Tenesha Smith v. Transport Services Company of Illinois

GUIDRY, Justice,

dissents and assigns reasons.

|TI respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 596 acts to suspend prescription for putative class members even though the class action, originally filed in state court, is thereafter removed to federal court and class action certification is denied. In Quinn v. Louisiana Property Insurance Corporation, 12-0152 (La.11/2/12), 118 So.3d 1011, this court definitively held that the suspension of prescription effected under the article applies only to putative class actions filed in Louisiana state courts, rather than those filed in federal courts. The majority’s attempt to distinguish this case from Quinn on the basis that removal to federal court of a class action suit originally filed in state court is somehow qualitatively different from the class action being originally filed in federal court is unpersuasive. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply in either case. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 81(c)(1). Accordingly, I see no compelling reason to apply La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 596 to one and not the other.