Let Louisiana's Bastards Beat the Clock: It's Time to Amend Article 197

• Author: Emily M. Gauthier
• Position: J.D./D.C.L., 2020, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
• Pages: 1441-1494

Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review

Volume 80

Number 4

Summer 2020

Article 10

11-11-2020

Let Louisiana’s Bastards Beat the Clock: It’s Time to Amend Let Louisiana’s Bastards Beat the Clock: It’s Time to Amend

Article 197 Article 197

Emily M. Gauthier

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev

Part of the Law Commons

Repository Citation Repository Citation

Emily M. Gauthier,

Let Louisiana’s Bastards Beat the Clock: It’s Time to Amend Article 197

, 80 La. L. Rev.

(2020)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss4/10

This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital

Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital

Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.

346780-LSU_80-4_Text.indd 449346780-LSU_80-4_Text.indd 449 10/12/20 7:08 AM10/12/20 7:08 AM

Let Louisiana’s Bastards Beat the Clock: It’s Time to

Amend Article 197

Emily M. Gauthier*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: A Bastard’s Tale................................................... 1438

I. Laying the Groundwork: Louisiana’s Laws of

Filiation, Retroactivity, and Peremption .................................... 1442

A. Establishing the Paternal Link for Inheritance .................... 1442

1. The Legal Relationship Between

Father and Child............................................................ 1443

2. Forging a Path to Inheritance Through Filiation........... 1445

3. A Change in the Law of Filiation:

Article 197 Replaces 209 .............................................. 1447

B. A Matter of Time: The Complexities of

Louisiana’s Law of Retroactivity ........................................ 1448

1. Legislative Origins of Retroactivity.............................. 1449

2. Louisiana Courts and the Quest to

Define Retroactivity...................................................... 1450

3. Louisiana’s Vested Rights Retroactivity

Analysis: Discerning Legislative Intent and

the Classification Schema ............................................. 1455

C. Extinguished Rights: Louisiana’s Doctrine

of Peremption....................................................................... 1459

1. Separating Prescription from Peremption ..................... 1459

2. Chance v. American Honda Motor Co.:

Retroactivity and Prescription Collide .......................... 1462

3. Causae Finitae: The Civilian Approach

to Extinguished Claims ................................................. 1465

Copyright 2020, by EMILY M. GAUTHIER.

* J.D./D.C.L., 2020, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University.

This Comment is dedicated to my family, especially my husband, Kevin Malone.

Without their support, I would not be where I am today. Special thanks to Professor

Lonegrass for introducing me to this topic, guiding me through a complex body of

law, and providing thoughtful feedback throughout the writing process. Thank you

to Professor Trahan for his advice on the retroactivity issues and for providing

translations of relevant French doctrine. Lastly, thank you to the Louisiana Law

Review Volume 79 and Volume 80 Editorial Boards for their tireless work and

friendship.

346780-LSU_80-4_Text.indd 450346780-LSU_80-4_Text.indd 450 10/12/20 7:08 AM10/12/20 7:08 AM

1438 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80

4. Constitutional Due Process: The American

Approach to Extinguished Claims................................. 1467

II. The Circuit Split: Competing Interpretations of

Louisiana’s Law of Retroactivity............................................... 1470

A. Majority Approach: You’re Too Late, Kid! ........................ 1471

B. The Fifth Circuit Enters the Fray......................................... 1476

C. Retroactive by Association Approach ................................. 1478

III. Time to Amend Article 197 ....................................................... 1482

A. Proposal to Amend Article 197 ........................................... 1483

B. Ameliorating Retroactivity Concerns .................................. 1486

C. Causae Finitae Is Not a Barrier........................................... 1488

Conclusion:

At the Crossroads of Retroactivity and Peremption ................... 1489

INTRODUCTION: A BASTARD’S TALE

In 1986, Karla Coleman was born to an unmarried Louisiana couple.1

Karla’s father, Louis Hebert, also had a two-year-old son, Louis Jr., from

a previous marriage.2 Although both of Karla’s biological parents raised

her, Karla’s parents remained unmarried.3 During his lifetime, Louis never

legally established that he was Karla’s father.4 When Louis died in

December of 2005, he did not leave a will.5 Louisiana law provided that

1. Karla Coleman’s story is loosely derived from the facts of Succ ession of

Hebert. In the case, Karla turned 19 a few months before her father died. That

same year, she filed paternity test results with the trial court. Years later, she

completed the requisite filiation action, attempting to prove her legal relationship

to her father. Due to the delay, Karla’s action was time-barred under both

Louisiana Civil Code articles 209 and 197. See In re Succession of Hebert, 153

So. 3d 1101, 1102–05 (La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 2014); see also LA. CIV. CODE art.

197 (2018); LA. CIV. CODE art. 209(C) (2005).

2. See generally Hebert, 153 So. 3d at 1102–03.

3. See generally id.

4. See generally id.

5. See generally id. In Louisiana, a “succession” is “the transmission of the

estate of the deceased to his successors.” LA. CIV. CODE art. 871 (2018). Louisiana

recognizes two types of succession: “testate” and “intestate.” Id. art. 873. When

the decedent leaves a valid will, the succession is a “testate” succession. Id. art.

874. In the absence of a valid will, or in an “intestate” succession , the decedent’s