The opinion
PAUL L. SYLVESTER * NO. 2024-C-0310
VERSUS *
COURT OF APPEAL
MICHAEL D. SANTONE, *
OCHSNER FOUNDATION FOURTH CIRCUIT
HOSPITAL, ABC COMPANY, *
AND XYZ INSURANCE STATE OF LOUISIANA
COMPANY *******
APPLICATION FOR WRITS DIRECTED TO
CIVIL DISTRICT COURT, ORLEANS PARISH
NO. 2019-09379, DIVISION “L”
Honorable Kern A. Reese, Judge
******
Judge Rosemary Ledet
******
(Court composed of Judge Daniel L. Dysart, Judge Rosemary Ledet, Judge Tiffany
Gautier Chase, Judge Dale N. Atkins, Judge Rachael D. Johnson)
ATKINS, J., DISSENTS FOR THE REASONS ASSIGNED BY JUDGE
JOHNSON.
JOHNSON, J., DISSENTS WITH REASONS
Nairda T. Colon
Halley S. Carter
FRILOT L.L.C.
3700 Energy Centre, 1100 Poydras Street
New Orleans, La. 70163-3700
COUNSEL FOR RELATORS
Stephen M. Smith
1425 N Broad Street, Suite 201
New Orleans, Louisiana 70119
COUNSEL FOR RESPONDENT
WRIT GRANTED; JUDGMENT
REVERSED; JUDGMENT RENDERED
DISMISSING CASE WITHOUT PREJUDICE
July 16, 2024
RML
DLD
TGC
This is a medical malpractice case. Defendants/Relators—Ochsner Clinic
Foundation and Michael Santone, N.P. (collectively “Ochsner”)—seek review of
the trial court’s May 14, 2024 judgment (the “Judgment”). The Judgment granted
the Motion to Set Aside Judgment of Dismissal for Abandonment (the “Motion”),
which was filed by Plaintiff/Respondent—Paul L. Sylvester (“Mr. Sylvester”). We
grant Ochsner’s writ, reverse the Judgment, and render judgment dismissing
without prejudice Mr. Sylvester’s claims against Ochsner as abandoned.
Factual and Procedural Background
In 2019, three events occurred: (i) September 2019—Mr. Sylvester filed the
petition; (ii) November 2019—Ochsner answered the petition; and (iii) December
2019, Ochsner sent written discovery requests to Mr. Sylvester—nine
interrogatories and five requests for production of documents (the “2019 Discovery
Requests”).
In 2020, Mr. Sylvester’s attorney of record—Stephen Smith (“Mr.
Smith”)—filed a Motion to Withdraw and Substitute Counsel of Record, which
1
was granted.1 In 2021, the parties engaged in settlement discussions. A series of
emails—sent between February 2021 and June 2021—reflect that Ochsner sought
a settlement offer and that Mr. Sylvester submitted one. Another series of emails
reflect that the parties met on October 20, 2021 to discuss the settlement offer.
On June 21, 2022, Mr. Smith—Mr. Sylvester’s former attorney of record—
sent an email to Ochsner’s counsel stating: “[p]lease see attached supplemental
IRS records for Paul Sylvester for 2013-2020” (the “Email”). Attached to the
Email was a pdf entitled: “Sylvester Tax records 2013-2020.pdf.” The Email’s
subject line was “Paul Sylvester Case 2019-09379.” The Email contained no other
information.
In December 2023, Mr. Sylvester sent written discovery requests to Ochsner.
One month later, Ochsner filed an ex parte motion to dismiss based on
abandonment. Ochsner’s motion was accompanied by its attorney’s affidavit of last
case activity. The trial court granted Ochsner’s motion and dismissed the case. 2
In February 2024, Mr. Sylvester filed the Motion alleging that, during the
October 21, 2021 meeting, Ochsner’s attorney requested that he provide
supplemental responses to the 2019 Discovery Requests with tax records.
According to Mr. Sylvester, the Email was formal discovery and thus was a step
1 See Davis v. Naquin, 23-0057, p. 5 (La. App. 1 Cir. 9/15/23), 375 So.3d 968, 972 (observing
that “[t]he jurisprudence clearly establishes that motions to withdraw or enroll as counsel or to
substitute counsel are not considered formal steps before the court in the prosecution of the
suit”).
