Schaneville v. Toye Bros. Yellow Cab Co.

WESTERFIELD, Judge. Eugene V. Schaneville brought this suit against Toye Bros. Yellow Cab Company for damages ex delicto in the sum of $50,-000. An order was obtained permitting the prosecution of the suit “in forma pauperis” pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 156 of 1912. The defendant filed a rule to show cause why the order thus obtained should not be rescinded as having been improvidently granted and plaintiff ordered to pay the costs of suit. This rule was made absolute by judgment rendered October 9, 1936. Plaintiff prosecuted this appeal. On March 19, 1937, five days before the hearing in this court defendant filed a motion to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that the judgment appealed from was an interlocutory judgment from which no appeal was permissible. The motion to dismiss the appeal was argued with the merits. On Motion to Dismiss. Article 566 of the Code of Practice provides: “One may likewise appeal from all interlocutory judgments, when such judgment may cause him an irreparable injury.” It appears to us that a judgment denying to a plaintiff the right to prosecute a suit in forma pauperis is one which works irreparable injury to a party entitled to the benefits of Act No. 156 of 1912 permitting impoverished persons to litigate without the payment of costs. It is evident that one who is unable to obtain the necessary amount of money to pay costs of court as they accrue is irreparably injured by a judgment which prohibits him from the prosecution of his claim without the payment of money which he is unable to obtain. The motion to dismiss is, therefore, overruled.