Case Name: STATE ex rel. COCO, Atty. Gen., v. UNION GAS, OIL & PIPE LINE CO.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1920-06
Citations: 147 La. 701
Docket Number: No. 22598
Parties: STATE ex rel. COCO, Atty. Gen., v. UNION GAS, OIL & PIPE LINE CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 147
Pages: 701–703

Head Matter:
(85 South. 645)
No. 22598.
STATE ex rel. COCO, Atty. Gen., v. UNION GAS, OIL & PIPE LINE CO.
(June, 1920.)
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Corporations &wkey;j396 — Petition for penalty for failure to make required report held to show cause of action.
A petition, filed on behalf of the state, by the Attorney General, setting forth the failure of a corporation, such as designated in section 22 of Act 267 of 1914, to comply with' the requirements of that section in the matter of its annual report, and demanding judgment for the penalties prescribed for such failure, discloses a cause of action.
Appeal from Eirst Judicial District Court, Parish of Caddo; J. B. Land, Judge.
Suit by the State of Louisiana, on the relation of A. V. Coco, Attorney General, against the Union Gas, Oil & Pipe Line Company. Exception of no cause of action sustained, and suit .dismissed, and plaintiff appeals.
Beversed, exception of no cause of action overruled, and case remanded.
A. V. Coco, Attorney General, for appellant.
Barret & Eiles, of Shreveport, for appellee.

Opinion:
MONBOE, C. J.
To this suit brought for the recovery of penalties prescribed by section 22 of Act 267 of 1914, defendant excepted, on the ground that the petition discloses no cause of action, and, the exception having been sustained and the suit dismissed, plaintiff has appealed. The exception, as copied in the record, contains no intimation of the precise ground upon which it is predicated, and the defendant has made no appearance here to enlighten us upon that subject. Having compared the petition with the statute, and both petition and statute with our ruling in State ex rel. Coco, Atty. Gen., v. Shreveport Water Wiorks C'o., 141 La. 1091, 76 South. 210, in which a similar exception to a similar suit was held to have been improperly sustained, we conclude that the ruling here should be the same as in that case, and as follows, to wit:
Inasmuch as the requirements of section 22 of Act 267 of 1914 are that domestic and foreign corporations, engaged in the business of operating public utilities in this state, under state, parish, or municipal franchises, shall make annual reports,- within specified periods, containing specified information, under a specified penalty for noncompliance, a petition, filed on behalf of the state, by the Attorney General, alleging that such a corporation has failed to comply with those requirements (which it sets forth in full), and has thereby incurred the penalty for which it prays judgment, discloses a cause of action, and the exception of no cause of action having been improperly sustained, should be overruled.
It is therefore ordered that the judgment appealed from be annulled, the exception of ño cause of action overruled, and the case remanded, to be proceeded with according to law and to the view herein expressed, defendant to pay the costs of the appeal, and the costs of the district court to await the final judgment.