2 See Roberts v. New Orleans Symphony, 03-2206, p. 10 (La. App. 4 Cir. 9/1/04), 883 So.2d 452,
458 (citations omitted) (observing that “[i]t is well settled that the dismissal of a suit on grounds
of abandonment is a dismissal without prejudice”).
2
for abandonment purposes. Given the Email was a step, Mr. Sylvester contended
that the three-year abandonment period would not run until June 2025. The trial
court, finding merit in Mr. Sylvester’s argument, granted the Motion. This writ
followed.
Governing Law and Standard of Review
The controlling statutory provision on abandonment is La. C.C.P. art. 561.
This provision states that generally (with the exception of succession proceedings),
“[a]n action is abandoned when the parties fail to take any step in its prosecution or
defense in the trial court for a period of three years.” La. C.C.P. art. 561(A)(1).
Under this provision, abandonment is self-executing, occurring automatically upon
the passing of three years without a step being taken by either party and is effective
without court order. Clark v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 00-
3010, p. 6 (La. 5/15/01), 785 So.2d 779, 784. “[B]ut, on ex parte motion of any
party or other interested person by affidavit that states that no step has been timely
taken in the prosecution or defense of the action, the trial court shall enter a formal
order of dismissal as of the date of its abandonment.” La. C.C.P. art. 561(A)(2).
This provision still further states that “[a]ny formal discovery as authorized by this
Code and served on all parties whether or not filed of record, including the taking
of a deposition with or without formal notice, shall be deemed to be a step in the
prosecution or defense of an action.” La. C.C.P. art. 561(B).
To avert abandonment, La. C.C.P. art. 561 has been construed as imposing
three requirements on plaintiffs:
3
First, plaintiffs must take some “step” towards prosecution of their
lawsuit. In this context, a “step” is defined as taking formal action
before the court which is intended to hasten the suit toward judgment,
or the taking of a deposition with or without formal notice.
Second, the step must be taken in the proceeding and, with the
exception of formal discovery, must appear in the record of the suit.
Third, the step must be taken within the legislatively prescribed time
period of the last step taken by either party; sufficient action by either
plaintiff or defendant will be deemed a step.
Clark, 00-3010, p. 6, 785 So.2d at 784 (emphasis in original, footnotes omitted,
and reformatted).
Abandonment balances two competing policy interests:
(1) the desire to see every litigant have his day in court without
the risk of losing same due to technical carelessness or
unavoidable delay, and
(2) the legislative purpose that suits, once filed, should not linger
indefinitely, preserving stale claims from the normal
extinguishing operation of prescription.
Prestenback v. Hearn, 11-1380, p. 4 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2/22/12), 85 So.3d 256,
259 (citations omitted and reformatted). When a party fails to take a step in
the prosecution of the case during the abandonment period, “the logical
inference is that the party intends to abandon the claim and the law gives
effect to this inference.” Clark, 00-3010, p. 10, 785 So.2d at 786-87 (internal
quotations and citation omitted).
“Given the balancing function served by abandonment, Louisiana’s
jurisprudence tends to be inconsistent; no bright lines exist.” Clark, 00-3010,
p. 11, 785 So.2d at 787 (internal quotations and citation omitted).
Nonetheless, two settled principles are dispositive here—a jurisprudential
and a statutory one. The jurisprudential principle is that Louisiana courts
have uniformly held that an extrajudicial effort—like informal settlement
4
negotiations between parties—is not a step that interrupts abandonment.
Clark, 00-3010, p. 16, 785 So.2d at 790. The statutory principle is that
formal discovery—albeit outside the record--is a step that interrupts
abandonment; this principle is codified in La. C.C.P. art. 561(B) and echoed
in the discovery code articles.3
The standard of review applicable to abandonment rulings is two-fold:
Whether a step in the prosecution or defense of a case has been taken
in the trial court for a period of three years is a question of fact subject
to manifest error analysis; by contrast, whether a particular act, if
proven, [interrupts] abandonment is a question of law that is examined
by ascertaining whether the trial court's conclusion is legally correct.
