Allstate Insurance Co. v. Daniel

177 So. 3d 169, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 90, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2097, 2015 WL 6687596
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2015
DocketNo. 15-CA-90
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 177 So. 3d 169 (Allstate Insurance Co. v. Daniel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allstate Insurance Co. v. Daniel, 177 So. 3d 169, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 90, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2097, 2015 WL 6687596 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

MARC E. JOHNSON, Judge.

| .Defendant, Lloyd Daniel, in proper person, appeals the trial court’s sustaining of Plaintiff, Allstate Insurance Company’s, peremptory exception of res judicata, dismissing his reconventional demand with prejudice. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 1, 2000, Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”) and Mr. Daniel entered into the Allstate R3001C Exclusive Agency Agreement (“the Agreement”) in which Allstate appointed Mr. Daniel as its agent and authorized him to receive and accept applications for insurance coverage in Louisiana. On September 10, 2012, Allstate sent a letter to Mr. Daniel terminating the Agreement, effective December 31, 2012, pursuant to Section XVII.B.2 of the Agreement.1

Thereafter, on December 10, 2012, Mr. Daniel, in proper person, filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Civil Action No. 12-2933, seeking to enjoin All[171]*171state from terminating the agreement on the basis of wrongful | ¡¡termination. On December 31, 2012, the Eastern District Court denied Mr. Daniel’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Allstate from implementing the termination on the December 31, 2012 effective date, and on March 6, 2013, the Eastern District Court dismissed Mr. Daniel’s complaint with prejudice after finding Allstate properly executed its right to terminate the Agreement. Daniel v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 12-2933, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149053, at *19 (E.D.La., Mar. 6, 2013). The United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Eastern District Court’s ruling, and the United States Supreme Court denied writs. Daniel v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 13-30325, 541 Fed.Appx. 506 (5th Cir.2013) (unpublished opinion), cert. denied, — U.S -, 134 S.Ct. 2311, 189 L.Ed.2d 176 (U.S.2014).

On September 25, 2013, after the Eastern District Court’s judgment finding Allstate properly terminated the Agreement, Allstate filed a Verified Petition for Writ of Sequestration, Preliminary Injunction, and Permanent Injunction in the 24th Judicial District Court, seeking to prohibit Mr. Daniel from acting or representing himself as an Allstate agent and to recover all property in his possession belonging to Allstate. Allstate alleged that Mr. Daniel had refused to comply with the termination provision of the Agreement in that he continued to represent himself as an Allstate agent, refused to stop using Allstate service marks and trade names, and refused to return all property belonging to Allstate.

On the same day, the trial court granted a writ of sequestration ordering that the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish sequester all of Allstate’s property that was in Mr. Daniel’s possession at his listed address and to hold the property pending further order by the court.

On November 12, 2013, Mr. Daniel answered the petition and filed an exception of lis pendens, asserting that the pending appeal of the Eastern District’s |4March 6, 2013 judgment to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal involved the same parties, same occurrence and same transaction, and effectively stayed the matter. The trial court ultimately denied the exception as moot after the U.S. Fifth Circuit affirmed the Eastern District Court’s ruling and the U.S. Supreme Court denied writs.

Mr. Daniel also filed a reconventional demand alleging that Allstate’s termination of the Agreement was not valid. In response, Allstate filed an exception of res judicata on the basis Mr. Daniel’s claim that the Agreement was improperly terminated was asserted in prior litigation and conclusively determined through a valid final judgment, namely the Eastern District Court’s March 6, 2013 judgment which was upheld by the U.S. Fifth Circuit. After a hearing, the trial court sustained the exception of res judicata and dismissed Mr. Daniel’s reconventional demand with prejudice. The trial court reasoned that the claims raised by Mr. Daniel in the federal court case and the reconven-tional demand were exactly the same in terms of the parties and the alleged facts.

ISSUE

In this appeal, Mr. Daniel challenges the dismissal of his reconventional demand on the basis of res judicata. He argues that the Eastern District Court’s ruling that Allstate properly terminated the Agreement is erroneous and that the trial court erred in relying on it to dismiss his recon-ventional demand.

[172]*172 LAW & ANALYSIS

Res judicata is a preclusion device found in both federal and state law designed to promote judicial efficiency and final resolution of disputes by preventing needless relitigation. Terrebonne Fuel & Lube, Inc. v. Placid, Refining Co., 95-654 (La.1/16/96); 666 So.2d 624, 631. “Precluding relitigation prevents inefficient use of the courts’ resources, reduces the possibility of harassment | ^through vexatious suits, and helps maintain respect for the judicial proceeds [sic] by guarding against inconsistent decisions.” Id., quoting Dixon, Booksh, Zimmering, Res Judicata in Louisiana since Hope v. Madison, 51 Tul.L.Rev. 611 (1977).

The preclusive effect of á prior federal court judgment is controlled by federal res judicata rules. Reeder v. Succession of Palmer, 623 So.2d 1268, 1271 (La.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1165, 114 S.Ct. 1191, 127 L.Ed.2d 541 (1994). The res-judicata effect of a prior federal judgment is a question of law that is reviewed de novo. Morales v. Parish of Jefferson, 10-273 (La.App. 5 Cir. 11/9/10); 54 So.3d 669, 672.

Under federal law, the doctrine of res judicata means that

a valid final judgment may bar a party from seeking certain remedies whether the party’s right to those remedies was actually litigated in the earlier proceeding or not, if the later-asserted right is found to arise out of the same transaction as the claim or cause of action presented in the earlier proceeding.

Pilie’ & Pilie’ v. Metz, 547 So.2d 1305, 1310 (La.1989). Federal law uses a broad interpretation of “res judicata” to include both claim preclusion (true res judicata) and issue preclusion (collateral estoppel). St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. v. Williamson, 224 F.3d 425, 436 (5th Cir.2000). Viewed in this broad sense, res judicata will bar relitigation of matters that have been previously litigated and subsequent litigation of matter that have never been litigated but should have been advanced in the earlier suit. Reeder, 623 So.2d at 1271; Morales, 54 So.3d at 673.

Under federal res judicata law, the federal judgment bars a subsequent suit if all of the following are satisfied: (1) both cases involve the same parties; (2) the prior judgment was rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction; (3) the prior decision was a final judgment on the merits; and (4) the same cause of action is at issue in both cases. Ellis v. Amex Life Ins. Co., 211 F.3d 935, 937 (5th Cir.2000).

lfiWe find that all four elements of res judicata are present and, thus, find the trial court properly sustained Allstate’s exception of res judicata, dismissing Mr. Daniel’s reconventional demand.

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177 So. 3d 169, 15 La.App. 5 Cir. 90, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2097, 2015 WL 6687596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allstate-insurance-co-v-daniel-lactapp-2015.