Menard v. Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office
Menard v. Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office
Opinion of the Court
| [Plaintiff, Royd Menard, appeals the dismissal of his claim for supplemental earnings benefits (SEB) on Defendant’s exception of prescription. For the following reasons, we affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In March of 2004, Royd Menard was hired as a Deputy Sheriff by the Iberia Parish Sheriffs Office. Menard alleges that he injured his left knee when he fell on a broken sidewalk in the course and scope of his employment on January 31, 2005, while he was transporting a prisoner to the New Orleans Charity Hospital. De
Menard had another knee surgery on June 9, 2009, and made a claim for SEB against the Iberia Parish Sheriffs Office by filing an LWC-WC-1008 form and mailing it OWC District 4 (Lafayette Parish) office on November 5, 2009. On November 16, 2009, Judge Sharon M. Morrow ordered the claim transferred to OWC District 9 (Iberia Parish). Once the Iberia Parish Sheriffs Office was served, it filed an answer and asserted an exception of prescription. A hearing was held via telephone on the exception of prescription on February 3, 2011, and the exception was |2denied. Defendant refiled its exception of prescription, and a hearing was held on March 22, 2011, at which documentary evidence and affidavits were received. The WCJ granted the exception and dismissed Menard’s claim with prejudice. Menard now appeals, asserting that the WCJ erred: (1) in finding that the filing of the 1008 on November 5, 2009, did not interrupt the prescription of his claim for SEB; (2) in concluding that the prescription of his claim for SEB was interrupted on November 16, 2009, the date venue was transferred from District 4 to District 9; and (3) in concluding that prescription began to run on his claim for SEB on November 10, 2006
DISCUSSION
Menard asserts that we should review this matter as a question of law where our review is simply to determine whether the trial court was legally correct. However, we note that evidence and affidavits were introduced into evidence at the hearing.
If evidence is introduced at the hearing on the peremptory exception of prescription, the district court’s findings of fact are reviewed under the manifest error-clearly wrong standard of review. Stobart v. State, through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La. 1993). If the findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, an appellate court may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Id., 617 So.2d at 882-83.
Rando v. Anco Insulations, Inc., 08-1163, p. 20 (La.5/22/09), 16 So.3d 1065, 1082. Thus, the proper standard of review in this case is the manifest error-clearly wrong standard.
We must first address the issue of venue in order to determine whether Menard’s filing of his complaint in District 4 interrupted prescription. Menard as
We must next determine when prescription on the claim for SEB begins to run: the date on which the last indemnity payment was mailed to claimant, November 10, 2006, or the date through which the last benefits were paid, November 14, 2006. Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:1209(A)(2) provides “[w]here such payments have been made in any case, the limitation shall not take effect until the expiration of one year from the time of making the last payment, except that in cases of benefits payable pursuant to R.S. 23:1221(3) this limitation shall not take effect until three years from the time of making the last payment of benefits pursuant to R.S. 23:1221(1), (2), (3), or (4).” Defendants contend that this means Me-nard’s claim for SEB had to be filed by November 10, 2009. Menard argues, however, that when a payment is made prospectively, prescription cannot begin to run until the last date through which the benefits are paid since no dispute arises during the period for which benefits are being paid.
The WCJ relied on Bertrand v. Patterson Truck Line, 138 So.2d 663 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1962), and the “mailbox rule” to determine that final payment is made on the date that payment is mailed. Therefore, according to La.R.S. 23:1209(A)(2), prescription for SEBs begins at the time the last payment is mailed, even though the payment may | ^include a period beyond that date. We agree with the WCJ that La.R.S. 23:1209(A)(2) does not refer to the last day that the benefit was due or to the expiration of the benefits period but specifically states that the limitation begins at the time that the last payment is made. Thus, prescription on Menard’s claim began to run on November 10, 2006, and his filing in the wrong venue did not interrupt that prescription.
DECREE
For all of the foregoing reasons, the granting of the exception of prescription is affirmed. Costs of this appeal are assessed to Plaintiff-Appellant, Royd Me-nard.
AFFIRMED.
. Menard asserts that the check was paid on November 9, 2006, but the record reflects that the check was issued on November 9 and mailed on November 10.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.