FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE	NEWS RELEASE #006
FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

 

The Opinions handed down on the 28th day of January, 2011, are as follows:

BY JOHNSON, J.:

2009-KK-1358 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. VINCENT M. CASTILLO (Parish of Jefferson)

Retired Judge Philip C. Ciaccio, assigned as Justice ad hoc, sitting for Chief Justice Catherine D. Kimball.

For the reasons assigned, we reverse the decision of the court of appeal, which ordered appointment of counsel in a case involving discretionary review of petty misdemeanor traffic offenses. We find no mandate in the Louisiana or United States Constitutions requiring the State to provide counsel in these cases. We recognize the Supreme Court's holding in Halbert v. Michigan, supra, but find that the facts of this case necessarily distinguish it from Halbert, and support a different result.
REVERSED.

VICTORY, J., concurs in result.
KNOLL, J., concurs in the result.
WEIMER, J., concurs in the result.

 

BY WEIMER, J.:

2010-C -0703 LAURIE ANN SENSEBE v. CANAL INDEMNITY COMPANY, MISSISSIPPI FARM BUREAU CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, TOP HATCH, INC. AND DEBORAH BOUDREAUX (Parish of St. Tammany)

Because the insurance policy at issue contains an exclusion for a driver engaged in an automobile business, but that exclusion conflicts with the legislated public policy of affording coverage to permissive drivers, the automobile business exclusion cannot be enforced in this matter. The judgment of the district court granting Farm Bureau's motion for summary judgment and dismissing Farm Bureau from this lawsuit is therefore reversed. To the extent the court of appeal found the automobile business exclusion unenforceable, the decision of the court of appeal is hereby affirmed. This matter is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED.

JOHNSON, J., concurs.
GUIDRY, J., concurs in part, dissents in part, and assigns reasons.