State, Department of Transportation & Development v. Lauricella Land Co.

106 So. 3d 1124, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 384, 2012 WL 6176555, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1603
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 11, 2012
DocketNo. 12-CA-384
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 106 So. 3d 1124 (State, Department of Transportation & Development v. Lauricella Land Co.) 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
State, Department of Transportation & Development v. Lauricella Land Co., 106 So. 3d 1124, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 384, 2012 WL 6176555, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1603 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

JUDE G. GRAVOIS, Judge.

12AppelIant, Jon Gegenheimer, in his official capacity as Clerk of Court of the 24th Judicial District Court in and for the Parish of Jefferson, has appealed a trial court judgment ordering that funds deposited with his office by appellee as court costs be returned to appellee. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellee in this proceeding, the State of Louisiana, through the Department of Transportation and Development (“DOTD”) filed suit against Lauricella Land Company, L.L.C. (“Lauricella”) and The Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack, Inc. (“Pep Boys”) to expropriate land pursuant to LSA-R.S. 48:451, et seq., for the purpose of widening the approach to the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish. The Order of Expropriation was signed by the trial court on March 10, 2008. Lauricella and Pep Boys proceeded to withdraw [1126]*1126funds from the registry of the court pursuant to this Order. On November 19, 2008, Lauricella filed an Answer and Reconven-tional Demand claiming that the amount paid by DOTD was ^insufficient to fully compensate it for the full extent of its loss for the taking.1 The matter proceeded to a jury trial and a verdict was rendered in favor of Lauricella. DOTD appealed this verdict, which was affirmed by this Court. State, Dept. of Transp. and Dev. v. Lauricella Land, L.L.C., 10-790 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/28/11), 65 So.3d 712.

After the verdict in favor of Lauricella was affirmed, Mr. Gegenheimer, in his official capacity as Clerk of Court of the 24th Judicial District Court (“Clerk”), refused to allow Lauricella to withdraw the full amount of funds on deposit to satisfy the judgment; rather, he attempted to retain the amount of court costs incurred by DOTD on behalf of the state during the pendency of the proceeding. By agreement with the Clerk, DOTD deposited additional funds with the Clerk in an amount equal to the court costs it incurred on behalf of the state in this matter ($4,559.94). This allowed Lauricella to withdraw the full amount awarded to it under the judgment that had been rendered in its favor.

DOTD then filed a motion requesting that a rule nisi be held ordering the Clerk to show cause why DOTD should not be refunded the $4,559.94 it deposited as court costs it incurred on behalf of the state pursuant to the agreement it had reached with the Clerk in this matter, plus the initial filing fee of $421.65 the Clerk charged it in this matter, which DOTD asserts that it had inadvertently paid. In its motion, DOTD asserted that it is an entity of the state, and as such, is exempt from assessment and payment of its own costs pursuant to LSA-R.S. 13:4521. In response to this motion, the trial court ordered the Clerk to show cause why DOTD should not be refunded all costs deposited in this matter incurred by DOTD on behalf of the state.

14At the hearing on the matter, DOTD argued that pursuant to the explicit wording of LSA-R.S. 13:4521, the court does not have authority to tax the state for its own costs, and correspondingly, the Clerk does not have authority to collect the costs incurred by the state. In response, the Clerk argued that the case law holds that state agencies are no longer immune from paying costs; rather, costs are temporarily deferred until the conclusion of the litigation. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court ruled in favor of DOTD, ordering the Clerk to refund said deposits of costs made by DOTD, prompting this appeal by the Clerk.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

In this appeal, the Clerk assigns the following errors, to-wit:

The trial court erred in finding that DOTD is not required to pay the court costs incurred by it in connection with this litigation.
The trial court further erred in ordering the Clerk of Court to return to DOTD the amount DOTD deposited in the registry of the court representing payment of court costs incurred by DOTD, and refund the additional costs incurred and paid by DOTD.

The Clerk argues that LSA-R.S. 13:4521 provides for the payment of court costs by the state, state agencies, and other governmental entities. Section (A)(1) of this statute provides as follows:

Except as provided in R.S. 13:5112, R.S. 19:15 and 116, and R.S. 48:451.3, and as hereinafter provided, neither the state, [1127]*1127nor any parish, municipality, nor other political subdivision, public board, or commission, nor any officer or employee of any such governmental entity when acting within the scope and authority of such employment or when discharging his official duties shall be required to pay court costs in any judicial proceeding instituted or prosecuted by or against the state, or any such parish, municipality, or other political subdivision, board, or commission, in any court of this state or any municipality of this state, including particularly but not exclusively those courts in the parish of Orleans and the city of New Orleans. This Section shall also apply to the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association and the Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association in any judicial proceeding instituted by or against them. This Section shall also apply to the policyholder or other insured of an insolvent insurer in any judicial proceeding instituted by or against the | .^Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association and the Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. This Section shall also apply to employees or agents of the state if they are named as defendants in a suit arising out of the course and scope of their employment or agency. Costs which are temporarily deferred pursuant to this Section cannot be shifted to opposing parties during the pendency of such deferment.

The Clerk contends that this statute allows for the state to prosecute or defend an action in court without the prepayment of court costs as they accrue, but the payment of these costs is only temporarily deferred until the end of the litigation, at which time the state must pay the costs incurred by it unless these costs have been assessed to another party. In support of this argument, the Clerk explains that when LSA-R.S. 13:4521 was amended in 1992, to include the language: “Costs which are temporarily deferred pursuant to this Section cannot be shifted to opposing parties during the pendency of such deferment”, the legislature intended that the state’s own costs were merely deferred until the end of the litigation and not waived. The Clerk further explains that the 1993 amendment to this statute included the Louisiana Insurance Guarantee Association (“LIGA”) and the Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association (“LLHIGA”) as entities which are exempt from the prepayment of court costs. The Clerk concludes that, based on the timing of these two amendments (ie., since this amendment to LSA-R.S. 13:4521(A)(1) to include LIGA and LLHIGA came after the above-quoted 1992 amendment to said statute), the temporary deferment of costs applies not only to LIGA or LLHIGA, but also to all costs incurred by the state in the litigation, including its own costs.

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Bluebook (online)
106 So. 3d 1124, 12 La.App. 5 Cir. 384, 2012 WL 6176555, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-department-of-transportation-development-v-lauricella-land-co-lactapp-2012.