Case Name: Roma Gail STELLY, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Richard Keith MONTGOMERY, Defendant and Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1976-11-17
Citations: 339 So. 2d 956
Docket Number: No. 5652
Parties: Roma Gail STELLY, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Richard Keith MONTGOMERY, Defendant and Appellee.
Judges: Before HOOD, CULPEPPER and GUI-DRY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 339
Pages: 956–962

Head Matter:
Roma Gail STELLY, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Richard Keith MONTGOMERY, Defendant and Appellee.
No. 5652.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Nov. 17, 1976.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 15, 1976.
Writ Granted Feb. 14, 1977.
Leon S. Haas, Jr., Opelousas, for plaintiff-appellant.
C. Kenneth Deshotel, Opelousas, for defendant-appellee.
Before HOOD, CULPEPPER and GUI-DRY, JJ.

Opinion:
CULPEPPER, Judge.
The plaintiff, Roma Gail Stelly, filed this suit against her husband, Richard Keith Montgomery, seeking a writ of habeas corpus ordering defendant to deliver to plaintiff custody of the two minor children born of the marriage, Richard K. Montgomery, Jr., age 5, and Michael Troy Montgomery, age 14 months. After a trial on the merits, the district judge vacated the writ and rejected plaintiff's demands for custody. Plaintiff appealed.
The decisive issue on appeal is whether the plaintiff wife may sue her husband for a writ of habeas corpus awarding her custody of the children, where the marriage still continues and there is no pending suit for separation from bed and board or divorce.
The pertinent facts are that plaintiff and defendant were married in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana on September 25, 1969. Initially they lived in Louisiana. In December of 1973 they moved to Georgia. By 1976 the two children were born of the marriage.
During the early part of 1976, plaintiff and defendant had marital difficulties because of plaintiffs alleged immoral relations with another man. On May 9, 1976, the defendant left Georgia with the oldest child and moved back to St. Landry Parish, Louisiana to the home of his parents. On June 4, 1976, defendant went back to Georgia where he allegedly found his wife was living with the man in question. Defendant took the youngest child and returned with it to Louisiana. Defendant now has physical custody of the two children and lives with his parents in Louisiana.
On June 11, 1976, the plaintiff mother filed in Louisiana the present petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking custody of the children. After a trial on the merits, the district judge decided that since the marriage still continues and there is no pending suit for separation or divorce, the husband and father has the right to custody of the children. Furthermore, the district judge held on the facts that it is for the best interest of the children that they remain in the father's custody. On these two grounds, the writ of habeas corpus was vacated and the mother's demand for custody was rejected.
We conclude that the wife does not have a cause of action against her husband, and that plaintiffs suit must be dismissed on a peremptory exception of no cause of action. Although no such exception was filed by the defendant, this is one of the peremptory exceptions which can be noticed by the appellate court on its own motion. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 927.
The plaintiff mother relies on State ex rel. Lasserre v. Michel, et al., 105 La. 741, 30 So. 122 (1901) in which the husband and father filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus directed to his wife for the custody of their child. The marriage was still in existence and there was no pending suit for separation or divorce. The wife argued that this was not one of the specially permitted causes of action on which one spouse could sue the other under Article 105 of the Code of Practice of 1870 and the jurisprudence construing that article. The Supreme Court held that the marital relation did not prevent the husband from suing the wife for custody of the child and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. Counsel have not cited, nor have we found, any other case following this holding in Lasserre.
Article 105 of the Code of Practice of 1870 read as follows:
"Married woman — Right to sue husband.
—A married woman can not sue her husband as long as the marriage continues, except it be to obtain a separation from bed and board, or for the separation of property, or for the restitution and enjoyment of her paraphernal property, or in case she holds her property separate from him by her marriage contract, or for divorce; but in no case can she sue her husband without the authorization of the court before which she brings her action."
