Louisiana State University System Board of Supervisors Through Louisiana State University Veterinarian Teaching Hospital v. Robert Johnson

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

CA 20-272

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM BOARD

OF SUPERVISORS THROUGH LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

VETERINARIAN TEACHING HOSPITAL

VERSUS

ROBERT JOHNSON

**********

APPEAL FROM THE
TWELFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF AVOYELLES, NO. 2019-7200A
HONORABLE KERRY LYNDON SPRUILL, DISTRICT JUDGE

**********

SHANNON J. GREMILLION

JUDGE

**********

Court composed of Billy H. Ezell, Shannon J. Gremillion and Phyllis M. Keaty,
Judges.

APPEAL SUSPENDED; REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

Jerold Edward Knoll
The Knoll Law Firm
Post Office Box 426
Marksville, La 71351
(318) 253-6200
COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE:
Robert Johnson

Amy D. Richard
Louisiana Department of Justice-Assistant Attorney General
Post Office Box 94005
Baton Rouge, La 70804-9005
(225) 326-6550
COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS:
Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors
Louisiana State University Veterinarian Teaching Hospital

GREMILLION, Judge.

This court issued a rule ordering Plaintiff-Appellant, Louisiana State

University System Board of Supervisors through Louisiana State University

Veterinarian Hospital (LSU), to show cause, by brief only, why the appeal should

not be dismissed as having been taken from a judgment lacking proper decretal

language. Input/Output Marine Systems, Inc. v. Wilson Greatbatch, Technologies,

Inc., 10-477 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/29/10), 52 So.3d 909. For the reasons that follow,

we suspend the appeal and remand this matter to the trial court with instructions to

issue a judgment containing proper decretal language.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

LSU filed suit to recover the balance on an open account established by

Defendant, Robert Johnson (Johnson), for the veterinary medical treatment of his

cat. Johnson filed an answer and reconventional demand for overpayment and

damages for the filing of a frivolous suit. In response, LSU filed exceptions of no

cause of action, vagueness, and ambiguity and want of amicable demand for the

reconventional demand for overpayment, and exceptions of no cause of action and

vagueness and ambiguity to the reconventional demand for damages. Johnson

subsequently filed a peremptory exception of prescription to LSU’s suit on open

account. Following a trial on the exceptions, on April 3, 2020, a written Judgment

was signed, which provided, in pertinent part, as follows:

REASONS HANDED DOWN on February 28, 2020 and Written Reasons
dated March 20, 2020,

ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED:

1. The Preemptory Exception of Prescription filed by JOHNSON is
hereby GRANTED;

2. The Exceptions to JOHNSON’S Reconventional Demand filed by
LSU . . . are hereby deemed and declared moot in view of the grant
of the Preemptory Exception of Prescription filed by JOHNSON[;]

3. The Reconventional Demand by JOHNSON for the claim for
Overpayment is hereby dismissed as having prescribed for the
same reasons assigned to the granting of JOHNSON’S
Reconventional demand; and

4. JOHNSON’S demand for Sanctions under La. C.C.P. Art. 863 is
hereby GRANTED and LSU is hereby cast with attorney[’]s fees
in the sum of Twenty Thousand and No/100 ($20,000.00) Dollars,
together with legal interest thereon from March 20, 2020 until
paid, and for all costs of court incurred in these proceedings.

On April 28, 2020, LSU filed a motion for suspensive appeal of that

judgment. When the record was received by this court, we discovered that the

judgment did not contain decretal language dismissing LSU’s claim against

Johnson on the open account. Therefore, we ordered LSU to show cause why the

appeal should not be dismissed as having been taken from a judgment lacking

proper decretal language.

LSU responded to the rule to show cause, arguing that when the trial court

granted Johnson’s exception of prescription, LSU’s action was dismissed by law.

Further, because LSU has only one claim to be barred, LSU urges that the granting

of the prescription exception necessarily disposes of LSU’s entire action. As such,

LSU maintains that the relief granted is determinable from the judgment itself. We

disagree.

In the instant case, the judgment contains no decretal language dismissing

LSU’s claim on Johnson’s open account. Consequently, this court finds that it

lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of the appeal. Accordingly, we suspend

the appeal and remand this matter to the trial court for the limited purpose of

rendering a proper final judgment as we did in Mouton v. AAA Cooper Transp., 17-

666, 17-667 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/10/18), 237 So.3d 594.

2

DECREE

For the reasons given, this court lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of

this appeal because it was taken from a judgment that lacks proper decretal

language. This appeal is suspended, and the matter is remanded to the trial court

with instructions to sign a judgment containing proper decretal language no later

than September 4, 2020. The Clerk of Court for the Twelfth Judicial District Court

shall forward the judgment so signed to this court as a supplement to the appellate

record, in duplicate.

APPEAL SUSPENDED; REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION.
Uniform Rules―Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-16.3.

3