St. Tammany Parish Government v. Welsh

Supreme Court of Louisiana June 28, 2016

St. Tammany Parish Government v. Welsh, 195 So. 3d 1204 (La. 2016)

2016 WL 3659962

Grant, Guidry, Johnson, Knoll, Reasons

Dissenting Opinion

KNOLL, J.,

would grant.

1 iBecause I find the judgment of the District Court represents a declaration of unconstitutionality, the Court of Appeal’s judgment is an absolute nullity under La. Code Civ. P. art. 2002. When the appel*1205late court notices an absolute nullity, the court is empowered to vacate or correct the judgment on its own motion. See Mack v. Wiley, 07-2344 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/2/08), 991 So.2d 479, 486, writ denied, 08-1181 (La.9/19/08), 992 So.2d 932. Accordingly, I would grant and docket this case as an appeal to this Court.

Dissenting Opinion

11 GUIDRY, Justice,

would grant the application for reconsideration for the same reasons given in reference to the original writ application.

Opinion of the Court

In re Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany Parish; — Other; Applying for Reconsideration of this Court’s action dated June 17, 2016, Parish of E. Baton Rouge, 19th Judicial District Court Div. E, No. 631370; to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, No. 2015 CA 1152.

Reconsideration not considered.

JOHNSON, C.J., would grant. KNOLL, J., would grant and assigns reasons. GUIDRY, J., would grant and assigns reasons.

Reference

Full Case Name: ST. TAMMANY PARISH GOVERNMENT v. James H. WELSH, in His Capacity as Commissioner of Conservation of the State of Louisiana, Department of Natural Resources
Status: Published