Mary Hotard Becnel and Bradley D. Becnel v. Jennifer Salas, Wife of/and Camilo Salas

Summary

The Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal held that prior lawsuits that were voluntarily dismissed or abandoned did not permanently accelerate the entire debt under a promissory note. Monthly installments due more than five years before the filing of the current suit were prescribed, but the note was not prescribed in its entirety. The court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for conversion to an ordinary proceeding to determine the non-prescribed debt.

Holdings

1. A suit terminated under Louisiana Civil Code article 3463(B) does not affect prescription or acceleration of the note; the debt is treated as though the terminated suit had never been filed.
2. The entire note was not prescribed, but all monthly payments that became due more than five years before November 20, 2024, were prescribed; later payment obligations remained enforceable.
3. Reimbursement claims for property taxes advanced on behalf of the borrowers are subject to the ten-year prescriptive period for personal obligations, rather than the five-year period applicable to promissory-note payments.
4. The denial of the injunction against seizure and sale was reversed, and the matter was remanded for conversion to an ordinary proceeding to determine the amount of debt outstanding as of November 20, 2019.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the prior collection suits accelerated the entire debt despite their subsequent voluntary dismissal or abandonment.
2. Whether the entire debt under the promissory note was prescribed under Louisiana Civil Code article 3498.
3. Whether individual installment payments due more than five years before the current suit were prescribed while later installments remained enforceable.
4. Whether the trial court erred in denying an injunction against seizure and sale by executory process and whether the matter should be converted to an ordinary proceeding.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded