Kelvin Wells, Kelda Wells, Treasure Wells, Bethany Wells and Patrik Wells v. East Baton Rouge Parish School System, District Superintendent Magnolia Woods Elementarys Schools, Principal Donna Wallette

STATE OF LOUISIANA KELVIN WELLS, KELDA WELLS, NO. 2023 CW 0517 TREASURE WELLS, BETHANY WELLS AND PATRIK WELLS VERSUS EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM, DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT MAGNOLIA JULY 18, 2023 WOODS ELEMENTARYS SCHOOLS PRINCIPAL, DONNA WALLETTE In Re: The East Baton Rouge Parish School System and Donna Wallette, applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 597165. BEFORE: THERIOT, WOLFE, AND HESTER, JJ. WRIT GRANTED. The trial March 1, 2023 court' s judgment, which granted the Motion to Set Aside filed by plaintiff, Kelvin Wells (" Wells"), and vacated the Motion to Dismiss Suit on Grounds of Abandonment signed on January 13, 2023, is reversed. An action is abandoned when the parties fail to take any step in its prosecution or defense in the trial court for a period of three years. La. Code Civ. P. art. 561 ( A) ( 1) . Abandonment is self- executing; it occurs -automatically with the passing of three years without a step being taken by either party. See La. Code Civ. P. art. 561 ( A)( 1) and ( 3). Wells failed to introduce any exhibits or documents into evidence the at hearing on the Motion to Set Aside Dismissal. See BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP v. Louis, 20200717 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 5/ 13/ 21), 326 So. 3d 904 , 909. The Pre - Trial Order Request, which delivered to was the clerk of court, filed into the suit record on November 8, 2019, and included a request for a trial setting, was the last step taken in the trial court towards the prosecution or defense of this matter. See e. g. Ellzey v. Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Co., 388 So. 2d 843, 847 ( La. App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 394 So. 2d 617 ( La. 1980). We find the documents that Wells filed into the suit record between the dates of February 8, 2022 and March 31, 2022 did not serve to hasten the matter to judgment and were not steps in the prosecution or defense of the action in the trial court. Accordingly, the action filed by plaintiffs, Kelda Wells and Kelvin Wells, on behalf of their minor children, Treasure Wells, Bethany Wells, and Patrick Wells, abandoned on November 8, 2022, by operation of law. Accordingly, the Motion to Set Aside filed by plaintiff, Kelvin Wells, is denied, and the claims of the plaintiffs, Kelda Wells and Kelvin Wells, on behalf of their minor children, Treasure Wells, Bethany Wells, and Patrick Wells, against defendants, East Baton Rouge Parish School System, the District Superintendent, in his individual and official capacities of Magnolia Woods Elementary School Principal, Donna Wallette, in her individual and official capacities, are dismissed without prejudice. MRT EW CHH COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT C, - DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT-