Automated Summary
Key Facts
Plaintiffs Belwise Aquaculture Systems, Inc., Jimmie Belgard, and Trudy Tyler Belgard filed a legal malpractice action in Rapides Parish against attorney Paul A. Lemke, his law partner, and their malpractice insurer. The plaintiffs alleged that a petition drafted by Lemke in December 2000 omitted claims they wished to pursue in an underlying federal case. Defendants filed an exception of improper venue, arguing venue should be in Catahoula Parish where Lemke practiced and drafted the petition. The trial court overruled the exception. The appellate court reversed, maintained the exception, and remanded for transfer to Catahoula Parish, holding that wrongful conduct occurred where the petition was drafted, not where the federal case was filed or transferred.
Issues
The court addressed whether the proper venue for a legal malpractice action was Rapides Parish (plaintiffs' domicile) or Catahoula Parish (attorney's practice location). The court determined that venue is proper where the wrongful conduct occurred under La.Code Civ.P. art. 74, not where damages were sustained. The petition was drafted in Catahoula Parish, making that the appropriate venue.
Holdings
The court granted the writ and made it peremptory. The exception of improper venue was maintained, reversing the trial court's overruling of the venue exception. The case was remanded to the trial court with instructions to transfer the matter to Catahoula Parish, where venue is deemed appropriate based on the location where the wrongful conduct occurred—the attorney's law office in that parish where the petition was drafted.
Remedies
The court granted a writ and made it peremptory, maintained the exception of improper venue, and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to transfer the matter to Catahoula Parish.
Legal Principles
La.Code Civ.P. art. 74 provides that venue for wrongful conduct may be brought in the parish where the wrongful conduct occurred or where damages were sustained. The court relies on Chambers v. LeBlanc, 598 So.2d 337 (La.1992), establishing that in legal malpractice cases where the claim focuses on an attorney's failure to act, venue is proper in the parish where the wrongful conduct occurred (where the allegedly deficient pleading was drafted), not where the plaintiffs reside or where damages manifested.
Precedent Name
- Belser v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co.
- Yarnell v. Crews
- Frisard v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.
- Johnson v. Tschirn
- Chambers v. LeBlanc
Cited Statute
- Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 42
- Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 43
- Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 74
Judge Name
- John D. Saunders
- Oswald A. Decuir
- Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux
- Elizabeth A. Pickett
- Marc T. Amy
Passage Text
- As the court understands local federal procedure, pleadings may be filed in Monroe but will be redirected to Alexandria as the appropriate federal venue in the Western District. That is precisely what happened in this case. Our review of the jurisprudence, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the transcript of the venue hearing indicates that the trial court erroneously overruled the exception of improper venue.
- When damage is caused to the plaintiff in the parish where the wrongful conduct occurred, then that parish is the parish of proper venue under Article 74, even if the plaintiff is in the parish of his domicile at the time of the wrongful conduct or if the damage progresses in the parish of the plaintiff's domicile.
- The tortious conduct in this case is based on a negligently drafted petition for damages. According to Mr. Lemke's testimony, the petition was drafted at his office in Catahoula Parish. Although the allegedly deficient filing took place in Monroe, it could have been filed in Alexandria or elsewhere in the Western District. It was only later transferred to Alexandria. Therefore the plaintiff's cause of action arose in Catahoula Parish, even though damage may have later 'migrated' to another parish.