Chumley v. White

80 So. 3d 39, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1332, 2011 WL 5379462
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 9, 2011
Docket46,479-CW, 46,707-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 80 So. 3d 39 (Chumley v. White) 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
Chumley v. White, 80 So. 3d 39, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1332, 2011 WL 5379462 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

STEWART, J.

|,The plaintiffs, Jonathan Spencer Chumley and Shawna Woods Chumley (the “Chumleys”), filed an appeal and an application seeking supervisory review of two lower court judgments sustaining exceptions of improper venue asserted by the defendant, David White (“White”), in response to the Chumleys’ legal malpractice action filed against him in Caddo Parish (“Caddo”). This court granted the writ, docketed the matter for decision, and consolidated it with the pending appeal. Because we find that venue is proper in Caddo under La. C.C.P. art. -74, we reverse both judgments sustaining White’s exceptions and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

In August 2005, the Chumleys filed suit for damages in Caddo against the sellers, home inspector, and real estate agent involved in their purchase of a home in the South Highlands neighborhood in Shreveport. After attorney David Szwak, who was representing the Chumleys, withdrew from the matter, the Chumleys hired White to represent them in opposing three pending motions for summary judgment that had been filed by the defendants. The motions were heard and granted by the trial court, thereby effectively dismissing the Chumleys’ claims. Aided by new counsel, the Chumleys filed a motion for a new trial on the grounds that the summary judgments were contrary to law and evidence and that newly discovered evidence should be considered. Noting that the newly discovered evidence was known to previous counsel and not presented, the trial court denied the motion for a new trial. The Chumleys appealed to this court, which ^affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the Chumleys’ claims in Chumley v. Magee, 44,860 (La.App.2d Cir.2/17/10), 33 So.3d 345, writ denied, 2010-1125 (La.9/17/10), 45 So.3d 1046.

Alleging that White failed to properly oppose the three motions for summary judgment, the Chumleys filed a pro se legal malpractice suit against him on November 12, 2009, in Caddo. The main allegations in the petition concerned White’s representation of the Chumleys at the November 17, 2008, summary judgment hearing. They complained that he committed various acts and omissions in open court by failing to inform the trial court about the existence of two termite reports and by informing the trial court that “all pertinent documents, depositions, and records were already in the suit record” when not all the depositions and related exhibits had been offered. They also alleged that White failed to supplement the memoranda that had been filed in opposition to summary judgment and that he made promises and assurances he did not keep, namely, that he told them that they could trust him, that he “would handle this matter,” and that he would defeat the motions for summary judgment and then seek [41]*41mediation with the defendants. The Chumleys prayed for various damages resulting from the dismissal of the claims and for return of legal fees paid to White.

White responded to the Chumleys’ petition with an exception of improper venue. He asserted that Bossier Parish (“Bossier”), where he is domiciled and where his law office is located, is the place of proper venue under La. C.C.P. art. 42. In opposing the exception, the Chumleys argued that venue is governed by either La. C.C.P. art. 74, pertaining to offenses 13and quasi-offenses, or La. C.C.P. art. 76, pertaining to contracts. They asserted that under either provision, venue is proper in Caddo where White committed various acts and omissions and where they sustained damages.

A hearing on the exception was held on July 19, 2010, before Judge Ramon Lafitte. White testified that he met with the Chumleys in his office. He then obtained a continuance of the summary judgment hearing, filed a supplemental brief opposing summary judgment, and attended the hearing in Caddo. He testified that he prepared the supplemental brief and made all decisions on how to defend the Chumleys against summary judgment at his office. On cross-examination, White admitted any documents or memoranda in opposition to summary judgment would have been filed in Caddo and that he was required to appear there at the hearing on the motions. He maintained that he prepared his argument for court in his office and made no decisions while in the courtroom.

Mr. Chumley also testified. He stated that he met with White on August 14, 2008, about the redhibition suit in Caddo. He explained that three motions for summary judgment were pending when he and his wife engaged White to represent them. Chumley was present in court at the hearing on the motions for summary judgment. He stated that he spoke with another attorney that same day because he perceived that the hearing had gone badly. When counsel began to question Chumley about the allegations in the petition regarding White’s representation at the hearing, the trial court sustained an objection by White, who urged that the questioning was not relevant to venue as it addressed the merits of the malpractice claim.

|„Following arguments at the close of the hearing, Judge Lafitte determined that this court’s opinion in Clarendon National Ins. Co. v. Carter, 39,622 (La.App.2d Cir.5/11/05), 902 So.2d 1142, writ denied, 2005-1567 (La.1/27/06), 922 So.2d 544, “indicated that the proper venue is the location of the law office which is where all the decisions are made or the domicile of the defendant.” In accordance with the Clarendon opinion, the trial judge sustained White’s exception of improper venue, designated the ruling as appealable, and asked counsel for White to prepare a judgment.

Before a judgment was signed, the Chumleys filed an amended and supplemental petition on July 28, 2010, to more clearly set forth their claims of legal malpractice and breach of contract against White as well as the basis for venue in Caddo. White again filed an exception of improper venue along with an exception of no cause of action directed to the Chum-leys’ breach of contract claim.

On December 7, 2010, Judge Lafitte signed the judgment sustaining the exception of improper venue heard by him in July 2010. The Chumleys filed a devolu-tive appeal from this judgment. The second exception of improper venue filed in response to the Chumleys’ amended petition was heard by Judge Scott Crichton on January 24, 2011. White introduced into evidence the record of the hearing on the [42]*42first exception. Judge Crichton found that the Chumleys’ amended petition covered the same ground as the original petition and that Judge Lafitte’s prior ruling sustaining the exception of improper venue was binding. Accordingly, Judge Crichton sustained the second exception and signed a judgment on February 8, 2011, | .^ordering the case transferred to the 26th Judicial District Court in Bossier. The Chumleys filed a writ application seeking supervisory review of Judge Crichton’s ruling on the second exception.

This court granted the Chumleys’ writ and ordered the matter docketed and consolidated with the Chumleys’ appeal.1 At issue is whether venue is proper in Caddo under La. C.C.P. art. 74 in a legal malpractice action against an attorney whose domicile and law practice are in Bossier yet where the malpractice claims concern acts of commission and omission that occurred in Caddo and where the plaintiffs’ damages were sustained in Cad-do.2

DISCUSSION

Venue means the parish where an action or proceeding may properly be brought and tried under the rules regulating the subject. La. C.C.P. art. 41.

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80 So. 3d 39, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 1332, 2011 WL 5379462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chumley-v-white-lactapp-2011.