Daigle v. Lynch

85 So. 3d 168, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 965, 2012 WL 386251, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 169
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 8, 2012
DocketNo. CA 11-965
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 85 So. 3d 168 (Daigle v. Lynch) 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
Daigle v. Lynch, 85 So. 3d 168, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 965, 2012 WL 386251, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 169 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

GREMILLION, Judge.

[ |The defendant-appellant, Kenneth Paul Daigle (Daigle), appeals the judgment in favor of the plaintiff-appellee, Kimberly Crittenden Daigle (Crittenden), sustaining her exception of res judicata. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Daigle and Crittenden were married in April 1994. In October 2002, they jointly filed a Petition for Approval of Matrimonial Regime of Separation of Property and entered into a Partition of Community [170]*170Property Agreement. In March 2005, Crittenden filed a petition for divorce from Daigle. On April 15, 2005, Daigle filed a Petition to Annul Partition of Community Property agreement on account of lesion. Crittenden responded by filing peremptory exceptions of res judicata, no cause of action, no right of action, and prescription. Following a June 17, 2005 hearing, the trial court sustained the peremptory exception of res judicata and dismissed Dai-gle’s petition to annul the partition agreement. Daigle appealed, and on appeal, in Daigle v. Daigle, 06-346 (La.App. 3 Cir. 9/27/06), 940 So.2d 891, writ denied, 06-2914 (La.2/16/07), 949 So.2d 418, we declined to partition the community property as being barred by res judicata. However, we excised a portion of the community property agreement that obligated Daigle to pay Crittenden for the rest of her natural life as being against public policy.

The litigation between the former spouses continued when, on June 1, 2005, Crit-tenden filed a “Petition for Monies Due, Damages, and for Physical Possession of Property” against Daigle, and his employer, Merrill Lynch, urging that Daigle had failed to pay her the $150,000 yearly sum he agreed to in the community property partition. Crittenden further argued that Merrill Lynch was cooperating | {¡with Dai-gle in failing to turn over certain items that belonged to her pursuant to the community property partition agreement.

Daigle filed a “Declinatory Exception Pleading Lis Pendens” arguing that Crit-tenden’s June 2005 petition arose out of the same transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of his April 15, 2005 petition to annul community property. Merrill Lunch filed a “Motion to Stay and Exception of Vagueness.” The trial court overruled Daigle’s Exception pleading Lis Pendens. Daigle filed supervisory writs with this court regarding the trial court’s overruling of his exception pleading lis pendens, which were denied.

In November 2005, Daigle filed an “Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Recon-ventional Demand.” Crittenden filed exceptions of lis pendens and vagueness in response to Daigle’s reconventional demand.

On December 22, 2005, Daigle filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing that the matrimonial agreement was absolutely null requiring the dismissal of all causes of action asserted by Crittenden in her “Petition for Monies Due, Damages and for physical Possession of Property.” Crittenden filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in February 2006. In March 2006, the trial court granted Merrill Lynch’s motion for stay pending the outcome of mandatory arbitration between Crittenden and Merrill Lynch.

In February 2008, Daigle filed a “Motion for Leave of Court to File First Amending and Supplemental Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Reconventional Demand.” Crittenden opposed Daigle’s Motion urging that Daigle was trying to litigate issues that we had disposed of pursuant to the 2006 opinion. Crittenden requested sanctions. Various memoranda were filed back and forth pursuant to these motions.

|sIn July 2008, Crittenden filed a “Motion and Order Directing Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, & Smith, Incorporated to Transfer Funds Pursuant to Partition Agreement.”

Daigle filed “Combined Motion for Continuance and Dilatory Exceptions” in July 2008. Crittenden filed an opposition. In September 2008, Crittenden filed a “First Supplemental and Amended Petition for Relief, Damages and Attorneys fees and Return of Funds Held by Defendants illegally and in Violation of Partition Agreement.” Daigle filed a rule to show cause [171]*171in October 2008. In November 2008, Crit-tenden filed a motion to produce. In December 2008, Crittenden filed a “Petition for Sanctions as against Kenneth Paul Dai-gle and for Injunctive Relief Including a Mandatory Injunction.”

In December 2008, Crittenden filed a “Petition to make Judgment Executory and for Garnishment.” In January 2009, Daigle filed dilatory and peremptory exceptions arguing that Crittenden’s Petition to make Judgment Executory represented the unauthorized use of executory proceedings, was premature, and was, otherwise, barred by res judicata and failed to sufficiently plead a cause of action. Shortly thereafter, Crittenden filed a “Motion for Appropriate Hearing.”

A January 2009 judgment next appears in the record making executory the Partition of Community Property Agreement executed in October 2002, including a $300,000 payment to Crittenden and $150,000 per year in accordance with the Partition of Community Property Agreement. Crittenden filed a motion to examine judgment debtor, motion for garnishment, and request for writ of fieri facias in February 2009.

In the meantime, Daigle filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Protection. Crittenden thereafter withdrew the garnishment proceedings in accordance with bankruptcy law. In September 2010, Crittenden filed a petition for garnishment of [4wages against LPL Financial Corporation. In October 2008, she filed a petition for garnishment of wages against Ahrens Investment Partners, LLC.

In November 2010, Daigle filed a “Petition for Declaratory Judgment, Combined with Ex Parte Nullity Actions, Motion for Entry Upon Land to Appraise Movables, and Request for Status Conference.” In December 2010, Crittenden filed “Peremptory Exceptions of No Cause of Actions and Res Judicata and Declinatory Exception of Improper Venue.

Following a December 13, 2010, hearing on Daigle’s November 2010 motion and Crittenden’s December 2010 motions, the trial court rendered judgment:

[T]he Judgment rendered and signed in the above-entitled and numbered proceeding on January 12, 2009, be and is hereby annulled for want of jurisdiction and improper substantive amendments. Accordingly, Kenneth Paul Daigle’s motion for said relief is hereby granted, and the exception of no cause of action filed by Kimberly Crittenden Daigle in opposition thereof is denied.
[A]ny and all garnishment order and/or writs of fieri facias relating to and originating from the Judgment dated January 12, 2009, be and are hereby revoked, recalled, and otherwise rendered without legal effect. Kenneth Paul Daigle’s motion for said relief is hereby granted, and the exception of no cause of action filed by Kimberly Crittenden Daigle in opposition thereof is denied.
Kimberly Crittenden Daigle’s exception of res judicata is hereby sustained, and the Declaratory Action Concerning the Nature of the Installment Payments filed by Kenneth Paul Daigle is dismissed as a consequence thereof.
[T]he exception of res judicata is also sustained as it relates to any and all actions and/or defenses concerning the nature of the installment payments as either spousal support (La. Civ.Code arts. 111, 112) or an equalization payment (La.R.S. 9:2801(A)(4)(d))

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 So. 3d 168, 11 La.App. 3 Cir. 965, 2012 WL 386251, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daigle-v-lynch-lactapp-2012.