Note by Patricia Wiener
Plaintiff, injured by an automobile operated by an “under-insured” driver, timely sued the tortfeasor, but failed to sue her own uninsured motorist (UM) carrier within the two-year statutory prescriptive period. More than three years after the accident, plaintiff amended the original petition by naming her UM carrier as an additional defendant. The trial court found that the tortfeasor and the UM carrier were not solidary obligors and sustained the carrier's peremptory exception of prescription. The Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit affirmed. In a 4-3 decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed and held that the tortfeasor and plaintiff's UM carrier were solidary obligors so that the timely filing of suit against the former in a court of competent jurisdiction and venue interrupted prescription against the latter. Hoefly v. Government Employees Insurance Co., 418 So. 2d 575 (La. 1982).
About the Author
Patricia Wiener.
Citation
58 Tul. L. Rev. 642 (1983)