Barnhill v. Barnhill

488 So. 2d 299, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6952
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 14, 1986
DocketNo. 85-374
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 488 So. 2d 299 (Barnhill v. Barnhill) 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
Barnhill v. Barnhill, 488 So. 2d 299, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6952 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

KNOLL, Judge.

Cherry Lynn Barnhill, individually and on behalf of her three minor children, appeals the trial court’s ruling on two motions for summary judgment filed by her and by her ex-husband, Jerry Dale Barn-hill. In her motion for summary judgment, Mrs. Barnhill sought: (1) recognition and enforcement of their consent judgment of divorce rendered by a Texas court, which provided that she would receive a portion of any proceeds of a worker’s compensation settlement for injuries Mr. Barnhill received while working on the Federal Power Plant; and (2) two-thirds of a $500,-000 settlement Mr. Barnhill received in tort for personal injuries he sustained in an employment-related accident. The trial court granted Mrs. Barnhill’s motion to the extent of recognizing the Texas judgment, but otherwise denied her motion, and further granted Mr. Barnhill’s motion for summary judgment, rejecting Mrs. Barnhill’s claims to two-thirds of his $500,000 tort settlement. Mrs. Barnhill contends the trial court erred: (1) in refusing to allow the introduction of evidence regarding the factual dispute existing between the parties as to the interpretation and application of the consent judgment; and (2) in granting Mr. Barnhill’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm, finding no genuine issues of material fact.

FACTS

In August 1982, the parties obtained a judgment of divorce in the Seventh Judicial District Court of Ector County, Texas; the judgment was signed by the trial judge and the attorneys for both parties. An alleged [301]*301agreement between Mr. and Mrs. Barnhill was made part of the consent judgment and forms the basis of the controversy before us. The consent judgment provided in pertinent part:

“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that any proceeds of settlement of Respondent’s [Mr. Barnhill’s] workmen’s compensation case due to his injury while working on the Federal Power Plant on the _ day of _, 19 — , is to be divided upon receipt, as follows: One-third (¼) to Respondent [Mr. Barnhill], One-third (⅛) to Petitioner [Mrs. Barnhill], and One-third (Vs) to be held in trust for the benefit of the children with Petitioner as Trustee with the condition that any withdrawals from said trust fund shall be with the approval of Petitioner and Respondent, after showing that any expenditures will be for the benefit of the children. ” (Emphasis added.)

The “workmen’s compensation case” mentioned in the judgment is referring to the injuries Mr. Barnhill received to his neck and left shoulder in an accident in March 1980 while he was employed by Benton Casing Services, Inc. After 28 days of hospitalization, Mr. Barnhill began receiving worker’s compensation benefits of $145 per week. In March 1981, a tort suit was filed on behalf of Mr. Barnhill in the Thirty-Ninth Judicial District Court of Cameron Parish, Louisiana, seeking $750,000 for personal injuries. In February 1983, Mr. Barnhill’s tort suit was settled for $500,-000, including reimbursement of $18,790.13 to Benton Casing Services, Inc. and Northwest Insurance Company for worker’s compensation benefits paid.

Mrs. Barnhill brought this action, individually and as managing conservator of their three minor children, seeking two-thirds of Mr. Barnhill’s tort settlement on the basis of the aforementioned clause in the consent judgment.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

It is well settled that a motion for summary judgment should be granted if, and only if, the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 966; Chaisson v. Domingue, 372 So.2d 1225 (La.1979); Employers’ Surplus Line Ins. Co. v. City of Baton Rouge, 362 So.2d 561 (La.1978); Morgan v. Matlack, Inc., 342 So.2d 167 (La.1977). The burden of showing that there is not a genuine issue of material fact in dispute is upon the mover for summary judgment. Any doubt is resolved against the granting of summary judgment and in favor of trial on the merits to resolve disputed facts. Employers’ Surplus Line Ins. Co. v. City of Baton Rouge, supra; Morgan v. Matlack, Inc., supra.

A court in Louisiana is powerless to deny a foreign judgment full faith and credit unless the court in the foreign forum lacked jurisdiction over the parties or the subject matter involved in the controversy. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 4 § 1; LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1; Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Hunt, 320 U.S. 430, 64 S.Ct. 208, 88 L.Ed. 149 (1943); Holden v. Holden, 374 So.2d 749 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1979). In Louisiana, review of a final judgment of a foreign court, sought to be made executory, is limited, by both United States Supreme Court and Louisiana jurisprudence, to an inquiry as to subject matter and personal jurisdiction of the rendering court. Durfee v. Duke, 375 U.S. 106, 84 S.Ct. 242, 11 L.Ed.2d 186 (1963); Cook v. Williams, 434 So.2d 127 (La.App. 5th Cir.1983), writ denied, 435 So.2d 444 (La.1983). Once a judgment of another state has been properly recognized and made the judgment of a Louisiana court, it has the same effect as if it was rendered by the Louisiana court. LSA-C. C.P. Art. 2541; Patterson v. Patterson, 436 So.2d 603 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983); Hastings v. Dinning, 308 So.2d 451 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1975), writ denied, 310 So.2d 851 (La.1975).

The general rule is that substantive rights are determined by the lex loci or the [302]*302place where the action arose, while proce* dural rights are governed by the lex fori or the place of the forum. Patterson v. Patterson, supra. Where a party contends that the law of the foreign state applies but does not introduce or demonstrate what the law of that state is with respect to the relevant issues, it is presumed that the law of the foreign state on the questioned point is the same as the existing law of Louisiana. Holden v. Holden, supra.

The law in Louisiana is clear with respect to written obligations. Courts are bound to give legal effect to all written contracts according to the true intent of the parties, and this intent is to be determined by the words of the contract when they are clear, explicit and lead to no absurd consequences. LSA-C.C. Arts. 2045, 2046; Condoll v. Johns-Manville Sale Corp., 448 So.2d 169 (La.App. 5th Cir.1984); Leenerts Farms, Inc. v. Rogers, 421 So.2d 216 (La. 1982). Ordinarily, the meaning and intent of the parties to a written contract (such as a written compromise agreement) must be sought within the four corners of the instrument and cannot be explained or contradicted by parol evidence. LSA-C.C. Art. 1848; Condoll v. Johns-Manville Sale Corp., supra. Only where a contract is ambiguous will we look beyond a contract’s four corners. Oceaneering Intern. v. Black Towing, Inc., 479 So.2d 421 (La.App. 1st Cir.1985). Courts are not created to relieve a party of their bad bargain. Leenerts Farms, Inc. v. Rogers, supra.

Mrs. Barnhill contends that the clause at issue was intended to include any proceeds that Mr. Barnhill received as a result of the legal proceedings instituted on his behalf as a result of the March 1980 accident. She further contends that parol evidence should be allowed to show that neither she nor Mr.

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488 So. 2d 299, 1986 La. App. LEXIS 6952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnhill-v-barnhill-lactapp-1986.