The Estate Of Ernestine Knox v. Gregory Banks

Supreme Court of Louisiana
October 15, 2024
Chief Deputy Clerk of Court
For the Court
The Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana
THE ESTATE OF ERNESTINE KNOX
VS.
GREGORY BANKS
No. 2024-C-00516
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I
N RE: Deborah Knox - Applicant Other; Applying For Writ Of Certiorari, Parish
of East Baton Rouge, 19th Judicial District Court Number(s) 704,690, Court of
Appeal, First Circuit, Number(s) 2023 CA 0762;
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October 15, 2024
Writ application granted. See per curiam.
Weimer, C.J., dissents and would deny.
Crain, J., concurs.
JTK
JDH
SJC
JBM
PDG
10/15/2024 "See News Release 046 for any Concurrences and/or Dissents."

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 2024-C-00516
THE ESTATE OF ERNESTINE KNOX
VS.
GREGORY BANKS
On Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Parish of East
Baton Rouge
PER CURIAM:
W RIT GRANTED. It is undisputed the incomplete record was attributable
to the Defendant, not the Plaintiff, when the Defendant failed to file copies of his
Exhibits A -F in the trial court, after these exhibits were admitted into evidence
during the bench trial held via Zoom. 1 Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article
2161 provides in part: “[A]n appeal shall not be dismissed because the trial record
is missing, incomplete or in error no matter who is responsible, and the court may
remand the case either for retrial or for correction of the record. An appeal shall not
be dismissed because of any other irregularity, error or defect unless it is imputable
1 Responding to the court of appeal’s order for the Clerk of Court for the Nineteenth Judicial
District Court to supplement the record with the exhibits that were introduced at the bench trial by
the Defendant, the Clerk of Court responded that this bench trial was held via Zoom and “[w]here
the exhibits were offered and introduced during the bench trial, the actual hard copies of the
evidence were never turned in to the [Clerk of Court’s Office].”
10/15/24

to the appellant.” See Thomas v. Thomas, 16-0570 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/15/17), 214
So.3d 97 (wherein the exhibits admitted during the trial were not in the record due
to circumstances not attributable to the appellant, and the appellate court, citing La.
C.C.P. art. 2161, remanded the matter to the trial court for the limited purpose of
correcting the record); see also, La. C.C. P. art. 2088 (which allows, after jurisdiction
has been divested to the appellate court, the trial court to have limited jurisdiction
over certain matters including “correct any misstatement, irregularity, informality,
or omission of the trial r ecord, as provided in Article 2132.”). As the incomplete
record was not attributable to the Plaintiff, the appellate court erred in affirming the
trial court’s judgment without a complete record. Accordingly, the appellate court’s
decision is reversed, and the matter is remanded to the trial court for the limited
purpose of Defendant filing Exhibits A-F in the record. Once the record is corrected
on remand, the appeal may be re-docketed in the appellate court upon the lodging of
the necessary supplemental record.