## Facts

- Joseph Y. Rebouche underwent open-heart surgery on November 6, 1984 and died on January 4, 1985; the suit alleged malpractice involving operation of a heart-lung machine.
- Doris D. Rebouche filed wrongful-death and related claims against two physicians/perfusionists (Anderson and Kightlinger) and corporate defendants (B & B Medical, Inc. and SciMed Life Systems, Inc.).
- Doris had married Johnny Malcolm Wheeler in 1945 and later married Thomas J. Ramsey in 1955; no divorce from Ramsey was ever obtained.
- Believing Ramsey had divorced her (and based in part on a mistaken report that Ramsey had remarried), Doris married Joseph in 1967.
- Defendants challenged Doris’s standing, asserting her marriage to Joseph was absolutely null due to the undissolved Ramsey marriage.
- Doris argued she qualified as a putative spouse because she entered the 1967 marriage in good faith, citing limited education and reliance on Ramsey’s alleged promise to obtain a divorce.
- The trial court sustained exceptions of no right of action, finding Doris was neither Joseph’s lawful widow nor his putative spouse; it also found Anderson and Kightlinger were not employees of B & B Medical and recognized no right of action against SciMed.

## Issues

1. Whether Doris proved she entered the marriage to Joseph in good faith, entitling her to putative-spouse status despite an undissolved prior marriage.
2. If she was neither a lawful nor putative spouse, whether she lacked a right of action to assert wrongful-death and survival claims.
3. Whether evidence supported vicarious-liability theories against corporate defendants based on an employment or agency relationship with Anderson and Kightlinger.

## Decision

- The court of appeal affirmed the judgment sustaining the exceptions of no right of action.
- The court held Doris failed to prove the good-faith, objectively reasonable belief required for putative-spouse status.
- Because she was neither a lawful nor putative spouse, she was outside the class entitled to bring wrongful-death and survival actions and thus lacked a right of action.
- The court left undisturbed the determinations rejecting an employment relationship between the physicians/perfusionists and B & B Medical and recognizing no right of action against SciMed.

## Legal Principles

- A marriage that is null due to an undissolved prior marriage may still produce civil effects for a spouse in good faith (putative marriage).
- Good faith requires an honest and reasonable belief that no legal impediment exists; the reasonableness inquiry considers the person’s circumstances and available means of verification.
- Good-faith determinations are factual; appellate review gives substantial deference to the trial court’s credibility assessments and will not disturb findings absent manifest error.
- When a claimant is neither a lawful spouse nor a putative spouse, the claimant lacks a right of action to pursue spouse-based wrongful-death and survival remedies.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed dismissal of the claims because the plaintiff did not establish putative-spouse good faith where she knew divorce was required yet made no meaningful effort to obtain or verify a divorce, leaving her without standing to sue as the decedent’s spouse.


Rebouche v. Anderson, 505 So. 2d 808 (La. Ct. App. 2d Cir. 1987)