State ex rel. McKeithen v. Ourso

213 So. 2d 533, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4806
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 17, 1968
DocketNo. 7533
StatusPublished

This text of 213 So. 2d 533 (State ex rel. McKeithen v. Ourso) 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. McKeithen v. Ourso, 213 So. 2d 533, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4806 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

SARTAIN, Judge.

The issue in this case is whether the defendant, Jessel M. Ourso, Sheriff of the Parish of Iberville, whose removal from office is sought under the provisions of La.Const. Art. 9, Sections 1, 6 and 7 is entitled to trial by jury. The trial judge denied defendant’s request for a trial by jury. Defendant applied to this court and was granted alternative writs of mandamus, certiorari and prohibition, wherein the judge a quo was directed to recall and annul his order denying a jury trial to defendant; or in the alternative, to show cause by briefs on or before May 16, 1968, why these writs should not be made peremptory. All further proceedings in the [534]*534trial court were stayed until the validity of defendant’s request for a jury trial is ascertained. The trial judge declined to fecall his previous order which effectuated the alternative writ of certiorari.

For convenience we quote herewith the applicable provisions of Article 9 of our Constitution of 1921:

“Section 1. All state and district officers, whether elected or appointed, shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, incompetency, corruption, favoritism, extortion, or oppression in office, or for gross misconduct, or habitual drunkenness.
Section 6. For any of the causes enumerated in Section 1 hereof, any officer, whether state, district, parochial, or of a ward or municipality, except the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and judges of the courts of record, may be removed by judgment of the district court of his domicile. The Attorney General or district attorney may, in his discretion, institute such suit, and shall do so (except when the suit is to be brought against himself) on the written request, specifying the charges, of twenty-five citizens and taxpayers, or of the governor, in the case of state, district, parochial or municipal officers, and of ten resident citizens and taxpayers in the case of ward officers. Suits against the Attorney General shall be brought at the place where he discharges his official duties by the district attorney of that district, and suits against a district attorney shall be brought by the Attorney General or the district attorney of an adjoining district, or by an attorney appointed by the court, whenever requested to do so, as above set forth.
Section 7. Ten days citation shall be allowed in all suits to remove, and they shall have preference throughout over all other cases. The State, Attorney General, district attorney, or any person at whose instance a suit is brought, may appeal, and in cases of state and district officers, the appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court; all other appeals shall lie to the courts of appeal having territorial jurisdiction.
No suit for removal shall work a' suspension from office; but the trial court may, by rule nisi and contradictory hearing, after ten days notice, suspend any officer, subject to a review by the proper appellate court, and such office shall be filled by the appointing power until the cause is finally decided.
In any cause finally decided in favor of a defendant officer, he shall recover judgment for all costs and a reasonable attorney’s fees.”

On February 19, 1968, four days after the instant petition for removal was filed, the Honorable John J. McKeithen, Governor of Louisiana, issued Executive Order No. 62 suspending the defendant from office under the authority of La. Constitution (1921, Art. 9, Section 8), which provides :

“Section 8. On the recommendation of the Auditor or the police jury of any parish, the governor may suspend any officer charged with the custody or collection of public funds when in arrears.”

The suspension order is significant because at the present time and when this case is to be heard on the merits defendant already stands suspended.

In his written reasons for denying defendant a trial by jury on the merits the trial judge held, inter alia, (1) that all cases for ouster or removal from office since the adoption of the La. Constitution of 1921 had been without a trial by jury; (2) that a trial by jury necessarily conflicts with the preferential trial provisions of Art. 9, Sect. 7 of the Constitution of 1921; (3) that the specific statutory authority for a trial by jury granted by Act 135 of 1880 was repealed by Act 2 of the Extra Session of 1950 (La. Revised Statutes); [535]*535(4) that Act 135 of 1880 was unconstitutional upon the adoption of the 1921 Constitution; (5) that Article 9, Sections 6 and 7 are self-executing and self-operative and because no provision is made for a jury trial, “said provisions do not contemplate a jury trial”; and, (6) that Art. 9, Sect. 7 definitely contemplated “that matters, coming within the provisions thereof be tried without a jury”.

We shall discuss in the order set forth above our reasons for concluding that the trial judge committed manifest error as a matter of law on each of the aforementioned reasons.

(1) Since the adoption of our present Constitution of 1921, we have found only one case where the issue of defendant’s right to trial by jury has been subject to appellate review and that case is Perez v. Licciardi, 236 La. 236, 107 So.2d 455 (1958). The cited case is clearly distinguishable from the facts presented in the instant matter in that the Perez case as it was then considered pertained to suspension, an incidental demand to the main action, pending a trial on the merits for removal. The suspension proceeding was instituted by rule nisi which is expressly provided in Paragraph 2 of Sect. 7, Art. 9, La.Const.1921. The language in Perez v. Licciardi makes the summary nature of those proceedings amply clear when the opening paragraph states (107 So.2d 455, 456):

“This case comes before us on alternative writs of certiorari, prohibition, and mandamus to determine the validity of suspension proceedings initiated against relators in the 25th Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Bernard.” (Emphasis ours)

In addition to the above quotation and to further emphasize that the court intended to restrict its ruling to suspension proceedings the opinion recites (107 So.2d 455, 457):

“Relators have not seriously pressed their claim before this Court to the right to a trial by jury of the suspension proceedings. Suffice it to say in this connection that the summary nature of the suspension proceeding, through rule nisi and contradictory hearing, necessarily requires this proceeding to he heard before the trial judge without a jury. Code of Practice, Arts. 755, 756; Prudhomme’s Heirs v. Walmsley, Man.Unrep.Cas. 374; Pesant v. Heartt, 22 La.Ann. 292.” (Emphasis ours)

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Related

In Re Byrne
191 So. 729 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1939)
In Re Perez
194 So. 774 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1940)
In Re Perez
1 So. 2d 537 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1941)
Perez v. Licciardi
107 So. 2d 455 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1958)
State ex rel. Stewart v. Reid
42 So. 662 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1906)
State ex rel. Bourg v. Marrero
61 So. 136 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1913)
State ex rel. De Bellevue v. Egan
70 So. 97 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1915)
State ex rel. Ellis v. Ferguson
97 So. 415 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1923)
Pesant v. Heartt
22 La. Ann. 292 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1870)

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Bluebook (online)
213 So. 2d 533, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mckeithen-v-ourso-lactapp-1968.