Succession of Nobles

684 So. 2d 973, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0398, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2714, 1996 WL 663801
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 8, 1996
DocketNos. 96 CM 0398, 96 CA 0468
StatusPublished

This text of 684 So. 2d 973 (Succession of Nobles) 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
Succession of Nobles, 684 So. 2d 973, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0398, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2714, 1996 WL 663801 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

IzWHIPPLE, Judge.

This matter is presently before us on a motion to dismiss filed by appellee, Antin and Lorenz, a professional law corporation, seeking dismissal of the suspensive appeal of the United States of America. For the following reasons, we deny the motion to dismiss the appeal and remand the matter to the trial court to fix an appropriate appeal bond.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The United States filed a motion for sus-pensive appeal from a judgment rendered by the trial court determining the priority and ranking of competing claims to the assets of the estate of Harry Edwin Nobles in a consolidated succession and concursus proceeding. In its motion for suspensive appeal, the United States requested that it be declared exempt from the requirement to post a security bond for the payment of costs, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2408. The trial court granted the motion for suspensive appeal and ordered that the United States be exempted from the requirement to post a security bond for the payment of costs.

Is Appellee, Antin and Lorenz, a professional law corporation, filed an application for supervisory writs with this court, complaining of the trial court’s ruling granting a suspensive appeal without a bond. However, the application for writs was untimely under Rule 4-3 of the Uniform Rules of the Courts of Appeal, and by order dated February 23, 1996, this court refused to consider the writ application. Thereafter, Antin and Lorenz filed with this court a motion to dismiss the appeal for failure to post a bond for the costs of appeal. Subsequent to the filing of the motion, the appeal was lodged under docket number 96 CA 0468. By order dated May 17, 1996, this court set the motion to dismiss bearing docket number 96 CM 0398, on the September, 1996 docket and ordered the parties to file briefs. Thus, the sole matter under consideration is appellee’s motion to dismiss the suspensive appeal, which we now address without reaching the merits of the appeal.

MOTION TO DISMISS SUSPENSIVE APPEAL

Antin and Lorenz moved to dismiss the appeal of the United States on the grounds that pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. art. 2123, a timely-filed, sufficient appeal bond is required to perfect a suspensive appeal and no statute or jurisprudence of this state grants an exemption from this requirement to the United States. The United States admits that Louisiana law requires a bond in these proceedings, but argues that 28 U.S.C. § 2408 should exempt the United States from that rule.

Generally, in order to perfect a suspensive appeal, an appellant must furnish security for the payment of the judgment in the event of affirmation on appeal.1 LSA-C.C.P. arts. 2123 & 2124; Rome v. Traylor, 620 So.2d [975]*9751168, 1165 (Laj41993). Louisiana law provides an exception to the security requirement in LSA-R.S. 18:4581, which specifically exempts “[s]tate, parish and municipal boards or commissions exercising public power and functions,” among others, from furnishing security for an appeal. This exemption has been interpreted liberally and has been extended to include not only state, parish and municipal boards and commissions, but also the state, parishes and municipalities themselves. Rome, 620 So.2d at 1165; see also Advanced Collision Services, Inc. v. State, Department of Transportation, 93-740 (La.App. 5th Cir. 1/25/94); 631 So.2d 1245, 1247. However, no statutory provision in Louisiana law specifically exempts the United States from the requirement to furnish security for an appeal.

In opposing the motion to dismiss its suspensive appeal, the United States avers that 28 U.S.C. § 2408, read in connection with the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const, art. VI, grants it an exemption from the bond requirement. 28 U.S.C. § 2408 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Security for damages or costs shall not be required of the United States, any department or agency thereof or any party acting under the direction of any such department or agency on the issuance of process or the institution or prosecution of any proceeding. (Emphasis added).

The United States notes that prior to enactment of 28 U.S.C. § 2408 in 1948, former 28 U.S.C. § 870 provided a similar exemption, but was applicable only to actions in the United States Supreme Court and federal district courts. Relying on the revision notes to section 2408, the United States argues that with the enactment of 28 U.S.C. § 2408, the exemption from furnishing security was expanded to apply to “all courts,” including state courts. See 28 U.S.C. § 2408, historical and statutory notes. Thus, the United States argues that to the extent any state law is in conflict with this federal statute, the conflicting state statute, requiring the United States to furnish security, is void under the supremacy clause.

|5Our research has not revealed any Louisiana jurisprudence addressing the applicability of this federal statute to state court proceedings in Louisiana. However, the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas specifically addressed this issue and concluded that 28 U.S.C. § 2408 does not exempt the United States from posting an appeal bond in state court. United States Department of Air Force v. Wilhelm, 555 S.W.2d 498, 499-500 (Tex.Civ.App.1977). The Texas court concluded that the legislature of Texas alone had the authority to prescribe its own system of practice and the rules for appealing in a Texas state court. Wilhelm, 555 S.W.2d at 499. Moreover, the court disagreed with the argument of the United States that 28 U.S.C. § 2408 encompassed actions in both state and federal courts. The Texas court held that no language in section 2408 itself or in the reviser’s note demonstrated an intent by Congress that the United States is exempt from state bond requirements and that the only substantive difference between former section 870 and the current section 2408 was that the new statute applies to all federal court proceedings. Wilhelm, 555 S.W.2d at 500.

We agree with the analysis of the Texas Court of Civil Appeals and likewise hold that 28 U.S.C. § 2408 applies only to federal court proceedings and does not exempt the United States from state bond requirements in state court proceedings. Therefore, to the extent that LSA-C.C.P. arts. 2123 and 2124 address appeal bond requirements in state court proceedings and 28 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
684 So. 2d 973, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0398, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2714, 1996 WL 663801, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-nobles-lactapp-1996.