Opinion
No. 2021-C-01610
01-12-2022
LOUISIANA WETLANDS, LLC and New 90, LLC v. ENERGEN RESOURCES CORPORATION, Chevron USA, Inc., Southern Natural Gas Company, LLC, EP Energy E&P Company, LP, and Brammer Engineering, Inc.
Writ application denied.
Weimer, C.J., would grant.
Hughes, J., would grant.
Genovese, J., would grant and assigns reasons.
GENOVESE, J., would grant the writ for the following reasons:
This is a legacy case involving the "subsequent purchaser rule." See Eagle Pipe & Supply, Inc. v. Amerada Hess Corp. , 10-2267, p. 8 (La. 10/25/11), 79 So.3d 246, 256-57 ("The subsequent purchaser rule is a jurisprudential rule which holds that an owner of property has no right or actual interest in recovering from a third party for damage which was inflicted on the property before his purchase, in the absence of an assignment or subrogation of the rights belonging to the owner of the property when the damage was inflicted."). The Bailey heirs, who have owned the property at issue for decades, merely formed an LLC and transferred its property to the LLC, New 90, LLC ("the LLC"). This was a non-arm's-length transaction involving the same parties, who maintained the same ownership interest, and who assigned all of their rights, title, and interest in and to the same property to its own LLC. There was no sale—just a transfer by the same people to a legal entity. I find the "subsequent purchaser rule" does not apply, and the LLC has a right of action for property damages it sustained. As a result, I would grant the writ and reverse the lower courts' grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants which dismissed the LLC's claims.