Opinion ID: 1957611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Departure from Proper Procedure

Text: Ms. Stelluto argues that the Fourth Circuit departed from proper judicial procedure by converting Mr. Stelluto's appeal to a writ application and granting it, when the court had earlier denied Mr. Stelluto's writ application on the same issue. Ms. Stelluto protests that the Fourth Circuit's action has effectively granted Mr. Stelluto a rehearing from denial of a writ application, an advantage for which the law does not provide. We find that the Fourth Circuit's conversion of Mr. Stelluto's appeal to a writ application under these circumstances, although unusual, was not improper. The Louisiana Constitution confers appellate jurisdiction upon the courts of appeal over all civil matters and all matters appealed from family and juvenile courts and supervisory jurisdiction over cases which arise within its circuit. La. Const. art. V, § 10(A). Moreover, the jurisprudence indicates that the decision to convert an appeal to an application for supervisory writs is within the discretion of the appellate courts. See In re Medical Review Panel of Freed, 05-28 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/26/05), 902 So.2d 472, at 473 ([C]onverting appeals to writs will be left to the discretion of the panel.). And, it appears that the courts of appeal, including the Fourth Circuit, exercise their discretion to convert appeals to applications for supervisory writs with regularity, although not necessarily in circumstances like the present case, where the court had previously denied a writ application. See, e.g., State v. Kenner, 04-1809, p. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/23/05), 900 So.2d 948, 950 (finding that the state's appeal from a judgment granting post-conviction relief was improper, and converting the appeal to an application for supervisory writs). In light of these authorities, we see no reason to interfere with the Fourth Circuit's decision to exercise its discretion to convert Mr. Stelluto's appeal into an application for supervisory writs in this case.