Case Name: In re Judge S. Sanford LEVY Civil District Court Parish of Orleans
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1983-02-23
Citations: 427 So. 2d 844
Docket Number: No. 82-0-2574
Parties: In re Judge S. Sanford LEVY Civil District Court Parish of Orleans.
Judges: WATSON, J. dissents and assigns reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 427
Pages: 844–848

Head Matter:
In re Judge S. Sanford LEVY Civil District Court Parish of Orleans.
No. 82-0-2574.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Feb. 23, 1983.
Rehearing Denied March 25, 1983.
Frank J. Varela, New Orleans, for relator.
Mack E. Barham, Todd Rossi, Barham & Churchill, Darleen Jacobs, New Orleans, for respondents.

Opinion:
DIXON, Chief Justice.
The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, proceeding under Article 5, § 25 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, has recommended that this court retire Judge S. Sanford Levy because he continues to hold office beyond the mandatory retirement age, having reached the age of eighty on January 27,1982. Judge Levy defends his right to serve until December 31,1984, the end of the term for which he was elected.
Judge Levy was born January 27, 1902. He first assumed judicial office on May 19, 1964 when he was appointed judge of the First City Court for the City of New Orleans. On April 5, 1965 Judge Levy was elected as a judge of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans; he was sworn in on January 5, 1966, to complete the twelve year unexpired term of Judge Viosca, who had retired. Judge Levy was last elected on November 7, 1972, when he was reelected to a twelve year term for the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. He was sworn in for this new term of office on January 1,1973. This term will expire on December 31, 1984. La. Const, of 1974, art. 5, § 22(C). On that date Judge Levy will be eighty-two years of age. On his January 27, 1982 birthday when he turned eighty, Judge Levy had less than twenty years of service as a judge.
Judge Levy argues that the Constitution of 1974 permits him to serve until the end of the term for which he was elected. The argument is based on the following provisions of Article 5 of the 1974 Constitution:
"Section 21. The term of office, retirement benefits, and compensation of a judge shall not be decreased during the term for which he is elected.
Section 22. .
(C) End of Term. A judge serving on the effective date of this constitution shall serve through December thirty-first of the last year of his term or, if the last year of his term is not in the year of a regular congressional election, then through December thirty-first of the fol lowing year. The election for the next term shall be held in the year in which the term expires, as provided above.
Section 23. (A) Retirement System. Within two years after the effective date of this constitution, the legislature shall provide for a retirement system for judges which shall apply to a judge taking office after the effective date of the law enacting the system and in which a judge in office at that time may elect to become a member, with credit for all prior years of judicial service and without contribution therefor. The retirement benefits and judicial service rights of a judge in office or retired on the effective date of this constitution shall not be diminished, nor shall the benefits to which a surviving spouse is entitled be reduced.
(B) Mandatory Retirement. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, a judge shall not remain in office beyond his seventieth birthday."
There is nothing in any of these sections to support the argument that Judge Levy was exempted from the mandatory retirement provisions. Section 22, for example, is concerned with the time for election of judges and the filling of vacancies. Regular elections for judges are to be held at the regular congressional elections; vacancies are to be filled by appointment by this court and by special election. § 22(A), (B). And, finally, in § 22(C), the term of office of all judges was extended to the last day of the last year of his term, and, if there is no congressional election that year, then to the last day of the next year. The Judicial Article, 37 La.L.Rev. 765, 821 (1977); Kopfler v. Edwards, 318 So.2d 653 (La.App.1975).
Section 21 simply prohibits the reduction in term of office, pay and retirement benefits during the term for which a judge is elected. Nothing indicates an intention on the part of the constitutional convention to exempt judges from the mandatory retirement provisions of the Constitution. Mandatory retirement can only occur during the judge's term of office.
Section 23 required the legislature to provide a new retirement system for new judges, optional for judges already in office, whose retirement benefits and rights already earned by judicial service would not be diminished. Finally, § 23(B), in indisputable language, prohibited remaining in office beyond the seventieth birthday, "except as otherwise provided in this Section."
When Judge Levy was elected in 1972 the Constitution did not give him an unqualified right to serve until his term ended in 1984. The retirement provision in effect in the Constitution of 1921 when Judge Levy was elected and took office provided that "Every judge shall retire upon reaching the age of 75 years." Twenty years service entitled a judge to full pay for life. If a judge reached seventy-five with less than twenty years service, he could serve until eighty or until he acquired twenty years service, whichever came first. Retirement benefits were to be proportionately reduced for those who reached eighty without twenty' years of service.
(b) Every judge shall retire upon reaching the age of 75 years. If he has served as judge of a court of record for 20 years, he shall receive full pay for life.
However any judge now serving who, on attaining the age of seventy five years, has served less than twenty years, may remain in the service until he has served for twenty years or until he has attained the age of eighty years, whichever shall occur first and shall then retire. If he has served for twenty years he shall receive full pay for life and if he has served for less than twenty years he shall receive that proportion of his pay which the number of years served on a court of record bears to twenty.
(c) Any judge may retire upon reaching the age of 70 years. If he has served as judge of a court of record for 20 years, he shall receive full pay for life. If he has served less than 20 years he shall receive that proportion of his pay which the number of years served on a court of record bears to 20.
La. Const, of 1921, art. 7, § 8.
Article 7, § 8 of the 1921 Constitution was continued as statutory material by the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, "but restricted to the same effect on the effective date of this constitution." Art. 14, § 16(A)(5). Except for the reduction of the mandatory retirement age from seventy-five to seventy, its provisions are the same, permitting some judges (including Judge Levy) to stay in office until age eighty or until twenty years of service is reached, whichever comes sooner. R.S. 13:30(B).
Contrary to Judge Levy's other arguments, we have already decided that "A judge's willful retention of office beyond his mandatory retirement age is grounds for removal by this Court." Small v. Guste, 383 So.2d 1011, 1014 (La.1980).
For these reasons, the recommendation of the Judiciary Commission is accepted, and Judge S. Sanford Levy is hereby, involuntarily retired.
WATSON, J. dissents and assigns reasons.
MARCUS and BLANCHE, JJ., dissent for reasons assigned by WATSON, J.
LEMMON, J., recused.
Judge Pike Hall, Jr. of the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, participated in this decision as Associate Justice ad hoc for Lemmon, J., re-cused.