Williams v. Montgomery, 20-01120, p. 6 (La. 5/13/21), 320 So.3d 1036,
1042 (internal citation and quotations omitted). Questions of law are subject
to de novo review. Id. Here, both questions of fact and law are involved.
Thus, both the manifest error and the de novo standards of review apply.
Discussion
The sole event that Mr. Sylvester contends is a step for purposes of
interrupting abandonment is the Email. The narrow issue presented is whether the
Email—as Mr. Sylvester contends and the trial court found—is formal discovery
and thus, by statute, is a step for abandonment purposes. At the hearing on the
Motion, Mr. Sylvester cited two cases in support of his argument that the Email is
formal discovery—Breaux v. Auto Zone, Inc., 00-1534 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/15/00),
3 See La. C.C.P. art. 1474(C)(4)(providing that “[t]he serving of any discovery materials pursuant
to the provisions of this Article shall be considered a step in the prosecution or defense of an
action for purposes of Article 561, notwithstanding that such discovery materials are not filed in
the record of the proceedings); see also La. C.C.P. art. 1446(D)(providing that “taking of a
deposition shall be considered a step in the prosecution or defense of an action for the purposes
of Article 561, notwithstanding that the deposition is not filed in the record of the proceedings”).
5
787 So.2d 3224; and Harrington v. Glenwood Regional Medical Center, 36,556
(La. App. 2 Cir. 12/11/02), 833 So.2d 1241.5
Ochsner counters that Mr. Sylvester’s reliance on those two cases is
misplaced. According to Ochsner, those two cases are distinguishable from this
one in two respects: (i) in neither case is there any evidence that the
correspondence, which the court found qualified as formal discovery, was sent in
regard to settlement negotiations, as the overwhelming evidence reflects was the
situation here; and (ii) in both cases, the individual who sent the correspondence
was enrolled as attorney of record, which was not the situation here.
Ochsner’s counter argument has two components—a factual and a legal one.
Factually, Ochsner argues that the Email is informal correspondence related to
settlement discussions—an extrajudicial effort—not formal discovery. Legally,
4 In Breaux, the appellate court held that the plaintiffs’ attorney’s transmittal letter, which had
medical reports attached to it, was formal discovery for purposes of abandonment. In that case,
the plaintiffs’ attorney sent the transmittal letter with the medical records as a supplemental
response to interrogatories that defense counsel had sent requesting all medical reports. The
appellate court observed that “the correspondence could be construed as a formal response to
interrogatories in that plaintiffs’ counsel gave the reports of medical doctors treating plaintiff
which had been requested by interrogatories which mentioned the need to supplement the
responses.” Breaux, 00-1534, p. 6, 787 So.2d at 326.
5 In Harrington, the appellate court held that correspondence, which had an attached medical
release, was formal discovery under La. C.C.P. art. 561(B) because “a request properly made
under art. 1465.1 is formal discovery as authorized by the code.” Harrington, 36,556, pp. 4-5,
833 So.2d at 1244. La. C.C.P. art. 1465.1 provides:
Any party may serve upon the plaintiff or upon any other party whose medical
records are relevant to an issue in the case a request that the plaintiff or other
authorized person sign a medical records release authorizing the health care
provider to release to the requesting party the medical records of the party whose
medical condition is at issue. The release shall be directed to a specific health care
provider, shall authorize the release of medical records only, and shall state that the
release does not authorize verbal communications by the health care provider to the
requesting party.
6
Ochsner argues that the Email cannot be formal discovery because Mr. Smith was
not enrolled as attorney of record when he sent the Email. Both components
support our determination that the Email is not formal discovery and thus is not a
step for abandonment purposes. We separately address each component.
Factual Issue—Informal Email Regarding Settlement Is Not Formal
Discovery And Thus Is Not A Step
Ochsner contends that the Email is not formal discovery because it was sent
in response to an informal request by Ochsner’s counsel—Brittany Sloan—during
settlement negotiations. Ochsner thus contends that the Email falls in the category
of an informal, extrajudicial effort. See Clark, 00-3010, p. 16, 785 So.2d at 790. In
support, Ochsner cites Ms. Sloan’s June 10, 2021 email to Mr. Smith. Ms. Sloan’s
email requested documentation for purposes of settlement negotiation; her email
stated as follows:
Thanks for sending over a [settlement] demand. Couple
questions and things we need:
1) Is this a global demand to include the Patient Compensation
Fund?
