Darrell Comeaux and Carmen Comeaux, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Amie Comeaux v. State of Louisiana, State of Louisiana through the Department of Transportation and Development

DARRELL COMEAUX AND CARMEN NO. 2024 CW 0595
COMEAUX, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON
BEHALF OF THE ESTATE OF AMIE
PAGE 1 OF 2

COMEAUX

VERSUS

STATE OF LOUISIANA, STATE OF
LOUISIANA THROUGH THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
AND DEVELOPMENT

CONSOLIDATED WITH

IDA WATTIGNEY AND EVA
FRANCOIS, AS DAUGHTER OF IDA
WATTIGNEY

VERSUS

STATE OF LOUISIANA, STATE OF
LOUISIANA THROUGH THE SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
AND DEVELOPMENT

In Re: Darrell Comeaux and Carmen Comeaux on behalf of the

Estate of Amie Comeaux and Ida Wattigney and Eva Francois
as daughter of Ida Wattigney, applying for supervisory
writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East
Baton Rouge, No. 456518 c/ w 456545.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, C. J., WELCH AND LANIER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED IN PART WITH ORDER AND DENIED IN PART. On May
1, 2024, the district court granted defendants' motion for partial

summary judgment dismissing with prejudice "[ a] ll claims for loss
of support or lost business income" asserted by or on behalf of
plaintiff, " Carmen Comeaux". However, the parties concede that

Carmen died in 2006. There is no indication from the writ

application or the judgment that a proper party plaintiff was

substituted for Carmen Comeaux prior to the district court' s May
1, 2024 judgment. Upon the death of a litigant, a proper party
plaintiff must be substituted to allow the action to continue.

Foster v. State, Dept of Health & Hosps. , 2009- 0806 ( La. App. 1st
Cir. 10/ 27/ 09) 2009 WL 3460685, * 1. A judgment rendered for or
against a deceased party is an absolute nullity. Id. ( citing
Rainey v. Entergy Gulf States, Inc., 2001- 2414 ( La. App. 1st Cir.
6/ 25/ 04), 885 So. 2d 1193, 1197, writs denied, 2004- 1878, 1883, &
1884 ( La. 11/ 15/ 04) , 887 So. 2d 478, 479 & 479) . Therefore, the
portion of the district court' s May 1, 2024 judgment dismissing
claims of Carmen Comeaux is null and is vacated.

The portion of the district court' s May 1, 2024 judgment
granting the motion for partial summary judgment and dismissing
without prejudice the Estate of Amie Comeaux as a party plaintiff
is an appealable judgment. See La. Code Civ. P. art. 1915( A)( 1).
Thus, the writ application is granted for the limited purpose of

NO. 2024 CW 0595

PAGE 2 OF 2

remanding this matter to the district court with instructions to
grant an appeal to plaintiff, the Estate of Amie Comeaux, pursuant

to its notice of intent to apply for supervisory writs. See In re
Howard, 541 So. 2d 195, 197 ( La. 1989) ( per curiam) . Additionally,
a copy of this court' s order is to be included in the appellate
record.

In all other respects, the writ is denied.

JEW
WIL

Guidry, C. J., concurs in part and dissents in part. I concur

with the portions of the action granting the writ. However, I

dissent in part from the denial of the writ with respect to the
parents' loss of support claim. All of the cited cases requiring
proof of prior support by an adult child are distinguishable in
that those cases do not involve a circumstance where an adult child
contractually committed to supporting his or her parents.

Understandably, evidence of pre -death financial support is

typically needed to justify or validate a parent' s claim of future
support by an adult child. But the mere lack of pre -death support,
in this case, should not be held to refute express evidence—in the
form of a contractual agreement—that future financial support

could validly be expected in accordance with the terms of the

contract.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT