MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

The plaintiff/appellant, Helen McKamey, appeals a judgment that granted a peremptory exception of prescription filed by the defendants/appellees, Global Experience Specialists, Inc. ("GES"); GES's insurer, Greenwich Indemnity Insurance Company ("Greenwich"); American College of Cardiology ("ACC"); New Orleans Public Facility Management, Inc. ("NOPFM"); Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority ("ENMEHA"); and Travelers Indemnity Company ("Travelers"), the insurer of the latter two entities. After reviewing the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgment.

This action was initiated on 26 March 2008 when Ms. McKamey filed suit against NOPFM and ENMEHA alleging they were liable to her for her injuries sustained on 26 March 2007, when she allegedly tripped and fell over carpet that had been rolled up and left on the floor of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center during the dismantling of an exhibition. On 7 May 2009, NOPFM and ENMEHA filed an answer. Thereafter, they filed a motion for summary judgment on 4 May 2011, which was heard on 1 July 2011. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court granted the summary judgment, and they were dismissed from the action with prejudice. No appeal was taken from their dismissal; however, one day before the hearing, the plaintiff filed a first amended petition, alleging additional claims against NOPFM and ENMEHA and adding new parties (GES, Greenwich, and ACC) to the action. Exceptions were filed to this amended complaint on behalf of NOPFM, ENMEHA, and Travelers; the amended complaint against them was dismissed, from which Ms. McKamey appealed.

By judgment dated 19 September 2012, this court affirmed the trial court's rulings on the exceptions of no cause of action and res judicata. See McKamey v. New Orleans Public Facility Management, Inc., 12-0716 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/19/12), 102 So.3d 222. Therefore, all causes of action against NOPFM, ENMEHA, and Travelers were dismissed. The new parties had neither been served nor appeared at the time of the hearing of the original motion for summary judgment.

Ms. McKamey then filed a second amended petition against NOPFM and ENMEHA, as well as against GES, Greenwich, and ACC. Service was made on only GES and Greenwich. To join issue and get this matter resolved, ACC waived service and filed an answer and exceptions; GES and Greenwich also filed exceptions to the second amending petition.1 At the hearing on the exceptions, the court and the parties agreed any ruling should be deferred until this court ruled on the appeal filed by Ms. McKamey. Following our affirmation, the exceptions were heard and granted with the remaining defendants being dismissed with prejudice. Ms. McKamey now appeals from this judgment.

The basis of the plaintiff's appeal is that the later-named parties are solidarily liable with the timely-named defendants. However, solidary liability no longer exists in Louisiana. The Louisiana Legislature amended both La. C.C. art. 2323 and 2324(B) by 1996 La. Acts. No. 3, part of the Tort Reform Act. The 1996 amendment to La. C.C. art. 2324(B) changed the law, providing that in applicable cases, liability among tortfeasors shall be joint and divisible, not solidary. This was the law in effect at the time of McKamey's accident.

Suit was originally brought against NOPFM and ENMEHA exactly one year following the accident. The first amended petition added GES, ACC, and Travelers, and asserted a new cause of action against the original parties for "failure to properly notice [sic] the additional defendants of the petitioner's claims." The amended petition was filed on 30 June 2011, one day before the hearing on the motion for summary judgment filed by NOPFM and ENMEHA; the original claims against these two parties were dismissed with prejudice on 18 July 2011. No appeal was taken from that judgment, and it is final. NOPFM and ENMEHA were dismissed before service of citation was made on the additional parties.

In Renfroe v. State Department of Transp. and Development, 01-1646, p. 4 (La.2/26/02), 809 So.2d 947, 950, the Court stated:

In the instant matter, NOPFM and ENMEHA were timely sued but ultimately found not to be liable to Ms. McKamey. Therefore, the additional parties, joined more than one year after the date of the accident, were not timely sued. The trial court was correct when it granted their exceptions of prescription.

The plaintiff also argues that the amending petitions adding the new parties after the one year had run relates back to the original timely-filed petition.

La. C.C.P. art. 1153 states:

In Hodges v. Republic Western Ins. Co., 05-0245 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/14/05), 921 So.2d 175, 178, quoting Ray v. Alexandria Mall, 434 So.2d 1083, 1087 (La.1983), this court outlined the criteria adopted by the Louisiana Supreme Court for determining whether an amendment that changes the identity of a defendant, will be allowed to relate back under La. C.C.P. art. 1153:

First, we note that the plaintiff did not change the identity of the defendants; wholly new defendants were added well after one year had lapsed from the date of the alleged accident. No evidence exists that the plaintiff was barred or otherwise prevented from obtaining the names of all the parties within the one year following the accident. In addition, no relationship existed between the timely-sued defendants and those added after the prescriptive period had run. Thus, we also find that this argument has no merit.

Based on the foregoing, we affirm the judgment of the trial court dismissing with prejudice all named parties from this lawsuit based on prescription.

AFFIRMED.

LOBRANO, J., concurs with reasons.

I respectfully concur in the majority's affirmation of the trial court's judgment dismissing with prejudice all named parties from this lawsuit based on prescription. However, I disagree with the majority's finding that "no relationship existed between the timely-sued defendants and those added after the prescriptive period had run." A contractual relationship existed between the New Orleans Public Facility Authority/Ernest N. Morial and New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority, ("NOPFM/ENMEHA"), and the added defendant, American College of Cardiology, ("ACC"). Nonetheless, there is insufficient evidence on appeal to determine whether the closeness of the business relationship between these parties is such that the institution of the action against NOPFM/ENMEHA serves to provide notice of the action against ACC. See Findley v. City of Baton Rouge, 570 So.2d 1168, 1172 (La.1990) (where the court held that when there is an identity of interests and a close business relationship between the original timely-sued defendants and added defendant, the amended petition relates back for the purposes of prescription under La.Code Civ. Proc. Art. 1153 to the date of filing of the original petition because the filing of a petition against one serves to provide notice of litigation to the other, noting that "Rule 15(c) was amended for the purpose of preventing unjust results when a plaintiff, confronted with a maze of closely related corporate or governmental entities, initially chooses the wrong one to sue ...").