Bertucci v. Augustine

518 So. 2d 1164, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 54, 1988 WL 2699
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 11, 1988
DocketNo. 87-CA-444
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 518 So. 2d 1164 (Bertucci v. Augustine) 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
Bertucci v. Augustine, 518 So. 2d 1164, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 54, 1988 WL 2699 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

KLIEBERT, Judge.

Charles L. Augustine appeals a judgment which dismissed on the merits his suit to annul a sheriff’s sale by executory process and ordered the cancellation of a Notice of Lis Pendens filed against the subject property. Augustine contends fundamental defects in the executory proceeding renders it null; hence, the sale should be rescinded. For the reasons which follow we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS

On October 14, 1982 Rose Bertucci, wife of/and Paul A. Paciera, Sr. sold a parcel of land together with improvements to Charles L. Augustine for $310,000.00, Au[1166]*1166gustine paid $85,000.00 in cash and executed a $225,000.00 promissory note, drawn to the order of bearer and payable in monthly installments of $3,228.10, for the remainder of the purchase price. The note was paraphed for identification with an act of credit sale which incorporated a vendor’s lien and special mortgage importing a confession of judgment.

The Pacieras instituted executory proceedings on July 15, 1985 alleging Augustine failed to pay the installments when due and prayed that the property be seized and sold to satisfy the $225,000.00 claim. The following day the trial court ordered the issuance of Executory Process and contemporaneously issued a writ of seizure and sale for execution by the sheriff. As the sheriff was unable to effect service of notice of the seizure on Augustine a special process server was appointed. Augustine was served on September 26, 1985.

Except for discovery motions, no further steps were taken for eight months. On May 19, 1986 Augustine filed a petition seeking damages for wrongful seizure and to enjoin the seizure and sale on grounds which included:

1) Late payments were frequently accepted for up to four months arrear-ages, and plaintiffs refused to accept a recent tender of such;
2) Plaintiffs negotiated checks without crediting defendant’s account and failed to provide a payment figure or statement of amounts due and owing;
3) Plaintiffs claimed excessive principal in that the outstanding balance was $206,442.50;
4) Plaintiffs failed to specifically describe the default of the note and the sum due.

A temporary restraining order was issued without bond after a status conference with the parties and a hearing on a preliminary injunction was set for May 30, 1986.

On May 23, 1986 Rose Bertucci Paciera and the Succession of Paul A. Paciera, represented by Rose Bertucci Paciera, Karen Paciera Tusa and Paul A. Paciera, Jr., with leave of court, filed a supplemental and amending petition wherein they alleged:

1) The sum outstanding was $218,827.50 ($206,442.50 principal and $12,385.00 interest);
2) The defendant was delinquent on nine installments on the date the original petition was filed, and under the acceleration clause of the note and act of credit sale the entire balance was due and owing;
3) One of the original petitioners, Paul A. Paciera, was deceased and the duly appointed succession representatives were Rose Bertucci Paciera, Karen Paciera Tusa, and Paul A. Paciera, Jr., as coexecutors, and the said succession representatives desired to be recognized and substituted as proper party plaintiffs.

The trial court issued an order which recognized as the duly appointed succession representatives Rose Bertucci Paciera, Karen Paciera Tusa, and Paul A. Paciera, Jr., and authorized their substitution as proper party plaintiffs to represent the estate and interests of the decedent. The court also issued an amended writ of seizure and sale which reflected the amount due and owing as $206,442.50.

For reasons orally assigned the trial judge dismissed Augustine’s claim for a preliminary injunction, dissolved the temporary restraining order, and ordered exec-utory proceedings issue as prayed for in the original petition.1 Augustine’s devolu-tive appeal from the judgment denying preliminary injunctive relief was ultimately dismissed as untimely. See Paciera v. Augustine, 506 So.2d 197 (5th Cir.1987). While the appeal was pending the property was appraised and advertised for sale. On September 10, 1986 Paul A. Paciera, Jr., acting as agent for Rose Bertucci, wife of/and Paul A. Paciera, Sr., purchased the property at sheriff’s auction for $1,521.00.

[1167]*1167Augustine filed a petition to annul the sheriffs sale on September 23, 1986 on the grounds:

1) The writ of seizure and sale was fundamentally defective in that it was issued pursuant to the amended petition which did not contain an order for the issuance of a new writ and while the TRO was in effect;
2) The amendment to the petition for executory process was improperly allowed;
3) The appraisals submitted were untimely and improper.

Augustine also requested that the sheriff be enjoined from recording the sheriffs deed or proces verbal of the sale. The request for an injunction was denied on October 3, 1986, and the sheriff immediately filed the Sheriffs Deed in the record.2 The merits of the petition to annul were taken up and judgment was rendered dismissing the petition on March 31, 1987. In its reasons for judgment the trial court noted the first two issues were previously considered and found to be meritless, and the third issue was meritless in that the appraisals were conducted in conformity with the law.

THE LAW

As a general rule defenses and procedural objections to an executory proceeding may be asserted only through an injunction to arrest the seizure and sale, or by a suspensive appeal from the order directing the seizure and sale, or both. LSA-C.C.P. Article 2642; Alison Mortgage Investment Trust v. Commercial Leasing & Financing Co., Inc., 334 So.2d 705 (3rd Cir.1976). An exception to the general rule has been recognized when the property was adjudicated to and remains in the hands of the foreclosing creditor. In such instances the mortgagor may institute and maintain a direct action to annul the sale on certain limited grounds. Reed v. Meaux, 292 So.2d 557 (La.1973); France v.

American Bank, 505 So.2d 1175 (5th Cir. 1987).

An action to annul a sale by exec-utory process is not governed by La.C.C.P. Articles 2001 through 2006, which prescribe the grounds for nullity of a final judgment, for an order of sale is not a judgment in the strict sense. Until Reed our jurisprudence was unsettled as to the grounds upon which an action to annul a sheriffs sale could be maintained. However, the Reed court made it clear that the action to annul the sale must be predicated on the existence of defects in the proceedings which are substantive in character and which strike at the foundation of the exec-utory proceedings. The court held the authentic evidence required by LSA-C.C.P. Article 2635 to support every link in the necessary chain of evidence is the very foundation of the executory proceeding. The court also indicated any alleged defects in the proceedings, other than a failure to comply with LSA-C.C.P. Article 2635, are “defects of form” which cannot serve as grounds for maintaining a petition to annul.

LSA-C.C.P. Article 2635 provides:

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Bluebook (online)
518 So. 2d 1164, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 54, 1988 WL 2699, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bertucci-v-augustine-lactapp-1988.