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Judgment must be signed by the presiding judge

A recent decision by the Louisiana Fourth Circuit reminds us that, to be valid, a judgment must be signed by the judge who presided over the trial or hearing. Reaney-Gates v. Mendoza, 2019-0912 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2/19/20), — So. 3d —, 2020 WL 830823.

Here’s what happened: Following an automobile accident, the plaintiffs sued the other driver, the other driver’s insurer, and their own UM insurers. The case was assigned to Judge A. The UM insurers filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and Judge A set signed the order setting the motion for hearing. But when the hearing date arrived, the motion was argued before and decided by Judge B, who granted one motion and denied the other. Counsel then prepared a form of judgment and submitted it to Judge A. The judgment itself recited that Judge B had presided in place of Judge A. Judge A signed the judgment, and the losing UM insurer appealed.

The Fourth Circuit dismissed the appeal without prejudice because of the lack of an appealable judgment. The court cited La. Code Civ. P. art. 1911, which requires a judgment to be signed by the judge, and cited caselaw interpreting “the judge” in article 1911 to mean the judge who actually presided over the the hearing. The Fourth Circuit remanded the case to the trial court to enable Judge B, who actually presided at the summary-judgment hearing, to render and sign the written judgment.

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