2) For us, and the PCF, we need documentation of everything
you are claiming for our assessment—For example, this would include
but not limited to. documentation of Mr. Sylvester’s pay for the lost
wages and income claims: documentation that incarceration was
$50,000.00; documentation for legal fees and the bond fees; medical
documentation of a PTSD diagnosis due to the care and treatment at
Ochsner.
3) If you have any support with a quantum that would be helpful,
and we will conduct a quantum as well. Thanks so much and we can
discuss anytime.
Mr. Smith, on the following day, replied: “[t]his settlement [demand] is an offer to
settle all of the claims of Mr. Sylvester. I will begin getting information together as
7
per #2.” Likewise, as noted elsewhere in this writ opinion, Mr. Sylvester, in the
Motion, acknowledged that during the June 21, 2021 meeting, he was asked to
supplement the 2019 Discovery Requests with tax records.
At the hearing on the Motion, Mr. Sylvester, through counsel,6 argued that
the Email was a formal, supplemental discovery response for the following reason:
[T]his [medical malpractice] case was first filed in Jefferson
Parish under a different case number for discovery purposes, and
interrogatories and request for production were submitted to the
plaintiff. The plaintiff responded with a 277-page PDF that contained
all of the things that were asked for. So if you notice from the discovery
that was attached to the defendant’s opposition [to the Motion], it’s a
very abbreviated—I think there’s 15 interrogatories and there’s six
Request for Production of Documents. . . . So the stuff that was asked
for—everything that was asked for by Ms. Sloan in her e-mail is
discoverable information. All of the information that Ms. Sloan asked
for in her e-mail would supplement the discovery that was already
submitted [in the Jefferson Parish discovery proceeding].7
Mr. Sylvester, thus, acknowledged that the Email was in response to Ms. Sloan’s
requests and was a supplement to the discovery response he previously made in the
Jefferson Parish case.
Nonetheless, Mr. Sylvester’s position, advocated in his Motion, was that the
Email could be linked to the 2019 Discovery Requests. Stated otherwise, Mr.
Sylvester contended that the Email was responsive to one of the Requests for
Production included in the 2019 Discovery Requests—REQUEST FOR
PRODUCTION NO. 4:
6 As noted elsewhere in this writ opinion, Mr. Sylvester’s prior counsel, Mr. Smith, made an oral
motion to re-enroll at the hearing on the Motion. Mr. Smith, thus, was allowed to argue at the
hearing on the Motion.
7 The same argument was set forth in Mr. Smith’s affidavit, which was submitted untimely on
the afternoon before the motion hearing. The trial court granted Ochsner’s motion to strike the
affidavit as untimely.
8
Please produce any and all documents you intend to introduce at trial
in this matter to support any alleged special damages you believe you
are entitled to and for which you seek recovery as alleged in your
Petition.
Capsulizing the issue before it, the trial court, at the Motion hearing,
observed:
I see the two different perceptions of what transpired with these tax
returns. Plaintiff is arguing that it is a supplement to the discovery or
response to the discovery propounded by a date in December of 2019.
Defense counsel is stating that it was a response, albeit just a response
to a settlement request in early 2021, was it?
Agreeing with Mr. Sylvester, the trial court deemed the Email a supplemental
discovery response. The trial court observed that “it is incumbent upon both parties
to supplement discovery when information becomes available” and deemed the
Email to be a “supplemental response to discovery.” On that basis, the trial court
granted the Motion.
We conclude, as Ochsner contends, that Mr. Sylvester’s attempt to link the
Email to the 2019 Discovery Requests—which Mr. Sylvester previously had not
responded to—lacks evidentiary support. The evidence shows that the Email was a
response to Ms. Sloan’s particular request in her April 2021 email and the request
at the June 21, 2021 meeting for tax records. The Email was not in response to the
single, broad request for production included in the 2019 Discovery Requests that
Mr. Sylvester relied upon—REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION NO. 4.
