# Board of Commissioners v. St. Bernard Parish Government ex rel. Ponstein

> Louisiana Court of Appeal · October 17, 1996 · 682 So. 2d 811

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7701592

## Case

- **Full name:** BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF the ST. BERNARD PARISH WATER AND SEWER COMMISSION v. ST. BERNARD PARISH GOVERNMENT, Through its Parish President, Charles H. PONSTEIN, W. Fox McKeithen, in his Official Capacity as Secretary of State of the State of Louisiana, Lena R. Torres, in her Official Capacity as Clerk of the Thirty-Fourth Judicial District Court, and Jerry M. Fowler, Commissioner of Elections
- **Court:** Louisiana Court of Appeal
- **Decided:** October 17, 1996
- **Citations:** 682 So. 2d 811; 1996 WL 596915
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Xlobbano
- **Judges:** Byrnes, Iplotkin, Lobrano, Plotkin, Xlobbano
- **Cited by:** 2 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7701592

## Opinion text

| xLOBBANO, Judge,
concurring.
To the extent that the proposition advised the electorate that all obligations of the Water & Sewer Commission would be assumed by the St. Bernard Parish government, I agree that this notice is sufficient. However, I disagree with the majority’s statement “[i]t is clear that the voters’ ultimate liability on the bond is not altered by the election.”
The issue before us is not who will ultimately be responsible on the bonds should there be a default, but whether the notice requirements of La. R.S. 18:1284(D) are satisfied. Louisiana Constitution Article 6, section 16(B) provides that a merger and consolidation of a special district cannot occur “unless provision is made for the assumption of the indebtedness by the governing authority of the local governmental subdivision involved.” That language suggests that the local governing authority may |2become a guarantor of the bonded obligations of the district that is merged. To the extent the majority opinion may suggest otherwise, I disagree.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7701592. Public record. Not legal advice.