St. George Professional Firefighters Association Local 4524, Joahua Harrell, Kristopher Peel, Jason Turner, David Hebert, Travis Moore, Jacob Crow, Blake Bourgeois, Chelsea Blount v. St. George Fire Protection District No. 2, and Gerard Tarleton, in his official capacity as Fire Chief

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
ST. GEORGE PROFESSIONAL NO. 2022 CW 0033
FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION
LOCAL 4524, JOSHUA HARRELL,
KRISTOPHER PEEL, JASON
TURNER, DAVID HEBERT, TRAVIS
MOORE, JACOB CROW, BLAKE
BOURGEOIS, CHELSEA BLOUNT

VERSUS

ST. GEORGE FIRE PROTECTION MARCH 14, 2022
DISTRICT NO. 2, AND GERARD
TARLETON, IN HIS OFFICIAL
CAPACITY AS FIRE CHIEF

In Re: St. George Fire Protection District No. 2, Gerard
Tarleton, Johnny Suchy, David L. Carnes, Chris
Rosendahl, Christopher Corzo and Darrell Ourso,
applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District
Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 709946.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, HOLDRIDGE, AND CHUTZ, JJ.

WRIT DENIED. Although the district court explicitly stated
that it denied the exception of prematurity filed by defendants,
the substance of the exception is more akin to an exception of
improper cumulation of actions. See Joiner v. Brown, 2014-1077
(La. App. 1st Cir. 4/24/15), 2015 WL 1882538, at *4
(unpublished) ("[T]he nomenclature given a pleading is not
controlling; the courts will look beyond mere headings on
pleadings to determine the substance and true nature thereof.
Thus, a party may be granted any relief to which he is entitled
so long as the facts pled gave the opposing party adequate
notice of the existence of potential causes of action.") . In
light of Joiner, the district court correctly recognized that
plaintiffs may not pursue their claims for supplemental mandamus
and injunctive relief pursuant to La. Code Civ. P. art. 1878 (A),
which are summary proceedings, until resolution of their
declaratory judgment action, which is accomplished through
ordinary proceedings.

JMG
GH
WRC

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

OF COURT
FOR THE COURT