judgment wherein it memorialized its denial of the State’s March 5, 2013 exception of nonjoinder and motion for partial summary judgment. In that judgment, the trial court also denied the State’s June 2, 2009 motion for leave to file a third-party petition.

On April 29, 30, and May 1, 2013, the lower court held a trial on the merits. On August 9, 2013, the trial court issued a written judgment wherein it found that:

[Sid-Mar’s owns] all of the property at issue in this litigation and identified as ‘Restaurant Property5 except for Square 128, Lot 3 which is the property of the East Jefferson Levee District (formerly the Pontchartrain Levee District).... The State did not prove any portion of these Lots were ever part of the bed of Lake Pontchartrain.

The State moved for a suspensive appeal of this judgment on August 30, 2013. The trial court granted the State’s suspensive appeal on September 4, 2013. Sid-Mar’s thereafter answered the State’s appeal. This decision now follows.

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Bluebook (online)
142 So. 3d 188, 14 La.App. 5 Cir. 52, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1320, 2014 WL 2118379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sid-mars-restaurant-lounge-inc-v-state-ex-rel-governor-lactapp-2014.