Although the Code of Practice of 1870 contained no similar prohibition of a suit by a husband against his wife during the marriage, jurisprudence suggested that Article 105 was mutually applicable to husbands and wives. See the notes, 16 Tul.L.Rev. 149,150 (1941) and 20 Tul.L.Rev. 448 (1945). Furthermore, with the adoption of Act 283 of 1928, declaring that married women are relieved of all disabilities and incapacities to which they were previously subject, it no longer became necessary that a married woman have authorization of the court to file suit.
Despite this history of statutory and jurisprudential problems regarding interspousal suits, our legislature adopted in 1960 the following new statute numbered R.S. 9-291:
"Wife may not sue husband; exceptions
"As long as the marriage continues and the spouses are not separated judicially a married woman may not sue her husband except for:
(1) A separation of property;
(2) The restitution and enjoyment of her paraphernal property;
(3) A separation from bed and board; or
(4) A divorce. Added Acts 1960, No. 31, § 2.
"Explanatory Note — Henry G. McMahon
"Added on the recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute to transfer thereto the provisions of Art. 105, Code of Practice of 1870. This new statute was enacted as Section 271 of this title, but was renumbered by the Louisiana State Law Institute to avoid conflict with prior legislation."
In Wilkinson v. Wilkinson, La., 323 So.2d 120 (1975) our Supreme Court held that LSA-R.S. 9:291 limits to four the causes of action that a married woman can bring against her husband during the marriage. The court stated:
"The four enumerated in the statute are exclusive, not illustrative. Palmer v. Edwards, 156 So. 781 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1934). Thus, during the marriage, Mrs. Wilkinson could not have brought an action against her husband to annul the contract."
The plaintiff wife makes an additional argument that since this is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus the State is actually the plaintiff and therefore the suit is not prohibited by LSA-R.S. 9:291. This argument is apparently derived from certain language in State ex rel. Lasserre v. Michel, supra. The court there stated:
"When the writ issues, the wife is called into court in the name of and by the state itself, though this be done on the relation of a husband. It is true that the ultimate action of the court upon the writ may be an aid in enforcement of private rights,— of the rights of the husband or of the wife in the premises, — but the result is incidental and consequential."
The answer to this argument is that at the time Lasserre was decided in 1901, applications for writs of habeas corpus were brought in the name of the state. However, Article 3781 of our Code of Civil Procedure now expressly provides:
"A writ of habeas corpus, mandamus, or quo warranto may be ordered by the court only on petition. The proceedings may be tried summarily and the writ when ordered may be signed by the clerk under the seal of the court, or it may be issued and signed by the judge without further formality."
Furthermore, jurisprudence from our Supreme Court subsequent to Lasserre has established the rule that where one parent attempts to obtain the custody of minor children from the other parent by a writ of habeas corpus, it is a civil proceeding between private individuals and the state is only a nominal party. State ex rel. Divens v. Johnson, 207 La. 23, 20 So.2d 412 (1944) and the cases cited therein.
Plaintiff also argues we should follow the rationale of the Lasserre case, where the court stated:
"We do not think that either husband or wife should be driven to the necessity of instituting an action of separation from bed and board or divorce, to have the matter of the legal custody of the children judicially inquired into."
When our legislature adopted LSA-R.S. 9:291 in 1960, it chose not to follow the above quoted rationale from Lasserre. Perhaps the legislature reasoned that permitting interspousal suits for custody during marriage, where there is no pending suit for separation or divorce, could cause many problems as to child support, administration of the child's estate, liability for the child's torts, etc. Apparently the legislature decided that all of these matters should be handled as incidental to separation or divorce proceedings. In any event, LSA-R.S. 9:291 is clear and free of ambiguity. Any change in the law as to interspousal suits is a matter which addresses itself to the discretion of the legislature.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed is affirmed. All costs of this appeal are assessed against the plaintiff-appellant.
AFFIRMED.
GUIDRY, J., dissents and assigns written reasons.