Opinion ID: 1876856
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Although all parties agree that the case was properly lodged in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, it is necessary to pass upon the question of jurisdiction because the Court of Appeal held that the Civil District Court did not have jurisdiction. And, as elementary principles recognize, jurisdiction over the subject matter cannot be conferred by consent of the parties. It is, moreover, a question the court may properly recognize ex propria motu. In my view the Civil District Court had exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and determine this eviction proceeding. The Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans has the same broad, all encompassing civil jurisdiction conferred upon the district courts throughout the state, with certain exceptions not pertinent here. La.Const. Art. VII §§ 35, 81. It has appellate jurisdiction over all cases tried in the city courts of New Orleans where the amount in dispute, value of the movable property involved, or fund to be distributed, does not exceed one hundred dollars. La.Const. Art. VII, § 81. The jurisdiction of the First City Court, insofar as pertinent here, is set forth in the following extract from Article VII, Section 91, subd. A, of the Constitution: ... It has exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases where the amount in dispute or fund to be distributed does not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, including suits for the ownership or possession of movable property not exceeding that amount in value, and including suits by landlords for possession of leased premises when the monthly rent does not exceed one hundred dollars. It has concurrent jurisdiction with the civil district court for the parish of Orleans in all cases except divorce, alimony, titles to real estate and probate matters, when the amount in dispute or fund to be distributed exceeds one hundred dollars but does not exceed one thousand dollars.... It will readily appear from these authorities that the crucial test revolves around the determination of jurisdictional amount. In this regard the value of the leased property is not relevant, the principle concern is the amount of the rent paid by lessee. This Court's most recent expression on the subject was in Lichtentag v. Bowens, 256 La. 559, 237 So.2d 377 (1970), where the criteria was said to be the value of the right of occupancy and not the value of the property. The opinion also recognized and approved the rule applied in Lama v. Manale, 28 So.2d 479 (La.App. 1946) to a situation where the lease was for a term, all of which had expired at the time of the suit. There the Court said: It is well settled that the test of jurisdiction of the trial courts in eviction proceedings is the amount of the monthly or yearly rental, and that where a lease for a term of a year or more expresses the rental in monthly payments, it is the amount of the yearly rental which is determinative of jurisdiction.... See also Dreyfus v. Process Oil & Fuel Co., 140 La. 50, 72 So. 805 (1916). However, in the case where the lease is for a term, all of which has not expired at the time of the suit, the jurisdictional amount has traditionally been the rent for the unexpired term of the lease. O'Neal v. Pizzolato, 26 So.2d 159 (La.App.1946); Lopez v. Davidson, 26 So.2d 163 (La.App. 1946); Cunningham v. Middleton, 4 La. App. 643 (1926). See also Comment 21 Tul.L.Rev. 256, 265 (1946). I adhere to these views. The right of occupancy here far exceeds the $100 original, or $1,000 concurrent jurisdictional limit of the First City Court. La.Const. art. 7, § 91, subd. A, supra. Calculated on a $97 monthly rental, the unexpired term of the lease had a value of $4,850 (or $97 × 50 months). This jurisdictional amount based on the value of the right of occupancy, in my opinion, denies the First City Court the right to adjudicate the issue; it is however within the broad authority of the Orleans Civil District Court. I therefore dissent from the majority opinion on the question of jurisdiction.