Opinion ID: 1927790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Scope of Interruption with Regard to Persons and Actions

Text: The interruption of prescription has no effect beyond the specific right of the person of which the debtor makes acknowledgment. Hence, the insurer's acknowledgment of Mr. Flowers' right, as head of the community, to recover for medical expenses, did not acknowledge or interrupt prescription of Mrs. Flowers' separate right to damages for her personal injuries. As applied to liberative prescription, Article 3520, in effect, provides that prescription is legally interrupted when the debtor makes acknowledgment of the right of the person against whose claim he prescribed. [2] Legal interruption does not regularly transfer from one obligation or action to another. 5 Civil Law Translations, Baudry-Lacantinerie & Tissier, Prescription, §§ 571-573, pp. 279-81; 2 Civil Law Translations, Aubry & Rau, Property, § 215, No. 305, pp. 347-348. Moreover, legal prescription is personal, and generally benefits only the person with whom it originates or whose right has been acknowledged. 2 Civil Law Translations, Aubry & Rau, Property, § 215, p. 348; 5 Civil Law Translations, Baudry-Lacantinerie & Tissier, §§ 555-557, pp. 273-74. Mrs. Flowers' right to damages for her personal injuries was distinct from her husband's right to recover medical expenses for the community. A wife's action for damages resulting from offenses and quasi-offenses are her separate property and are recoverable by her alone. La.C.C. arts. 2334, 2402. [3] On the other hand, claims for medical expenses for either spouse belong to the community and are recoverable by the husband as its head. Cf. Simon v. Harrison, 200 So. 476 (La.App.1941); Credit Service Corp. v. Dickerson, 243 So.2d 827 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1971); see McConnell v. Travelers Indem. Co., 346 F.2d 219 (Ca.1965); Rollins v. Beaumont-Port Arthur Bus Lines, 88 F.Supp. 908 (D.C.1950). Accordingly, the claims adjuster's acknowledgment of Mr. Flowers' right to reimbursement for medical expenses did not interrupt prescription of his wife's separate right to damages for her personal injuries.