# Dauzat v. Allstate Insurance Company

> Supreme Court of Louisiana · December 14, 1970 · 257 La. 349

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9675942

## Case

- **Full name:** Mrs. Betty Z. DAUZAT Et Al. v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY Et Al.; L. Wayne SYLVESTER Et Ux. v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY Et Al.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Louisiana
- **Decided:** December 14, 1970
- **Citations:** 257 La. 349; 242 So. 2d 539; 1970 La. LEXIS 3489
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Sanders
- **Judges:** Hamlin, Sanders, Barham
- **Cited by:** 11 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/9675942

## Opinion text

SANDERS, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority, in my opinion, correctly holds that the Court of Appeal rendering the judgment in this case was sitting en banc despite the absence of one of its members.
I disagree, however, with the further holding that a judgment in the Third Circuit Court of Appeal must be rendered by a majority of the entire 6-judge court, that is, by four members. Section 26 of Article VII of the Louisiana Constitution is explicit on this point. It provides:
“No judgment shall be rendered by any of the Courts of Appeal unless a majority of the judges sitting in the case have read the record and have concurred in the judgment.”
Hence, in the Courts of Appeal, only a majority of the “judges sitting in the case” are required to render a judgment. For this Court to hold otherwise does violence to the Constitution and upsets the well-established procedures in the intermediate Courts of Appeal.
For the reasons assigned, I respectfully dissent.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9675942. Public record. Not legal advice.