Bennett v. Porter

58 So. 3d 663, 2010 La.App. 3 Cir. 1088, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 296, 2011 WL 798906
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 9, 2011
DocketNo. 10-1088
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 58 So. 3d 663 (Bennett v. Porter) 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
Bennett v. Porter, 58 So. 3d 663, 2010 La.App. 3 Cir. 1088, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 296, 2011 WL 798906 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

AMY, Judge.

|,The plaintiff filed suit seeking partition of property she asserts she inherited from her mother. Defendants filed an exception of no right of action, alleging that the property was the separate property of one of the defendants and that the plaintiff therefore had no interest in it. After a hearing on the exception, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the defendant and awarded attorney fees. The plaintiff appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

This suit arises out of an intra-family dispute over the ownership of immovable property in Leesville, Louisiana. The record indicates that the plaintiff, Cathy Lynn Porter Bennett, is the daughter of T. Barrett Porter, defendant, and Dorothy Wam-pler Porter, deceased, and is the sister of defendants Judy Elizabeth Weisgerber, David Barrett Porter and Melinda Mae Todd. Defendants and cross-plaintiffs, Juanita Porter Gabro and Leon H. Gabro, are the plaintiffs aunt and uncle.

The plaintiff filed suit against her father, siblings, and aunt and uncle seeking partition of property she allegedly co-owned as a result of the death and succession of her mother. One of the various parcels of land for which the plaintiff sought partition is immovable property located in Leesville, Louisiana (the “town property”). T. Barrett filed an exception of no right of action, alleging that the plaintiff could not have inherited an interest in the town propei’ty from her mother because it was separate property belonging to himself and his sister, Juanita. Thus, he argued, the plaintiff has no interest in the town property and she had no right of action to pursue its partition.

A hearing on the sole issue of the ownership of the town property was held and evidence adduced at which T. Barrett alleged that his parents, John Alton Porter and |2EIsie lies Porter, had conveyed the property jointly to him and his sister, Juanita, via a document entitled “Sale of Immovable Property with Reservation of Vendor’s Lien,” and dated February 9, 1980. T. Barrett also alleged that this conveyance was a relative simulation. He asserted that the conveyance was a donation, not a sale, and that his parents intended to donate the property to Juanita and him.

After the hearing, the trial court issued written reasons and granted the exception of no right of action. In its written reasons, the trial court found that the conveyance was a simulation and not a sale and that therefore the plaintiff had no interest in the property. The plaintiff filed a motion for new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence. After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion for new trial. The plaintiff appeals, asserting the following assignments of error:

[667]*6671. The Trial Court erred in granting the Exception of No Right of Action, which in effect, allowed T. Barrett to attach the deed, to which he had been a party, and which was declared, by T. Barrett Porter, to be community property in the Succession of Dorothy Wampler Porter, No. 6712 on the docket of the 30th Judicial District court, and in that same proceeding, declared to be such by the Court, in the Judgment of Possession rendered therein.
2. The Trial Court erred in allowing parol evidence to be introduced by Exceptors to vary the non-ambiguous terms and language of the Credit Sale Deed, where the subject property was conveyed to T. Barrett Porter, et al.
3. The Trial Court erred in allowing T. Barrett Porter, who was a party to the original Credit Sale Deed, and who was a beneficiary thereunder, to attach that same deed, almost 30 years after its execution.
4. The Trial Court erred in considering the “Co-Ownership Agreement” in arriving at its decisions that the Credit Sale was a disguised donation.
5. The Trial Court erred in refusing to grant a new trial, on motion of Cathy Porter Bennett, even when Mover provided documentary evidence of payments being received by the vendors in the subject credit sale deed.
| s6. The Trial Court erred in ruling that the true intent of the vendors in the Credit Sale Deed was to donate the property to their children, T. Barrett Porter and Juanita Porter Gab-ro.
7. The Trial Court erred in sustaining, or granting, defendant’s Exception of No Right of Action, in that the ruling was contrary to the law and evidence and was clearly wrong.
8. The Trial Court erred in finding that even though rent was paid to Vendors, the instrument was a disguised donation.

Discussion

Evidence

The plaintiffs first assignments of error address the evidence submitted in support of the exception. We discuss these preliminary matters before turning to consider the exception.

Parol Evidence

In her first assignment of error,1 the plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred in admitting parol evidence in order to prove that the 1980 conveyance document was a simulation. At the hearing, T. Barrett and Juanita testified about their impressions regarding the nature of the disputed conveyance. They also testified, as to whether they regarded the conveyance as separate property or community property.

Louisiana Civil Code Article 1848 addresses the admissibility of parol evidence with regard to writings and states that:

Testimonial or other evidence may not be admitted to negate or vary the contents of an authentic act or an act under private signature. Nevertheless, in the interest of justice, that evidence may be [668]*668admitted to prove such circumstances as a vice of consent, or a simulation, or to 14prove that the written act was modified by a subsequent and valid oral agreement.

(Emphasis added.) The clear language of the statute allows the admission of parol evidence, in the interest of justice, in order to prove a simulation. See also Revision Comment (c), which provides that testimonial or other evidence may be admitted to prove either an absolute or relative simulation. The plaintiff cites numerous cases in her brief which support the inadmissibility of parol evidence to prove a simulation. However, that jurisprudence precedes the enactment of Article 1848 in 1984.2 Since that time, Article 1848 has expressly provided for the admission of such evidence in this situation. See, e.g., Sonnier v. Conner, 43,911 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/3/08), 998 So.2d 344, writ denied, 09-309 (La.4/3/09), 6 So.3d 773. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence on the issue of whether the disputed conveyance was a simulation.

This assignment of error is without merit.

Relevancy of Evidence

The plaintiff alleges that the trial court erroneously admitted an irrelevant document entitled “Co-Ownership Agreement” into evidence.

Louisiana Code of Evidence Article 402 provides that “[a]ll relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Louisiana, this Code of Evidence, or other legislation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 So. 3d 663, 2010 La.App. 3 Cir. 1088, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 296, 2011 WL 798906, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bennett-v-porter-lactapp-2011.