Crockett v. Crockett

537 So. 2d 334, 1988 WL 141486
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 20, 1988·No. CW 88 1186·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

537 So.2d 334 (1988)

Sherry Manchester CROCKETT
v.
Emmett Eugene CROCKETT, Jr., Caren M. Morgan, Kerry A. Kissel and Morgan & Kissel.

No. CW 88 1186.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 20, 1988.

*335 Michael X. St. Martin, Houma, for plaintiff and appellee, Sherry M. Crockett.

Paul B. Deal, New Orleans, for defendants and appellants, Caren M. Morgan, Kerry A. Kissel and Morgan & Kissel.

Emmett Eugene Crockett, Jr., Kenner, in pro. person.

Before CARTER, LANIER and LeBLANC, JJ.

LANIER, Judge.

This action is a suit for damages in tort by a wife against her husband (from whom she was legally separated) and her husband's attorneys, asserting intentional interference with her custody of the couple's minor child. The defendants filed declinatory exceptions raising the objections of insufficiency of service of process and improper venue and peremptory exceptions raising the objections of no cause of action and no right of action. After a hearing, the trial court overruled all exceptions. The husband's attorneys applied to this court for supervisory relief, asserting the trial court committed error in overruling the objection of improper venue raised in the declinatory exception and the objection of no cause of action raised in the peremptory exception. This court issued a writ of certiorari to review those rulings.[1]

FACTS

The general facts surrounding this case are set forth in Crockett v. Crockett, 525 So.2d 304, 304-305 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 532 So.2d 117 (La.1988), as follows:

The parties were married on June 20, 1981, and established their matrimonial domicile in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. One child was born of the marriage, namely Jason D. Crockett. On June 12, 1986, appellee [Sherry Manchester Crockett] filed a petition for separation from bed and board in Terrebonne Parish requesting sole custody of the minor child. On September 29, 1986, the trial court rendered judgment awarding custody to both parties jointly, designating appellee as the primary custodian and awarding appellant [Emmett E. Crockett, Jr.] visitation rights pursuant to a joint custody plan.
On November 6, 1986, appellant filed a rule seeking to implement a joint custody plan. Thereafter, appellant discovered that appellee and their minor child had moved to Massachusetts. In December, 1986, appellant and appellee met in the chambers of Terrebonne Parish District Judge Edward J. Gaidry to discuss the joint custody plan. Pursuant to the meeting, appellant was granted visitation of Jason from January 2-January 23, 1987. Appellant was thereafter to return the child to Massachusetts. However, on January 21, 1987, appellant filed a petition for a change of custody in Jefferson Parish, alleging that he was a resident of that parish. By ex parte order, the trial court ordered that the child remain in Jefferson Parish pending a hearing on the custody petition.3 Appellant *336 failed to return the minor child on January 23, 1987, in violation of the Terrebonne Parish court ordered visitation plan.
Thereafter, appellee filed a rule for contempt of court or, alternatively, to enforce the existing visitation schedule. The trial court found appellant in contempt of court and sentenced him to thirty days in the Terrebonne Parish jail.4
On February 18, 1987, appellee filed a petition for change of custody. After hearing, the trial court terminated the joint custody arrangement and granted appellant six days supervised visitation per month in Massachusetts until after December 31, 1987, at which time the court would entertain appellant's request for unsupervised visitation and/or increased visitation.

3 This court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal found Terrebonne Parish to be the correct venue for the case.

4 The Louisiana Supreme Court granted appellant's writ on the contempt judgment, in part, and the sentence for contempt was reduced to coincide with time already served.

[Footnotes 1 and 2 omitted.]

The attorneys for Mr. Crockett in the Jefferson Parish proceedings were the partnership of Morgan & Kissel, formed by Caren M. Morgan and Kerry A. Kissel. The partnership and its individual members are alleged to be domiciled in Jefferson Parish.

In September of 1987, Mr. Crockett filed written declarations in Terrebonne and Jefferson Parishes which stated he was domiciled in Jefferson Parish. This suit was filed in Terrebonne Parish in November of 1987.

OBJECTION OF IMPROPER VENUE

(Assignment of Error Number 1)

The relators assert venue is improper in Terrebonne Parish because (1) they are not domiciled in Terrebonne Parish, (2) Mr. Crockett was not domiciled in Terrebonne Parish at the time suit was filed, (3) any waiver of venue by Mr. Crockett is not binding on them,[2] (4) any alleged tort occurred in Jefferson Parish and not in Terrebonne Parish, and (5) any alleged damage to Mrs. Crockett occurred in Massachusetts and not in Terrebonne Parish. The respondent asserts venue is proper in Terrebonne Parish because (1) the declarations of domicile are not conclusive, the facts show Mr. Crockett moved to Jefferson Parish for the purpose of establishing venue there, and the trial court "would have been well within its discretion to find that the defendant Crockett had not, in fact, established a domicile in Jefferson Parish," (2) Mr. Crockett's wrongful conduct occurred in Terrebonne Parish because he violated a valid custody order issued by the Terrebonne Parish district court, and (3) Mrs. Crockett was damaged in Terrebonne Parish because she was physically present there seeking court assistance to obtain the return of her child during February, March and April of 1987.[3]

Venue means the parish where an action or proceeding may properly be brought and tried pursuant to the rules regulating the subject. La.C.C.P. art. 41. The objection of improper venue raised in a declinatory exception declines the jurisdiction of the court because the action has not been filed in the correct parish. La.C.C.P. arts. 923 and 925(4).

La.C.C.P. art. 42 is the general rule for venue and provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

The general rules of venue are that an action against:

(1) An individual who is domiciled in the state shall be brought in the parish of his domicile; or if he resides but is not domiciled in the state, in the parish of his residence;
. . . .
(3) A domestic partnership, or a domestic unincorporated association, shall be brought in the parish where its principal business establishment is located[.] *337 La.C.C.P. art. 74 is a special venue rule, which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
An action for the recovery of damages for an offense or quasi offense may be brought in the parish where the wrongful conduct occurred, or in the parish where the damages were sustained.

The plaintiff in this suit may bring this action in any venue authorized by Articles 42 and 74. La.C.C.P. art. 45(3). Where the defendants are joint or solidary obligors, the action may be brought in any parish of proper venue under Article 42. La.C.C.P. art. 73.

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Crockett v. Crockett, 537 So. 2d 334, 1988 WL 141486 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

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