The record reflects that the Email referred to the attached tax records as
supplemental because, as Mr. Smith acknowledged, the tax records were
supplemental to discovery responses Mr. Sylvester previously produced in the
Jefferson Parish case. Given that Mr. Sylvester previously had not responded to the
9
2019 Discovery Requests, the Email could not be supplemental to the
2019 Discovery Requests. Moreover, the Email was closer in time to the
2021 settlement negotiations than the 2019 Discovery Requests.
In sum, the evidence establishes that the Email was a response to the
informal requests for documentation made by Ochsner’s counsel, Ms. Sloan,
during settlement negotiations. The Email does not constitute formal discovery;
rather, the Email constitutes an informal, extrajudicial effort, which is insufficient
to constitute a step for abandonment purposes. Clark, 00-3010, p. 16, 785 So.2d at
790. Accordingly, the trial court was manifestly erroneous in finding the Email to
be formal discovery under La. C.C.P. art. 561(B).
Legal Issue—Attorney of Record Must Sign Formal Discovery
Ochsner further contends that the Email cannot be formal discovery, as a
matter of law, because an attorney of record must sign formal discovery; and Mr.
Smith was not enrolled as attorney of record when he sent the Email. In support,
Ochsner cites La. C.C.P. art. 1420(A),8 which provides that all discovery requests
and responses are required to be signed by an attorney of record if the party is
represented by an attorney.
In his opposition to the writ, Mr. Sylvester cites Stillman v. Bd. of Sup'rs of
S. Univ. & Agr. & Mech. Coll., 07-2107 (La. App. 1 Cir. 6/6/08), 992 So.2d 523,
8 La. C.C.P. art. 1420(A) provides:
Every request for discovery, or response or objection thereto, made by a party
represented by an attorney shall be signed by at least one attorney of record in his
individual name, whose address shall be stated. A party who is not represented by
an attorney shall sign the request, response, or objection and state his address.
10
as creating an exception to the general rule that an attorney of record must sign
discovery. According to Mr. Sylvester, the court, in Stillman, carved out an
exception for an attorney who is not counsel of record but who has a “prior
connection to the case.” Stillman, 07-2107, p. 5, 992 So.2d at 526.
Even assuming the cited language in Stillman could be read to support Mr.
Sylvester’s contention, creating such an exception would violate the discovery
code articles. The jurisprudence has required strict compliance with the statutory
requirements for formal discovery to allow such discovery to constitute a step. See
Sullivan v. Cabral, 32,454 (La. App. 2 Cir. 10/27/99), 745 So.2d 791 (observing
the plaintiff’s act of mailing interrogatories to an attorney who no longer
represented the defendant could not constitute a step for purposes of La. C.C.P.
art. 561). As a commentator has observed, “the discovery exception [for
abandonment] exists in the discovery code articles and allows discovery to be
considered a step only when its rules are fully satisfied.” Stephen Cox,
Abandonment-Focusing on Drafters’ Intent to Answer Who and What Can Prevent
Abandonment, 83 LA. L.REV. 1513, 1529 (2023). Generally, discovery not signed
by an attorney of record cannot be formal discovery for purposes of being a step in
the prosecution of the action. Such is the case here.
On June 21, 2022, when he sent the Email, Mr. Smith was not Mr.
Sylvester’s attorney of record. Mr. Smith withdrew in 2020; he did not re-enroll as
attorney of record until 2024 at the Motion hearing.9 Because Mr. Smith was not
9 Mr. Smith filed a written motion to re-enroll the day before the Motion hearing, but it had not
been signed at the time of the hearing.
11
Mr. Sylvester’s attorney of record when he sent the Email, the Email, as a matter
of law, fails to comply with one of the discovery code articles—La. C.C.P.
art. 1420(A)—and cannot constitute formal discovery. Thus, the trial court legally
erred in finding the Email constituted formal discovery.
In sum, we find—for factual and legal reasons—that the Email is not formal
discovery and, thus, is not a step for abandonment purposes pursuant to La. C.C.P.
art. 561(B).
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we grant Ochsner’s writ, reverse the Judgment,
and render judgment dismissing Mr. Sylvester’s claims against Ochsner without
prejudice.
WRIT GRANTED; JUDGMENT REVERSED; JUDGMENT
RENDERED DISMISSING CASE WITHOUT PREJUDICE
12