MARC E. JOHNSON, Judge.
Plaintiffs, Danny Allday and The Allday Consulting Group, L.L.C. ("ACG"), appeal the sustaining of an exception of prescription dismissing ACG's claims against defendant, Newpark Square I Office Condominium Association, Inc. ("Newpark"), with prejudice. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
On September 28, 2007, Mr. Allday filed a petition for breach of contract and damages against Newpark and its insurer, Massachusetts Bay Insurance Co. ("Massachusetts Bay"),
Newpark responded by filing a dilatory exception of prematurity claiming that Mr. Allday's claims against it were subject to mandatory and binding arbitration under the Condominium Agreement that was in effect between the parties. Mr. Allday initially did not object to the exception and requested a stay of his claims rather than a dismissal pending arbitration. However, he later filed an opposition to the exception of prematurity claiming the Condominium Agreement did not require arbitration. After a hearing, the trial court sustained the exception of prematurity and issued a judgment on November 25, 2008, dismissing Mr. Allday's claims against Newpark without prejudice; but, the judgment specifically stated the trial court would retain jurisdiction to address any issues relating to the details of arbitration.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Bay filed an exception of no right of action to Mr. Allday's petition claiming Mr. Allday lacked standing to pursue any claims against it because he was not a named insured and that he assigned any potential causes of action to Newpark. The exception was denied after a hearing, and Massachusetts Bay remained in the lawsuit.
On August 18, 2010, almost three years after the original petition was filed and almost two years after Newpark was dismissed from the lawsuit, Mr. Allday amended his petition to add ACG, his solely owned limited liability corporation, as a plaintiff. In the amended petition, plaintiffs again named Newpark as a defendant and asserted claims against Newpark and
In response to plaintiffs' amended petition, Newpark filed an exception of prescription as to ACG's claims and an exception of no right of action as to Mr. Allday's reasserted claims.
On August 5, 2011, plaintiffs filed a second amended petition in response to an earlier exception of vagueness filed by Massachusetts Bay. Newpark again filed an exception of prescription and exception of no right of action. A hearing on the exceptions was held on December 16, 2011. During the hearing, reference was made to the original exceptions of prescription and no right of action that had been argued on November 5, 2010, and taken under advisement by the trial court. Newpark submitted its exceptions based on the arguments it had made during the November 2010 hearing. Plaintiffs argued their position, but submitted no new evidence.
Mr. Allday and ACG timely filed this appeal seeking review of the trial court's judgment sustaining Newpark's exception of prescription and dismissing ACG's claims against Newpark with prejudice.
Newpark maintains ACG's claims are in tort and, thus, are subject to a one-year prescriptive period.
The burden of proof in an exception of prescription lies with the party asserting it; however, where the petition shows on its face that it has prescribed,
Upon review of the amended petition, we do not find that it is prescribed on its face. The only dates listed in the amended petition are August 2005 and September 2005, the dates Hurricanes Katrina and Rita initially damaged the building. In the amended petition, ACG asserts Newpark failed to make prompt and proper repairs to the building and that this failure caused ACG damage; however, neither the amended petition nor the original petition allege when these repairs were made. It would appear prescription would begin to run from when the dilatory and improper repairs were made, but nothing in the petition indicates that date.
Newpark suggests that repairs were made at least by 2007, because that is when Mr. Allday filed his lawsuit and alleged damages based on the same dilatory and improper repairs. We find Newpark's argument unpersuasive. Mr. Allday owned four different units in the building and alleged damages relating to all four units. From the petition, it is unknown what and when repairs were made or attempted to be made and to which units. Further, additional repairs could have been made to ACG's unit after Mr. Allday filed his lawsuit. Admittedly, plaintiffs' original and amending petitions are vague as to when the actions or omissions occurred that form the basis of their causes of action. However, vague pleadings do not necessarily equate to being prescribed on their face for purposes of prescription.
Because ACG's amended petition was not prescribed on its face, the burden of proving prescription was on Newpark as mover of the exception. Although evidence may be introduced to support or controvert an exception of prescription,
Upon review, we find Newpark failed to carry its burden of proving ACG's claims had prescribed. Newpark never definitively showed when prescription started to run. The amended petition was silent as to the when the dilatory and improper repairs upon which ACG based its claims were made, and Newpark failed to offer any evidence to show when such repairs were made so as to trigger the running of prescription. For these reasons, we find the trial court erred in sustaining Newpark's exception of prescription.
Based on the record before us, we find Newpark failed to carry its burden of