Case Name: SUCCESSION OF Viola Alexander CLIVENS
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1982-07-02
Citations: 426 So. 2d 585
Docket Number: No. 82-C-0125
Parties: SUCCESSION OF Viola Alexander CLIVENS.
Judges: MARCUS and DENNIS, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 426
Pages: 585–602

Head Matter:
SUCCESSION OF Viola Alexander CLIVENS.
No. 82-C-0125.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
July 2, 1982.
On Rehearing Jan. 10, 1983.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 11, 1983.
Additional Reasons for Denying Rehearing Feb. 17, 1983.
Nils R. Douglas, John A. Hollister, McNulty, OConnor, Stakelum & Anderson, New Orleans, for applicant.
Roger R. Roy, Franklin V. Endom, Jr., Polack, Rosenberg, Rittenberg & Endom, New Orleans, for respondents.

Opinion:
WATSON, Justice.
The issues are:
(1) Should the decision in Succession of Brown be retrospective or prospective?
(2) If prospective, from what date? and,
(3) What exceptions should be made to a prospective application to preserve the rights of litigants similarly situated to those in Brown?
George Clivens died on September 24, 1971. His widow, Viola Alexander Clivens, received a judgment giving her possession of his estate on December 17, 1974. The widow died October 19,1978, leaving collateral relatives but no children. A sister was appointed administratrix of the succession. Dorothy Clivens Joseph Vantress, born June 18, 1928, intervened in the succession on July 20,. 1979, contending that she was the acknowledged illegitimate daughter of George Clivens and entitled to his half of the estate. The trial court sustained an exception of no cause of action to the intervention. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court judgment, holding that Succession of Brown should be applied prospectively from its September 3, 1980, date. Succession of Clivens, 406 So.2d 790 (La.App. 4 Cir.1981). The court relied on its earlier decision in Succession of Ross, 397 So.2d 830 (La.App. 4 Cir.1981). A writ was granted to review the judgment. 411 So.2d 47 (La., 1982).
Succession of Brown, supra, held that Civil Code art. 919 denied equal protection to illegitimates in violation of Art. 1, § 3 of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution and the United States Constitution. Brown followed Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, 97 S.Ct. 1459, 52 L.Ed.2d 31 (1977). Trimble held that an. illegitimate who has proven filiation must have the same status as a legitimate heir in a state's intestate succession law. Brown has been applied retroactively. See Succession of Richardson, 392 So.2d 105 (La.App. 1 Cir.1980), writ denied 396 So.2d 1324 (La.1981).
New case law has traditionally had retroactive effect, but retroaction is not required by the United States Constitution. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965). The states are free to limit the retroactivity of their civil decisional law. Sunburst Oil & Refining Co. v. Great Northern Railway, 91 Mont. 216, 7 P.2d 927 (1932), affirmed 287 U.S. 358, 53 S.Ct. 145, 77 L.Ed. 360 (1932). Legislation usually has only prospective effect. LSA-C.C. art. 8 provides:
"A law can prescribe only for the future; it can have no retrospective operation, nor can it impair the obligation of contracts."
In the judicial area, "[Pjrospective overruling is a simple matter of facing up to the reality that things change, even fundamental things, and effecting change in a deliberate and rational manner rather than pretending that things were always the way they are now." 51 Va.L.Rev. 204. Generally, unless a decision specifies otherwise, it is given both retrospective and prospective effect. See Peterson v. Superior Court of Ventura County, 31 Cal.3d 147, 181 Cal. Rptr. 784, 642 P.2d 1305 (1982).
Two competing interests are involved: (1) the property rights which have been acquired on the basis of the laws denying inheritance rights to illegitimates; and, (2) the unequal treatment that prospective application of Brown will cause to those ille-gitimates in the same situation as the Brown plaintiffs. These interests must be weighed to decide whether "the hardship on a party who has relied on the old rule outweighs the hardship on the party denied the benefit of the new rule." 28 Hastings Law Journal 561.
Judicial decisions are denied retroactive effect either to protect people who have relied on the former law and/or to preserve stability in an area where stability is of particular importance. Brown overruled a Civil Code article upon which individuals had relied for generations. Legitimate children have been placed into possession of estates, sold, mortgaged and, in some cases, dissipated them. Substantial uncertainty and confusion would result if those who have relied to their detriment on prior law became subject to the claims of illegitimate heirs. However, with intestate successions, the element of detrimental reliance is generally present only as to third parties. Brown mandates vast changes in estate and property ownership. The importance of stability in land titles and the reliance on the former law in property transactions favor prospective application.
Weighing against these factors is the unequal treatment which has been afforded illegitimates disinherited by operation of C.C. art. 919. Where there has been infringement of constitutional rights, a beneficent rule righting the wrong should generally be retroactive.
Lovell v. Lovell, 378 So.2d 418 (La., 1979) declared C.C. art. 160 unconstitutional but held that the decision was not retroactive. However, the rights involved in Lovell were less fundamental than those here. Lovell relied on Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971). Chevron holds that a decision should be applied prospectively when: (1) there is a new principle of law not foreshadowed by past cases; (2) the purpose of the new rule is promoted; and (3) injustice or hardship will result from retroactivity.
In Gross v. Harris, 664 F.2d 667 (8th Cir.1981) the court considered the criteria in Chevron with respect to Trimble. The court stated:
"In applying this test to the instant appeals we observe that the first element of the Chevron test is present, because Trimble was not foreshadowed by previous Supreme Court decisions. Indeed, the prior decisions in Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495,96 S.Ct. 2755,49 L.Ed.2d 651 (1976) and Labine v. Vincent, 401 U.S. 532, 91 S.Ct. 1017, 28 L.Ed.2d 288 (1971), would appear to have indicated that a contrary result might be reached in Trim-ble." 664 F.2d 671.
Here, the resolution in Succession of Brown was certainly foreshadowed by the decision in Trimble. Therefore, the first element of the Chevron test is not present.
The court in Gross found the second element of Chevron missing:
"... It is self evident that the purpose of the Trimble decision was to prevent constitutionally impermissible discrimination against illegitimates. Retrospective application of Trimble would thus further the Trimble purpose. See Jimenez v. Weinberger, 523 F.2d 689, 703 (7th Cir. 1975), cert, denied, 427 U.S. 912, 96 S.Ct. 3200, 49 L.Ed.2d 1204 (1976)." 664 F.2d at 671.
Similarly, retrospective application of Brown would further the Brown purpose of preventing discrimination against illegiti-mates. Judge Schott's dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeal correctly analyzed this point:
"The purpose of the rule announced in Succession of Brown, supra was to remove the unconstitutional discrimination against illegitimates imposed by C.C. Art. 919. Among the rights of legitimate children, of which acknowledged illegiti-mates were deprived by Art. 919, was the right to assert a claim as an heir long after a judgment of possession was rendered, C.C. Art. 1030. By refusing to apply the rule of Succession of Brown retroactively, the primary purpose of the decision, i.e., putting an end to the discrimination against acknowledged illegiti-mates, is defeated. Thus, I have concluded that a consideration of the second factor of the Chevron Oil Company case dictates the opposite conclusion than that reached by my colleagues in Succession of Ross." 406 So.2d at 792.
Third, the Gross court found no impermissible injustice or hardship from a limited retroactive application of Trimble. Finding two of the three elements favoring prospec-tivity not present, the Gross court made a limited retrospective application of Trimble. Here, if claims against third parties and testate successions are excluded, no impermissible hardship will result from retroactive application of Brown. Thus, unlike Lovell, all three Chevron factors favor limited retroactivity.
Brown affects not only Civil Code article 919, but other articles governing Louisiana successions. Because of the far reaching effect of the decision and the uncertainty it has engendered in many areas, it is essential that its complete implementation be prospective. This does not, however, prevent certain limited retroactive exceptions. A new rule "may be retrospective, partially retrospective, or prospective." Myers v. Drozda, 180 Neb. 183, 141 N.W.2d 852 at 854 (1966). "Definitions of past transactions to which a new rule applies may . vary in detail." Aldisert, The Judicial Process, "Prospectivity or Retrospectivity?", at page 900.
The rights of third parties can be fully protected if Brown is made prospective as to all third parties' interests. Third parties are governed by the declared law at the time they acquired their interests. Lyons v. Veith, 170 La. 915, 129 So. 528 (1930).
Limiting the retroactive effect of Brown to rights against coheirs in intestate successions would best balance the equities involved. An heir who has acquired title through the law regulating intestate successions must yield to a later interpretation of that law. 47 Harvard Law Review 1409. See Pierce v. Pierce, 46 Ind. 86 (1874) and Jackson v. Harris, 43 F.2d 513 (10 Cir.1930). Hence, Brown will be retroactive as to coheirs in intestate successions and prospective as to third parties and testate successions. This is consistent with Trimble, which concerns intestate successions.
Since Brown relied on the Louisiana Constitution, it is arguable that it should be prospective from the Constitution's effective date. However, it is doubtful that the constitutional provision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of birth was intended to apply to inheritance by illegitimates. The equal protection guarantee in the Louisiana Constitution "... is probably best understood in light of the federal equal protection analysis which provided the background for the debate." 35 La.L.Rev. 8. The debate indicates that the language of the article, although more specific than the federal, was intended to embody federal constitutional standards. Labine v. Vincent, 401 U.S. 532, 91 S.Ct. 1017, 28 L.Ed.2d 288, rehearing denied 402 U.S. 990, 91 S.Ct. 1672, 29 L.Ed.2d 156 (1971) held that Louisiana Civil Code article 919 did not violate constitutional guarantees. Trimble, which cast doubt on Labine, was decided after January 1, 1975, the effective date of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. Thus, the federal jurisprudence relating to illegiti-mates at the time indicates the Louisiana constitutional provision did not necessarily envision inheritance rights by illegitimates. The effective date of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 would not be appropriate as a point of demarcation between prospective and retroactive application of Brown. Also, since Trimble did not specifically overrule Labine, Trimble's date is inappropriate. See 42 La.L.Rev. 468.
When a judgment of a court changes a rule, "the date of that opinion is the crucial date". Linkletter v. Walker, supra, 381 U.S. at 639, 85 S.Ct. 1743,14 L.Ed.2d at 614 (1965). Therefore, the prospective full implementation of Brown applies to causes of action arising after its decision date of September 3, 1980.
Prior to September 3,1980, acknowledged illegitimates or those who have proven filiation do not have the status of forced heirs in testate succession. Any claims against third parties by illegitimates based on Brown arising before that date are barred. In the interest of preserving the stability of land titles, all third parties are protected. Transferees, mortgagees, and succession debtors who acted in good faith reliance on the prior law are not subject to retroactive claims by illegitimates.
An acknowledged illegitimate or one who proves filiation has, under Brown, the same rights as a legal heir. However, those rights are only partially retroactive. Retroactive claims against third parties and testate successions are precluded. In the interest of justice and equal treatment, Brown is to be retroactive in intestate successions where the rights of third parties are not involved.
Plaintiff's claim is not barred. Her suit has never been considered, much less decided. Were she a legitimate heir, her suit would not have prescribed. A succession judgment of possession is subject to amendment. Since plaintiff is alleged to be an acknowledged illegitimate, the problem of proving filiation apparently does not arise. LSA-C.C. art. 203. Act 549 of 1980 appears inapplicable.
An acknowledged illegitimate, like plaintiff, whose rights have not previously been litigated, can assert those rights against other heirs in an intestate succession. Any inheritance claims of plaintiff lie solely against her father's other heir, his wife. Since the estate of the wife is intact, under administration, plaintiff retains a cause of action against that estate.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
MARCUS and DENNIS, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
CALOGERO, J., dissents for reasons assigned by DENNIS, J.
. 388 So.2d 1151 (La., 1980). This author dissented.'
. Since Brown was retroactive as to the litigants, the question is not one of pure prospec-tivity.
. This article has been repealed by Act 1981, No. 919, § 8.
. Some states have denied retroactive effect to Trimble. An Arkansas court in Frakes v. Hunt, 266 Ark. 171, 583 S.W.2d 497 (1979) cert. denied 444 U.S. 942, 100 S.Ct. 297, 62 L.Ed.2d 309, refused to apply Trimble v. Gordon retroactively "to prevent chaotic conditions arising from the lack of title to real property", 583 S.W.2d at 499. Cited in Frakes is the Kentucky case of Pendleton v. Pendleton, 560 S.W.2d 538 (1968) which refused to apply Trimble prior to its effective date of April 26, 1977, "except for those specific instances in which the disposi-tive constitutional issue raised in this case was then in the process of litigation". Also cited is the Tennessee case of Allen v. Harvey, 568 S.W.2d 829 (Tenn., 1978) which allowed illegiti-mates to inherit only prospectively except for "any cases pending in the courts of Tennessee on the date this opinion is released." Illinois and Texas hold that Trimble does not require retroactive application. In Re Estate of Rudder, 397 N.E.2d 556, 78 Ill.App.3d 517, 34 Ill.Dec. 100 (1979); Winn v. Lackey, 618 S.W.2d 910 (Tex.Civ.App.1981).
