State ex rel. Jackson v. Jackson

110 So. 3d 597, 12 La.App. 3 Cir. 999, 2013 WL 440123, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 183
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 6, 2013
DocketNo. 12-999
StatusPublished

This text of 110 So. 3d 597 (State ex rel. Jackson v. Jackson) 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 ex rel. Jackson v. Jackson, 110 So. 3d 597, 12 La.App. 3 Cir. 999, 2013 WL 440123, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 183 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GENOVESE, Judge.

Lin this child support enforcement case, the State of Louisiana, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), sought to register and enforce a child support judgment rendered on behalf of Janice L. Jackson in the state of Kansas on January 9, 2001. Defendant, Brent C. Jackson, ex-husband of Janice and father of the children, filed a peremptory exception of prescription. The trial court granted the exception of prescription and dismissed the action filed by DCFS. DCFS appeals. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Brent and Janice had two children: Ranetta Jackson, born February 21, 1983; and Austin Jackson, born May 13, 1994. On January 9, 2001, a Journal Entry Modifying Child Support was signed in the District Court of Leavenworth County, [598]*598Kansas, wherein Brent’s “monthly child support obligation [was] modified to the sum of $337.00 per month beginning the 1st day of February, 2001,” and Janice was “granted a judgment in the amount of $21,079.00 against [Brent] which represents unpaid child support for the period of January 1997 through January 2001[.]”

The instant matter stems from a proceeding initiated on January 18, 2012, by DCFS, pursuant to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA),1 to register the child support judgment against Brent rendered on behalf of Janice in Kansas on January 9, 2001. DCFS filed a Rule to Register and Enforce the Out of State Order against Brent, a resident of Louisiana and domiciliary of Avoyelles Parish.

In response, Brent filed Exceptions of No Right/No Interest in Plaintiff to Institute Suit and Prescription on June 26, 2012. Relative to the peremptory |2exception of prescription, Brent asserted: “These present proceedings were filed in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana[,] in January 2012, some eleven (11) years after the out-of-state judgment had been obtained in the State of Kansas in 2001.” Citing La.Civ. Code Art. 3501.1,2 Brent argued that the efforts of DCFS to register and collect on the January 9, 2001 Kansas judgment were barred in Louisiana by prescription.

The hearing on Brent’s exceptions was conducted on June 27, 2012. At the conclusion thereof, the trial court took the matter under advisement pending submission of post-trial memoranda. On July 27, 2012, the trial court issued its written Reasons for Ruling wherein it denied Brent’s exceptions of no right of action and no cause of action, but granted his exception of prescription and dismissed the action filed by DCFS. The trial court’s written Reasons for Ruling stated:

Louisiana Children’s Code Article 1306.4 provides that the law of the issuing state (Kansas) governs the nature, extent, amount, and duration of current payments and other obligations of support and the payment of arrearages under the Order. Children’s Code Article 1306MB) provides that in a proceeding for arrearages, the prescriptive period under the law of this State or of the issuing State, whichever is longer applies. It is clear that in Louisiana the prescriptive period is ten years. Kansas law provides otherwise.
The applicable statute is 60-2403 which provided, prior to July 1, 2007, that a child support Judgment became dormant if certain collection or enforcement actions were not taken for a period of five years. Once dormant, the Judgment would become void after the passage of two additional years unless the Judgment was revived during the two year period of dormancy. Kansas statute 60-2404 provides that if a Judgment becomes dormant, it could also be revived within two years of a child’s emancipation.
In the case at bar, the State of Louisiana is seeking to enforce a January 9, 2001 Judgment of the State of Kansas. On January 10, 2005, a Rule to Show Cause for Contempt and Past Due Support was filed in the Parish of Rapides; however, same was dismissed on the |aparties[’] failure to appear. There was no attempt to revive the January 9, 2001 Judgment, other than the Rapides Parish filing, prior to July 1, 2007. Additionally, the youngest child, Austin, be[599]*599came emancipated on January 31, 2005. No action was taken until the filing of this action on June 27, 2012. Therefore, pursuant to applicable Kansas law, the Judgment of January 9, 2001 was prescribed under Kansas statute 60-2403 in its form prior to July 1, 2007.
Kansas statute 60-2403 was amended thereafter to provide that if a Judgment was not already void as of July 1, 2007, same would no longer be subject to being dormant. However, in the case at bar, as of July 1, 2007, the January 1, 2001 Judgment was dormant and prescribed pursuant to applicable Kansas law. The Louisiana [l]aw on prescription provides for a ten-year period which was longer at that time, however, no action was taken within the ten year period with the exception of [the] filing and a dismissal of the action in the Parish of Rapides. This filing and dismissal, along with correspondence from the Office of Children and Family Services indicating that Brent Jackson’s case closed December 14, 2004[,] with a warrant issued in 2001 being executed December 8, 2004[,] is further evidence that there were no filings and/or collection efforts as of January 9, 2011. Again, this is clearly more than ten years pursuant to applicable Louisiana [l]aw.
... [T]he law is quite clear that pursuant to the laws of the State of Kansas applicable as of July 1, 2007[,] and the law in the State of Louisiana, this action is prescribed.

A concomitant judgment was signed the same day. DCFS appeals.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

DCFS asserts the following assignments of error:

1)The trial court respectfully erred in finding that the 2001 Kansas Judgment against Brent C. Jackson was dormant and that it prescribed.
2) The trial court respectfully erred in stating that the youngest child, Austin Jackson, was emancipated in 2005 and that two years had passed thus barring a revivor.
3) The trial court respectfully erred in finding that 2001 Kansas Judgment had prescribed in accordance with the Louisiana [t]en year liberative prescription statute.

llaw and discussion

Standard of Review

In Leger v. Sonnier Exterminating Co., 05-1291, p. 4 (La.App. 3 Cir. 4/5/06), 926 So.2d 158, 161, writ denied, 06-1033 (La.6/23/06), 930 So.2d 982, this court set forth the appellate standard of review applicable to a peremptory exception of prescription as follows:

Ordinarily, when an appeal involves a ruling on a peremptory exception with contested issues of fact and “[w]hen evidence is introduced and evaluated in the trial court on a peremptory exception, the appellate court must review the entire record to determine whether the trial court manifestly erred with its factual conclusions.” Egle v. Egle, 01-927, p. 4 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/6/02), 817 So.2d 136, 139 (quoting Parker v. Buteau, 99-519, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/13/99), 746 So.2d 127, 129). However, in a case in which there are no contested issues of fact and the only issue is the application of the law to the undisputed facts, as in the case at bar, the appellate court must decide whether the lower court’s decision is legally correct or incorrect. Sieferman v. State Farm Mut. Auto.

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Bluebook (online)
110 So. 3d 597, 12 La.App. 3 Cir. 999, 2013 WL 440123, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-jackson-v-jackson-lactapp-2013.