Kelvin Wells, Kelda Wells, Treasure Wells, Bethany Wells and Patrik Wells v. East Baton Rouge Parish School System, District Superintendent Magnolia Woods Elementarys Schools, Principal Donna Wallette

STATE OF LOUISIANA

KELVIN WELLS, KELDA WELLS, NO. 2023 CW 0517
TREASURE WELLS, BETHANY
WELLS AND PATRIK WELLS

VERSUS

EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH
SCHOOL SYSTEM, DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT MAGNOLIA JULY 18, 2023
WOODS ELEMENTARYS SCHOOLS
PRINCIPAL, DONNA WALLETTE

In Re: The East Baton Rouge Parish School System and Donna
Wallette, applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial
District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 597165.

BEFORE: THERIOT, WOLFE, AND HESTER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The trial March 1, 2023
court' s judgment,
which granted the Motion to Set Aside
filed by plaintiff, Kelvin
Wells (" Wells"),
and vacated the Motion to Dismiss Suit on Grounds
of Abandonment signed on January 13, 2023, is reversed. An action
is abandoned when the parties fail to take any step in its
prosecution or defense in the trial court for a period of three
years. La. Code Civ. P. art. 561 ( A) ( 1) . Abandonment is self-

executing; it occurs -automatically with the passing of three years
without a
step being taken by either party. See La. Code Civ. P.
art. 561 ( A)( 1) and ( 3). Wells failed to introduce any exhibits
or documents into evidence the
at
hearing on the Motion to Set
Aside Dismissal.
See BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP v. Louis, 2020-
0717 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 5/ 13/ 21), 326 So. 3d 904, 909. The Pre -
Trial Order Request, which delivered to
was the clerk of court,
filed into the suit record on November 8, 2019, and included a

request for a trial setting, was the last step taken in the trial
court towards the prosecution or defense of this matter. See e. g.
Ellzey v. Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Co., 388 So. 2d 843,
847 ( La. App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 394 So. 2d 617 ( La. 1980). We
find the documents that Wells filed into the suit record between
the dates of February 8, 2022 and March 31, 2022 did not serve to
hasten the matter to judgment and were not steps in the
prosecution or defense of the action in the trial court.
Accordingly, the action filed by plaintiffs, Kelda Wells and
Kelvin Wells, on behalf of their minor children, Treasure Wells,
Bethany Wells, and Patrick Wells, abandoned on November 8, 2022,
by operation of law. Accordingly, the Motion to Set Aside filed
by plaintiff, Kelvin Wells, is denied, and the claims of the
plaintiffs, Kelda Wells and Kelvin Wells, on behalf of their minor
children, Treasure Wells, Bethany Wells, and Patrick Wells,
against defendants, East Baton Rouge Parish School System, the
District Superintendent,
in his individual and official capacities
of Magnolia Woods Elementary School Principal, Donna Wallette, in
her individual and official capacities, are dismissed without
prejudice.

MRT
EW

CHH

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

C, -

DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT-