Case Name: The NEWMAN MARCHIVE PARTNERSHIP, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant v. CITY OF SHREVEPORT, Defendant-Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2007-03-21
Citations: 962 So. 2d 1075
Docket Number: No. 42,073-CA
Parties: The NEWMAN MARCHIVE PARTNERSHIP, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant v. CITY OF SHREVEPORT, Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: Before BROWN, DREW, and SEXTON (Pro Tempore), JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 962
Pages: 1075–1089

Head Matter:
The NEWMAN MARCHIVE PARTNERSHIP, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant v. CITY OF SHREVEPORT, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 42,073-CA.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
March 21, 2007.
Opinion on Rehearing Aug. 22, 2007.
Wiener, Weiss, & Madison, by John M. Madison, Jr., M. Allyn Stroud, Shreveport, for Appellant.
Mayer, Smith, & Roberts, by Caldwell Roberts, Weems, Schimpf, Gilsoul, Haines, Landry, & Carmouche, by Brian D. Landry, Kenneth Haines, Carey Schimpf, Shreveport, for Appellee.
Before BROWN, DREW, and SEXTON (Pro Tempore), JJ.

Opinion:
BROWN, Chief Judge.
| plaintiff, Newman Marchive Partnership, Inc. ("Newman"), attempted via petition for writ of mandamus to force defendant, the City of Shreveport ("the City"), to pay a money judgment in its favor. Newman now appeals from the trial court's dismissal of its petition. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Facts
Newman successfully sued the City for breach of contract and was awarded damages by a jury on July 16, 2004. This judgment was amended in part and affirmed in part by this court on February 24, 2006. Specifically, this court found that Newman was entitled to a principal amount of $263,674.10, together with legal interest from the date of judicial demand, February 11, 2002, until paid. See Newman Marchive Partnership, Inc. v. City of Shreveport, 40,512 (La.App.2d Cir.02/24/06), 923 So.2d 852, writ denied, 06-1040 (La.06/23/06), 930 So.2d 983.
Payment by the City, however, was not forthcoming, so on September 19, 2006, Newman filed a petition for writ of mandamus, seeking to compel the City, through its chief executive officer, then Mayor Keith Hightower, to pay the judgment. The trial court issued an alternative writ of mandamus directing the City to pay the full amount of principal plus interest due no later than September 22, 2006, or to show cause on September 25, 2006, why the writ should not be made peremptory.
On September 22, 2006, the City made an unconditional tender to Newman of the principal amount of the judgment. The City, however, ^refused to pay the legal interest due, which was $70,301.66. The City also filed exceptions of no cause of action, unauthorized use of summary proceedings, and improper cumulation. An opposition was filed by Newman, and the exceptions were denied by the trial court at the beginning of the hearing on September 25, 2006. Following the testimony of Mayor Hightower and Tom Cody, the City's risk manager, the trial court found that, "based [upon] the evidence in this case at this time I find that there is an element of discretion remaining in this case and that mandamus is not appropriate at this time." Judgment recalling the alternative writ of mandamus and dismissing plaintiffs petition for writ of mandamus was rendered on the date of the hearing and signed on September 28, 2006. It is from this judgment that Newman has appealed.
Discussion
Mandamus is a writ directing a public officer to perform a ministerial duty required by law. La. C.C.P. arts. 3861 and 3863. A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy and may be issued in all cases where the law provides no relief by ordinary means or where delay in obtaining ordinary relief may cause injustice. La. C.C.P. art. 3862. If a public officer is vested with any amount of discretion, mandamus will not lie. Vogt v. Board of Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District, 01-0089 (La.App. 4th Cir.03/27/02), 814 So.2d 648, writ granted, 02-1388 (La.09/20/02), 825 So.2d 1153, writ denied, 02-1312 (La.09/20/02), 825 So.2d 1169; Landry v. City of Erath, 628 So.2d 1178 (La.App. 3d Cir.1993), writ denied, 94-0275 (La.03/25/94), 635 So.2d 235.
Louisiana Constitution Article XII, § 10, relative to suits against the state and its political subdivisions, provides:
(A) No Immunity in Contract and Tort. Neither the state, a state agency, nor a political subdivision shall be immune from suit and liability in contract or for injury to person or property.
(B) Waiver in Other Suits. The legislature may authorize other suits against the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision. A measure authorizing suit shall waive immunity from suit and liability.
(C) Limitations; Procedure: Judgments. Notwithstanding Paragraph (A) or (B) or any other provision of this constitution, the legislature by law may limit or provide for the extent of liability of the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision in all cases, including the circumstances giving rise to liability and the kinds and amounts of recoverable damages. It shall provide a procedure for suits against the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision and provide for the effect of a judgment, but no public property or public funds shall be subject to seizure. The legislature may provide that such limitations, procedures, and effects of judgments shall be applicable to existing as well as future claims. No judgment against the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision shall be exigible, payable, or paid except from funds appropriated therefor by the legislature or by the political subdivision against which the judgment is rendered. (Emphasis added).
Pursuant to the authorization set forth in La. Const. Art. XII, § 10(C), the legislature enacted La. R.S. 13:5109, which provides in part:
(B)(2) Any judgment rendered in any suit filed against the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision, or any compromise reached in favor of the plaintiff or plaintiffs in any such suit shall be exigible, payable, and paid only out of funds appropriated for that purpose by the legislature, if the suit was filed against the state or a state agency, or out of funds appropriated for that purpose by the named political subdivision, if the suit was filed against a political subdivision. (Emphasis added).
A judgment creditor of a political subdivision of the state has no way to collect its judgment except by appropriation. Vogt, supra; Baudoin v. Acadia Parish Police Jury, 96-1288 (La.App. 3d Cir.09/17/97), 702 So.2d 715, writ denied, 97-2546 (La.12/19/97), 706 So.2d 458. Appropriation of funds is discretionary and not ministerial, and mandamus will not lie to compel payment of a judgment by a political subdivision. Vogt, supra; De Laureal Engineers, Inc. v. St. Charles Parish Police Jury, 406 So.2d 770 (La.App. 4th Cir.1981), writ denied, 410 So.2d 758 (La.1982).
Newman does not dispute that the City's decision of whether to appropriate funds for the satisfaction of a judgment or claim against the City is discretionary. See Vogt, supra; Jones v. Traylor, 94-2520 (La.App. 4th Cir.08/23/95), 660 So.2d 933, writ denied sub nom. Rome v. Stephens, 95-2320 (La.12/15/95), 664 So.2d 453; Landry, supra. However, plaintiff takes the position that what it is seeking is not to compel the appropriation of funds to pay its judgment, but the payment of its judgment from funds that have already been appropriated to the City's Risk Retention Fund.
Newman's argument is not supported by Louisiana statutory law or jurisprudential precedent. The evidence presented to the trial court was that the funds placed in the City's Risk Retention Fund were not specifically appropriated to pay the Newman judgment. Instead, this fund is a pool of money to pay any and all judgments, settlements, and risks for which the City may be held accountable. At the time that the Newman judgment became final, there was over $15 million in the City's Risk Retention Fund. None of this money was placed into or appropriated to the fund with the express purpose of satisfying the Newman judgment.
|fiLa. R.S. 13:5109(B)(2) is phrased in the singular, not plural. What is envisioned by this provision is that whenever a judgment is rendered against the state, a state agency, or, as in the instant case, a political subdivision, in favor of the plaintiff in such suit, such a judgment is only exigi-ble, payable, or paid out of funds appropriated for that purpose, i.e., money set aside specifically to satisfy that particular judgment, by the legislature (if the defendant is the state or a state agency) or the political subdivision named in the suit. As noted above, there was no appropriation specifically made for the purpose of satisfying the Newman judgment. Instead, the City's Risk Retention Fund contains money to pay any and all judgments, settlements, and risks, as determined by the City's risk management committee. Obviously in this case, the committee decided to pay the principal amount of the judgment only. As provided by the supreme court in Hoag v. State of Louisiana, 04-0857 (La.12/01/04), 889 So.2d 1019, 1024-1025:
The act which plaintiffs seek court intervention to accomplish is not ministerial because by its very nature, the act of appropriation is discretionary. In fact, the very act of appropriating funds is an integral discretionary function of the legislative branch of our government. The Louisiana Constitution delineates the parameters of each branch of government. Admittedly, there is some inevitable overlap of the functions and each branch of government must strive to maintain the separation of powers by not encroaching upon the power of the others. Consequently, the inherent powers of the judiciary should be used sparingly and only to the extent necessary to insure judicial independence and integrity. Konrad v. Jefferson Parish Council, 520 So.2d 393, 397 (La.1988). Although we recognize that plaintiffs are entitled to payment of the judgment, a writ of mandamus directing the legislature to appropriate funds is an impermissible usurpation of legislative power by the judiciary.
| (¡While this court recognizes and sympathizes with plaintiffs plight in getting its judgment against the City satisfied, we are without constitutional or statutory authority to compel the City to pay the judgment rendered against it. The constitutional waiver of sovereign immunity, together with the lack of legislation enabling enforcement, provides Newman with a right without a remedy. The remedy to this anomaly, however, is in the hands of the legislature, not the judiciary. To hold otherwise would create a separation of powers issue and have grave constitutional implications. See Landry, supra.
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, the trial court's judgment is affirmed. Costs of this appeal are assessed to plaintiff, Newman Marchive Partnership, Inc. AFFIRMED.
SEXTON, J., (Pro Tempore), concurs and assigns reasons.
DREW, J., dissents with written reasons.
. This amount is the interest due from the date of judicial demand, February 11, 2002, until the date that the City paid the principal amount of the judgment, September 22, 2006.