Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Louisiana

Being sued for damages to petitioner's tires

I am being sued in small claims court concerning an incident that occurred on May 17, 2001. The petitioner is claiming damage to front tires of his/her vehicle with the claim that I caused the damage due to negligence in abruptly changing lanes in front of the petitioner vehicle. The driver of that vehicle claims they were forced to use evasive maneuvers to avoid striking my vehicle. This including locking of brakes which caused the tire damage. No accident occurred nor police reports, etc. Also, the parish in which the claim is arising says a person can be sued using small claims court in the parish if: 1. The person being sued lives in the parish (I do not)

2. The person being sued has a place of business in the parish and the claim arises out of the conduct of this business ( I do not)

3. The claim arises out of an accident that occurred in the parish. (there was not an accident).

Is there grounds for dismissal here? Do I have a strong defense as there was no accident; what condition his/her tires were in to begin with; there was possible speeding involved by the petitioner, etc.

Thanks!


Asked on 5/22/02, 10:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Casanave Andrew M. Casanave

Re: Being sued for damages to petitioner's tires

File an exception instead of an answer. This is a written document that states (in your case) that you object to the jurisdiction of the court for the reasons that you stated to me:

You do not live in the parish;

You have no place of business in the parish and no claim arises out of the conduct of any business of yours in the parish; and

There was no accident that occurred within the parish, In fact there was no accident.

This might prevent the need to defend yourself at trial. That being said, at trial the issues of pre-incident tire condition, the non-crash and the driving behavior of the other person can be raised as defenses.

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Answered on 5/23/02, 10:53 am


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