Smith v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company

223 So. 2d 826, 254 La. 341, 1969 La. LEXIS 2856
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 9, 1969
Docket49534
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 223 So. 2d 826 (Smith v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company) 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
Smith v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, 223 So. 2d 826, 254 La. 341, 1969 La. LEXIS 2856 (La. 1969).

Opinion

McCALEB, Justice.

We granted certiorari to review a judgment of the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, dismissing the suspensive appeal . taken herein by defendants, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, Edward Butler, Jr. and Kent Enterprises, Inc., 211 So.2d 103. The Court of Appeal held that the appeal was taken from the judgment refusing a new trial, an interlocutory unappealable judgment and, therefore, dismissed it ■on authority of our decision in General Motors Acceptance Corporation v. Deep South Pest Control, Inc., 247 La. 625, 173 So.2d 190 (1965).

A motion to dismiss the appeal had been filed in the Court of Appeal by plaintiff on the ground that the motion for the suspensive appeal had not been timely filed. It was alleged that defendants had not requested in writing, as prescribed by Article 1914 C.C.P., the clerk of the trial court to notify defense counsel of the rendition of all interlocutory judgments or orders and, hence, the suspensive appeal was not taken within fifteen days, as provided by Article 2123(2) C.C.P., from the date (January 15, 1968) of the judgment overruling the motion for a new trial.

The Court of Appeal did not consider this basis for the dismissal of the appeal, but instead decided, sua sponte, that the appeal had been taken from the judgment refusing a new trial and not from the adverse judgment on the merits because the petition for appeal “specifically and categorically” states the intent to appeal from the judgment dismissing the application for a new trial. Accordingly, it held that the matter is controlled by our ruling in General Motors Acceptance Corporation v. Deep South Pest Control, Inc., supra, and the appeal cannot be saved from dismissal under the principle favoring appeals which was applied in the circumstances presented in our 1967 decision in Kirkeby-Natus Corporation v. Campbell, 250 La. 868, 199 So.2d 904.

The record shows that, on September 12, 1967, the trial court signed a judgment for damages in favor of plaintiff and against all defendants in the sum of $95,948.35. On September 15, 1967, defendants moved for a rehearing and/or new trial, which motions were heard on October 20, 1967 and taken under advisement. These motions were denied on January 15, 1968, and judgment was signed on January 18, 1968. The Clerk of Court mailed a notice of the dismissal of the rule for a new trial on January 23, 1968 to the defendants’ attorney of record. There is dispute between *345 the parties about the date of the notice, plaintiff contending that notice was not requested and that the only date on which the notice was mailed was January 15, but the record shows certification by the Clerk that a notice was also mailed on January 23, 1968.

On February 1, 1968, defendants moved for a suspensive appeal “from that certain judgment rendered in this cause on the 18th day of January, 1968.” It is also stated in the petition for appeal that “The judgment desired to be appealed from is a judgment dismissing a rule for a new trial.” However, the order of appeal declares that the defendants “ * * * be and they are hereby granted a suspensive appeal from the judgment rendered in the above entitled and numbered cause * * * upon his (sic) furnishing bond * * * conditioned as the law directs -i= * * ” in the amount of $161,765.00.

A suspensive appeal bond, conformably with the order signed by the judge, in the sum of $161,765.00 was filed on February 1, 1968. This bond was signed by Iddo Pittman, Jr., as surety. Plaintiff later questioned the genuineness of the signature of the surety on the bond and, on February 7, 1968, another appeal bond for the same amount was filed with Aetna Casualty and Surety Company as surety.

On February 29, 1968, plaintiff filed a motion in the district court to declare the judgment executory, averring that no written request for notice of an interlocutory judgment or order had been filed in the record by defendants, and hence under Article 2123, paragraph 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the suspensive appeal was not taken within fifteen days of the judgment or order.

Thereafter, on March 22, 1968, plaintiff filed a motion to dismiss the appeal in the Court of Appeal on the ground that the appeal was not timely taken.

As stated heretofore, when the appeal was heard on this motion to dismiss, the Court of Appeal dismissed the suspensive appeal, ex proprio motu, on the ground that it was taken from the order denying the motion for a new trial. In thus concluding, the appellate court placed emphasis not only on the hereinabove quoted portion of the motion for appeal, but also on the language contained in the preamble of the appeal bond stating that “ * * * judgment has been rendered by the Twenty-first Judicial District Court of Louisiana, for the Parish of Tangipahoa, in the above entitled and numbered cause on a rule for a new trial, which judgment was adverse to the defendants * * *.”

Defendants contend that, while some of the recitals of the petition for appeal may be ambiguous, (it being conceded that the date given is January 18, 1968, the date of the signing of the judgment refusing a new trial), the language used is merely in *347 advertent or clerical, and is in no way misleading. Counsel declare that the intent to appeal from the judgment of September 12, 1968 - is clearly manifested by the order signed by the trial judge which fixes the amount of the bond in the sum of $161,-765.00 and that plaintiff’s counsel well understood the import of the appeal for they answered'the appeal requesting an increase of the award and also filed a brief on the merits of the case.

This Court, in General Motors Acceptance Corporation v. Deep South Pest Control, Inc., approved the dismissal of the appeal therein principally because it was contended in that matter that there was a right of appeal from an order denying a motion for a new trial. Later, in the cases of Kirkeby-Natus Corporation v. Campbell, supra, and Fruehauf Trailer Company v. Baillio, 252 La. 181, 210 So.2d 312 (1968), whére the motions recited that the appeals’were being taken from judgments rendered on certain specific days, which referred to the days on which application for new trials were refused, we concluded that the appeals should not be dismissed since the intention of the parties to appeal from the adverse judgments on the merits was evident despite the inadvertent statements respecting the judgments overruling the motions for a new trial.

In the Kirkeby-Natus case, which is factually similar to the instant matter, the Court reinstated the appeal which had been dismissed by the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, on its own motion. In considering the circumstances surrounding the taking of the appeal involved therein, i.e., that the petitioner desired to appeal from the judgment rendered on July 6, 1965, the date of the refusal of the new trial, the Court adopted the broader view that, since the prayer sought an appeal “in the above entitled and numbered cause” without reference to the date of the judgment, it was obvious that the petitioner intended to appeal and would appeal from the monied judgment rendered against him.

The same situation exists herein.

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Bluebook (online)
223 So. 2d 826, 254 La. 341, 1969 La. LEXIS 2856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-hartford-accident-and-indemnity-company-la-1969.