Iberville Parish Government VS The Louisiana Municipal Natural Gas Purchasing and Distribution Authority
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT NO 2012 CA 0734 IBERVILLE PARISH GOVERNMENT VERSUS THE LOUISIANA MUNICPAL NATURAL GAS PURCHASHING AND DISTRIBUTION AUTHORITY Judgment Rendered December 21 2012 J On Appeal from the 18 Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of Iberville State of Louisiana Trial Court No 69 783 The Honorable William C Dupont Judge Presiding Phil Breaux Attorney for Appellee St Gabriel Louisiana Iberville Parish Government James C Percy Boyd Bryan David P Borghardt Attorneys for Appellant Louisiana Municipal Natural Caroline H Parenton Authority A Gas Purchasing and Distribution Baton Rouge Louisiana BEFORE CARTER C GUIDRY J AND GAIDRY JJ CARTER C J This is an appeal of a summary judgment granted in favor of Plaintiff Iberville Parish Government Iberville For the following reasons we dismiss the appeaL FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The Louisiana Municipal Natural Gas Purchasing and Distribution Authority LMGA entered into three separate agreements with Iberville 1 a 1990 Gas Supply Agreement 1990 Agreement 2 a June 16 2006 Pre Natural Gas Paid Supply Agreement 2006 Pre Agreement and 3 a June 16 2006 Gas Paid Supply Transportation Storage and Load Management Agreement 2006 Gas Supply Agreement Iberville filed a declaratory judgment requesting the court to declare that the 1990 Agreement and the 2006 Gas Supply Agreement do not require Iberville to buy gas from LMGA that Iberville intends to sell to industrial customers as opposed to residential and commercial customers Iberville subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment requesting that the trial court declare that Iberville is not required to purchase future gas supplies from LMGA that is intended to be resold to industrial customers In response to the motion for summary judgment LMGA filed an opposition claiming 1 that the 2006 Pre Agreement required Iberville to purchase a portion of its natural Paid gas requirements on a firm basis up to the quantities specified in the agreement and 2 that the 2006 Gas Supply Agreement required Iberville to purchase all of its gas supply requirements in excess of the natural gas provided pursuant to the 2006 Pre Agreement Paid After a hearing the trial court signed a judgment granting Iberville motion s for summary judgment It is from this judgment that LMGA appeals 2 LAW AND ANALYSIS Appellate courts have the duty to determine sua sponte whether their subject matter jurisdiction exists even when the parties do not raise the issue Gaten v Tangipahoa Parish School System 11 La App 1 Cir 3 91 So 3d 1133 12 23 1073 1074 Under Louisiana law a final judgment is one that determines the merits of a controversy in whole or in part La Code Civ Proa Ann art 1841 A judgment is the determination of the rights of the parties in an action and may award any relief to which the parties are entitled Id A final judgment must be identified as such by appropriate language La Code Civ Proc Ann art 1918 A valid judgment must be precise definite and certain Laird v St Tammany Parish Safe Harbor 02 La App 1 Cir 12 836 So 2d 364 365 0045 02 20 A final appealable judgment must contain decretal language and it must name the party in favar of whom the ruling is ordered the party against whom the ruling is ordered and the relief that is granted ar denied Gaten 91 So 3d at 1074 These determinations should be evident from the language of a judgment without reference to other documents in the record Laird 836 So 2d at 366 The September 30 2011 judgmenC signed by the trial court states IT IS ORDERED that the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by petitioner Iberviile Parish Government against The Louisiana Municipal Natural Gas Purchasing And Distributing Authority is hereby GRANTED The judgment grants Iberville s motion for summary judgment but does not specify what relief is granted It is not evident from the judgment that the trial court intended to dispose of all the claims raised In the absence of decretal language the judgment before us is defective and cannot be considered as ajudgment Gaten 91 So 3d at 1074 In the final absence of a final judgment this court lacks jurisdiction to review this matter Id 3 CONCLUSION For the faregoing reasons the appeal of the judgment of the trial court granting Iberville Parish Government motion for summary judgment s is dismissed Costs of this appeal are assessed to Iberville Parish Government and The Louisiana Municipal Natural Gas Purchasing and Distribution Authority to be shared equally APPEAL DISMISSED 4
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