Belinda Lassalle v. Honorable Chelsey R. Napoleon, in Her Official Capacity as Clerk of Court for the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, 356 So.3d 74

Lassalle retired as chief deputy clerk effective December 31, 2005, fully vested in the clerks’ retirement system, and returned to work in August 2006.
Louisiana law limited post-retirement reemployment hours to avoid reduction of retirement benefits; Lassalle tracked hours to remain under the cap.
In November 2015 the then-Clerk told Lassalle she could work as an independent contractor; Lassalle executed a written agreement on November 2, 2015, her hours were not reported to the retirement fund, and she continued receiving benefits.
The Louisiana Clerks of Court Retirement & Relief Fund (LCCR) later found Lassalle had exceeded allowable hours for 2015–2020, assessed overpayments (~$89,661.43), and sought recovery; the Board upheld the assessment after an administrative hearing.
Lassalle appealed the Board’s decision to the district court and lost; she then sued the Clerk’s Office (Oct. 29, 2021) asserting detrimental reliance. The Clerk raised an exception of lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on sovereign immunity; the district court sustained the exception and denied a new trial. Lassalle appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a detrimental reliance claim against a clerk of court falls within the Louisiana Constitution’s waiver of sovereign immunity for contract/tort claims	Lassalle: detrimental reliance is a contractual claim under La. C.C. art. 1967, so Art. XII §10’s waiver of sovereign immunity applies and the court has jurisdiction	Clerk: detrimental reliance is quasi-contractual (akin to unjust enrichment) and therefore outside the Art. XII §10 waiver; sovereign immunity bars suit	Court reversed: detrimental reliance is contractual (per La. C.C. art. 1967 and persuasive precedent); the state’s constitutional waiver of immunity for contracts applies; remanded for further proceedings
Whether the agreement with the former clerk bound the successor clerk (defense raised on appeal)	Lassalle: not argued below (no defense from record)	Clerk (on appeal): a clerk cannot bind a successor under Cott Index Co. v. Jagneaux	Not considered: issue was not raised in district court and is not properly before the appellate court

Murphy Cormier Gen. Contractors, Inc. v. State, 170 So.3d 370 (La. App. 3 Cir. 2015) (detrimental reliance treated as contractual; persuasive precedent that Art. XII §10 waives immunity for such claims)
Suire v. Lafayette City-Parish Consol. Gov’t, 907 So.2d 37 (La. 2005) (elements of detrimental reliance: representation, justifiable reliance, detrimental change in position)
Canal/Claiborne, Ltd. v. Stonehedge Dev., LLC, 156 So.3d 627 (La. 2014) (quasi-contract claims fall outside Art. XII §10 waiver; distinguished here as addressing unjust enrichment)
Fulmer v. State, Dep’t of Wildlife & Fisheries, 68 So.3d 499 (La. 2011) (Article XII §10 contains a self-executing waiver of sovereign immunity for contract and tort claims)
Cott Index Co. v. Jagneaux, 685 So.2d 656 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1996) (rule that a clerk may not contractually bind a successor; defense not preserved in district court)