Sims v. American Insurance Co.

101 So. 3d 1, 2012 WL 4881478
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 16, 2012·No. No. 2012-C-0204·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinions

VICTORY, J.

_JjAt issue in this case is whether plaintiffs’ dismissal with prejudice of a lawsuit filed in federal court after the defendant has made a general appearance of record is a “voluntary dismissal” for purposes of La. C.C. art. 3463, which provides “[ijnter-ruption [of prescription] is considered never to have occurred if the plaintiff abandons, voluntarily dismisses the action at any time either before the defendant has made any appearance of record or thereafter ...” After reviewing the record and the applicable law, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeal and find that plaintiffs’ lawsuit has prescribed.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

John and Jo Ann Sims timely filed suit in state court on August 22, 2008 against [3]*3Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) and its insurers for intentional tort and against Dow’s executive officers and their insurers for negligence as a result of John’s brain cancer, which plaintiffs alleged was caused by his workplace exposure at Dow (“Sims I”).1 Dow removed Sims I to federal court, and on August 25, 2009, the federal court dismissed, without prejudice, Dow’s executive officers and their ^insurers, with a reservation of rights, finding that they were fraudulently joined to defeat diversity jurisdiction. On October 1, 2008, John Sims died and Jo Ann Sims and Brent Sims were substituted as plaintiffs in the federal suit. On October 2, 2009, plaintiffs filed this action (“Sims II ”) in state court, asserting wrongful death and survival actions against the same insurer defendants, several executive officers sued in Sims I, and additional executive officers not named in Sims I.2 On January 22, 2010, while a summary judgment motion was pending against them in federal court, plaintiffs filed a “Stipulation and Notice of Dismissal with Prejudice,” of Sims I, in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1).3 As required by F.R.C.P. 41(a)(1) defendants signed this stipulation.

Subsequently, in Sims II, defendants filed exceptions of res judicata and prescription. Plaintiffs conceded that their wrongful death claim had prescribed as it was filed more than a year after John Sims’ death and there was no wrongful death claim pending at the time Sims II was filed, but argued that prescription on the survival action brought in Sims II was interrupted by the filing of Sims I. The trial court sustained defendants’ exception of prescription and dismissed plaintiffs’ action.4 In a 8-2 divided opinion, the court of appeal reversed, finding that the dismissal with prejudice was not a “voluntary dismissal” within the meaning of La. C.C. art. 3463. Sims v. American Ins. Co., 11-0059 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/21/11) |a(unpublished opinion). We granted defendants’ writ application to address whether the court of appeal erred in finding Sims II was not prescribed. Sims v. American Ins. Co., 12-0204 (La.4/20/12), 85 So.3d 1279.

DISCUSSION

Survival actions prescribe one year from the death of the deceased. La. C.C. art. 2315.1. As John Sims died on October 1, 2008, any survival action must have been filed on or prior to October 1, 2009. La. C.C. art. 2315.1. The survival action was filed on October 2, 2009; therefore, unless the one-year prescriptive period was interrupted or suspended, plaintiffs’ suit in [4]*4Sims II has prescribed. Because plaintiffs’ claims are prescribed on the face of the petition, plaintiff has the burden of proving the claims are not prescribed. Eastin v. Entergy Corp., 03-1030 (La.2/6/04), 865 So.2d 49, 54.

Plaintiffs argue prescription was interrupted in Sims II by the timely filing of Sims I pursuant to La. C.C. art. 3462 which provides that “[prescription is interrupted when ... the obligee commences action against the obligor, in a court of competent jurisdiction.” Under Article 3462, prescription is interrupted as to the causes of action therein sued upon. Guidry v. Theriot, 377 So.2d 319 (La.1979). Further, La. C.C. art. 3463 provides that “[a]n interruption of prescription resulting from the filing of a suit in a competent court and in the proper venue or from service of process within the prescriptive period continues as long as the suit is pending.” However, La. C.C. art. 3463 also provides that “[^Interruption is considered never to have occurred if the plaintiff abandons, voluntarily dismisses the action at any time either before the defendant has made any appearance of record or thereafter, or fails to prosecute the suit at the trial.”

14According to plaintiffs, prescription was interrupted under La. C.C. art. 3463 for two reasons: (1) at the time Sims II was filed, Sims I was still pending, and (2) a dismissal with prejudice under F.R.C.P. 41 does not constitute a voluntary dismissal under La. C.C. art. 3463.

Plaintiffs rely on Levy v. Stelly, 279 So.2d 203 (La.1973), in support of their argument that if the second suit is filed while the first timely filed suit is still pending, prescription is interrupted even if the first suit is later voluntarily dismissed. The court of appeal in Levy v. Stelly denied the defendant’s exception of prescription where the plaintiff untimely filed a second suit while the first suit, though later dismissed, was still pending, reasoning as follows:

We construe C.C. art. 35195 [the predecessor to La. C.C. art. 3463] to apply prospectively to suits filed after a plaintiff abandons, voluntarily dismisses or fails to prosecute his demand. The purpose of the article is to prohibit the plaintiff from voluntarily dismissing his suit on a cause of action and later filing a second suit on the same cause of action. By taking away the benefit of the original interruption, the article prevents the plaintiff from claiming that a new prescriptive period commenced when he dismisses the suit which had previously interrupted prescription. The basic purpose of prescription — to provide legal stability — is thus fulfilled.
But in the case where a second suit is filed prior to abandonment, voluntary dismissal or failure to prosecute the original demand, the interruption provided by the first suit is still viable at the time of the filing of the second suit, and the interruption remains viable after the dismissal because of the pendency of the second suit. In the present case there was never a time after the one year anniversary date of the accident when a suit asserting plaintiffs cause of action against defendants was not pending in some court.

Levy v. Stelly, 277 So.2d 194, 195-96 (La.App. 4 Cir.1973). We denied the defendant’s writ application, stating “[t]he Court of Appeal is correct.” Levy v. Stelly, supra, 279 So.2d 203. In 1993, this Court [5]*5relied on Levy v. Stelly in a Per Curiam | -,opinion, holding that because plaintiffs’ second suit was filed while plaintiffs’ first suit was still pending, plaintiffs’ second suit was timely even though the first suit was later voluntarily dismissed.

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