Head v. Shelter Mutual Ins. Co.11/2/2005
Court composed of Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, Chief Judge, Michael G. Sullivan, and Elizabeth A. Pickett, Judges.
AFFIRMED.
The plaintiffs, Stewart and Stacy Head, and the intervenor, Risk Management, Inc., appeal a judgment of the trial court sustaining the defendants', Luby Landry's and Shelter Mutual Insurance Company's (Shelter), exception of prescription and dismissing the plaintiffs' suit with prejudice. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY This case arises out of a traffic accident which occurred on July 24, 2002, in the City of Abbeville, Louisiana (the City). The plaintiff, Stewart Head, an employee of the City, was traveling east on West Port Street (La. Hwy. 14) in a pickup truck owned by the City. He intended to make a left turn onto Weygand Street. As he started his turn, a following vehicle driven by the defendant, Luby Landry, attempted to pass the pickup on the left, striking the vehicle and injuring Mr. Head. At the time, Mr. Head was an employee of the City, acting within the course and scope of his employment. Following the accident, the City through its workers' compensation agent, Risk Management, Inc. (Risk Management), voluntarily paid Mr. Head workers' compensation benefits.
Subsequently, on July 25, 2003, Mr. Head and his wife, Stacy Head, filed the instant tort suit against Luby Landry and his insurer, Shelter Mutual Insurance Company (Shelter). The defendants answered the petition, and on May 24, 2003, they filed an exception of prescription. Before the hearing on the exception, Risk Management filed a petition of intervention, seeking to recover medical and compensation benefits that it had paid, on behalf of the City to, or on behalf of, Mr. Head, as a result of the accident.
The trial court heard the exception on August 16, 2004, and granted the defendants' exception on August 24, 2004. This appeal followed.
LAW AND DISCUSSION
The record establishes that the plaintiffs' suit was indeed filed after the one year prescriptive period had run. On appeal, the plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in granting the defendants' exception in that the City had acknowledged the "debt" it owed Mr. Head in June of 2003, thereby interrupting the one year prescriptive period. The plaintiffs maintain that the trial court based its judgment on an improper interpretation of La.R.S. 23:1204, which states: "Neither the furnishing of medical services nor payments by the employer or his insurance carrier shall constitute an admission of liability for compensation under this Chapter."
We find no merit in the plaintiffs' argument. In Gary v. Camden Fire Ins. Co., 96-55, pp. 3-5 (La. 7/2/96); 676 So.2d 553, 555-56 (footnotes omitted), the Louisiana Supreme Court explained the law applicable to this case as follows:
La.Civ.Code art. 3492 provides a one-year prescriptive period for delictual actions. Because plaintiffs' suit for tort damages was filed more than one year after the accident, the action had prescribed on its face. In such a circumstance, the plaintiff carries the burden of proving that prescription was interrupted, suspended or renounced. Lima v. Schmidt, 595 So.2d 624, 628 (La.1992). Prescription may be interrupted by the filing of a lawsuit pursuant to La.Civ.Code art. 3462, or by the debtor's acknowledgement of the obligation as provided by La.Civ.Code art. 3492.
La.Civ.Code art. 3462 provides that prescription is interrupted when suit is filed in a court of competent jurisdiction. In Williams v. Sewerage & Water Bd. of New Orleans, 611 So.2d 1383 (La.1993), this court concluded that prescription was interrupted with reg
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