. "In France . the retroactivite des nouvelles jurisprudences has been considered as une in-ttrmite du systeme jurisprudentiel." 8 Israel Law Review 173.
. "[T]he legislature anticipated that Succession of Brown might be retroactive." 41 La.L.Rev. 387.
. Kirchberg v. Feenstra, 609 F.2d 727 (5th Cir. 1979); affirmed 450 U.S. 455, 101 S.Ct. 1195, 67 L.Ed.2d 428 (1981) held that LSA-C.C. art. 2404 violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The decision was applied prospectively, save for the litigants, because retroactivity "would create a substantial hardship with respect to property rights and obligations." 609 F.2d 735.
. The transcripts of the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention for August 29, reflect that delegate Roy was asked about discrimination on the basis of birth and answered:
"We mention birth because in the past the state has discriminated against legitimate and illegitimate children with respect to aid to dependent children. We felt that we wanted that clearly understood, that in certain categories, whether you're legitimate or illegitimate should not allow state discriminatory practices against you." (Pages 62-63)
Delegate Pugh later noted that:
"I suggest to you that the language relating to birth, to race, to age, to sex, to social origin, to physical condition, to political, religious ideas, has each and everyone been already considered and found to be viable under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." (Pages 97-98)
. LSA-C.C. art. 203 provides:
"The acknowledgement of an illegitimate child shall be made by a declaration executed before a notary public, in the presence of two witnesses, by the father and mother or either of them, or it may be made in the registering of the birth or baptism of such child."
. Act 549 of 1980 provides:
"To amend and reenact Articles 208 and 209 of the Louisiana Civil Code and to repeal Articles 210 and 212 of the Louisiana Civil Code to provide for proof of filation by illegitimate children, or presumption of filation on their behalf; to provide a procedure and time limitations for proceedings to establish filiation; to provide for the method and standard of proof in such actions; to provide that failure to institute timely such a proceeding shall bar the claims of such persons in the successions of their alleged parents; and to provide otherwise with respect thereto.
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
"Section 1. Articles 208 and 209 of the Louisiana Civil Code are hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
"Art. 208. Authorization to prove filiation. Illegitimate children, who have not been acknowledged as provided in Article 203, may be allowed to prove their filiation.
"Art. 209. Methods of proving filiation. 1. An illegitimate child may be entitled to a rebuttable presumption of filiation under the provisions of this Article. Or any child may establish filiation, regardless of the circumstances of conception, by a civil proceeding instituted by the child or on his behalf in the parish of his birth, or other proper venue as provided by law, within the time limitation prescribed in this Article.
"2. A child who is shown to be the child of a woman on an original certificate of birth is presumed to be the child of that woman, though the contrary may be shown by a preponderance of the evidence.
"3. An illegitimate child not shown as the child of a woman on an original certificate of birth may prove filiation by any means which establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, including acknowledgment in a testament, that he is the illegitimate child of that woman.
"4. A child of a man may prove filiation by any means which establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, including acknowledgement in a testament, that he is the child of that man. Evidence that the mother and alleged father were known as living in a state of concubinage and resided as such at the time when the child was conceived creates a rebuttable presumption of filiation between the child and the alleged father.
"5. Proof of filiation must be made by evidence of events, conduct, or other information which occurred during the lifetime of the alleged parent. A civil proceeding to establish filiation must be brought within six months after the death of the alleged parent, or within nineteen years of the illegitimate child's birth, whichever occurs first. If an illegitimate child is born posthumously, a civil proceeding to establish filiation must be instituted within six months of its birth, unless there is a presumption of filiation as set forth in Section 2 above. If no proceeding is timely instituted, the claim of an illegitimate child or on its behalf to rights in the succession of the alleged parent shall be forever barred. The time limitation provided in this Article shall run against all persons, including minors and interdicts.
"Section 2. Articles 210 and 212 of the Louisiana Civil Code are hereby repealed.
"Section 3. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or, if not signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
"Section 4. Any illegitimate child nineteen years of age or older shall have one year from the effective date of this Act to bring a civil proceeding to establish filiation under the provisions of this Act and if no such proceeding is instituted within such time, the claim of such an illegitimate child shall be forever barred."
. It is alleged that certain real property has been mortgaged. If so, the mortgage holder is fully protected under this decision.