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Guidry v. Coregis Insurance Co.12/29/2004
im and the child have a biological relationship." Consequently, the opinion gives us conflicting guidance in resolving Randi's right to recover, particularly, when meshed with legislative dictates.
For example, the Turner opinion's prohibition on a child's recovery, based on no biological relationship, is inconsistent with our Civil Code which does not create classifications of biological versus non-biological children but rather, only, legitimate versus illegitimate children. The Code clearly contemplates the possibility that a child could prove legitimate filiation and receive the attendant benefits of this classification without having a biological relationship.
Louisiana Civil Code arts. 193 through 197 provide that a party can prove legitimation through, inter alia, "a transcript from the register of birth or baptism" or by reputation. Article 195 states, in pertinent part:
The being considered in this capacity is proved by a sufficient collection of facts demonstrating the connection of filiation and paternity which exists between an individual and the family to which he belongs.
The most material of these facts are:
That such individual has always been called by the surname of the father from whom he pretends to be born; . . . .
(Emphasis added.) This language implicitly recognizes that legitimated children are not necessarily biological children. Moreover, none of the methods of legitimating a child require proof of a biological relationship.
The method Melvin chose to legitimate Randi is that provided in La.Civ.Code art. 198:
Illegitimate children are legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have formally or informally acknowledged them as their children, either before or after the marriage.
Melvin had elevated Randi's status to that of a "legitimated child" under all of the relevant codal provisions. By the time of the wrongful death suit, not only had he formally acknowledged her as his daughter through an Act of Acknowledgment of Paternity but, also, he had signed her birth certificate as her father and, subsequently, married her mother. Furthermore, she was his daughter by reputation. All of these affirmative acts, evidencing his intent, should provide her with an added layer of protection against attacks from third-party defendants, regarding her familial status.
Nevertheless, the dilemma for Randi is two-fold: She is not Melvin's biological child and the method Melvin chose to legitimate her is premised, in part, on an acknowledgment which, alone, the supreme court considers null absent a biological relationship. The unanswered question is whether this nullity can be cured and, if so, whether Melvin cured it by taking the next step of legitimating Randi.
Furthermore, there is an issue of whether the third-party Defendants, even, have standing to contest Randi's claim, given La.Civ.Code arts. 187 and 190. Essentially, these articles imbue, only, the "father" or his heirs with standing to strip a "child" of his or her legitimate status, which, in essence, is the foundation of these third-party defendants' claims in the instant case.
Given the apparent legislative intent, as well as Melvin's, it certainly does not seem appropriate or prudent for Turner's umbrella to be held over Randi's head, denying her benefits for the loss of the man she knew to be and treated as her father.
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