Dhaliwal v. Dhaliwal

124 So. 3d 470, 2013 WL 4854744, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1842
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 11, 2013
DocketNo. 48,034-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 124 So. 3d 470 (Dhaliwal v. Dhaliwal) 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
Dhaliwal v. Dhaliwal, 124 So. 3d 470, 2013 WL 4854744, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1842 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

WILLIAMS, J.

12Plaintiffs, Kailash K. Dhaliwal and the succession of her late husband, Manmohan S. Dhaliwal, appeal the district court’s ruling granting defendants’ peremptory exception of prescription/peremption and motion for summary judgment. The district court also denied plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand this matter to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTS

On February 9, 2011, Dr. Kailash K. Dhaliwal (“Kailash”) and the succession of her late husband, Dr. Manmohan S. Dhali-wal (“Manmohan”) (“plaintiffs”) filed a lawsuit against their son and daughter-in-law, Karminderdal S. Dhaliwal (“Karl”) and Dhillon Sookham (“Sookham”), respectively. Plaintiffs alleged that Kailash, [473]*473Manmohan and Karl entered into a joint venture to purchase and operate convenience stores in Ouachita Parish.

In their petition, plaintiffs also alleged that Kailash and Manmohan began their careers as salaried professors at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. Manmo-han purchased a vacant commercial lot in Jackson, Mississippi, on which to build a convenience store in 1979. Soon thereafter, Kailash, Manmohan and Karl entered into an oral agreement, pursuant to. which Manmohan deeded equal one-third interests in the vacant lot to himself, his wife and Karl, who was unmarried at that time. The parties were unable to obtain financing to build a convenience store at that location. Therefore, Kailash purchased a leasehold interest and inventory in | (¡another convenience store. According to plaintiffs, Karl was 23 years old, unemployed and fully supported by his parents. Nonetheless, the parties orally agreed that Karl would assume primary responsibility for managing and operating the store on weekdays. Kailash and Manmohan managed the business on weekends, summer vacations and school holidays. Kailash and Manmohan continued to teach and provide capital to the business. Each of the three “partners” worked in the store without pay.

In 1980, the parties sold the original store. That same year, Kailash purchased a larger convenience store. Again, Karl did not contribute any capital toward the purchase. The operation of this store was the same as that of the prior store: Karl operated the store on weekdays; Kailash and Manmohan operated the store on weekends, summer vacation and school holidays. The parties worked without pay; they all agreed to reinvest all profits into the business. The store operated for approximately three years. Thereafter, the parties closed the store and sold the inventory. However, they retained ownership of the location' and began to collect rent from another party.

In 1982, the parties purchased a convenience store, High’s No. 1, in Monroe, Louisiana. The business was licensed in Kai-lash’s name; however, the deed to the property was in Karl’s name. The majority of the purchase price, $155,000, was derived from the rents, sales and profits from the two Mississippi stores; the remaining balance was financed by the seller, Freddy Oliveaux.

LManmohan and Kailash continued to teach in Mississippi, while Karl operated the store in Monroe on weekdays. Subsequently, Manmohan and Kailash granted Karl power of attorney to act in their best interests. Karl handled all of his parents’ electronic banking needs while managing the business. All three “partners” continued to operate the store in the same manner as they operated the Mississippi stores (Karl on weekdays; Manmohan and Kai-lash on weekends, summers and school holidays). According to plaintiffs, they all agreed to reinvest all monies into the business, rather than distributing profits.

Thereafter, the parties purchased a vacant lot in Monroe and built High’s No. 2. In order to finance this purchase, the parties used rental income profits from the Mississippi store and cash contributed by Manmohan and Kailash, who also mortgaged their home.

In 1993, Manmohan and Kailash retired from teaching, moved to Monroe and began working at the stores full-time without pay. They also transferred to Karl commercial and residential real estate in Mississippi and New Mexico. By this time, Karl had married Soókham and began purchasing more and more stores. Over time, Karl, Sookham and/or business entities [474]*474owned fully or in part by them, acquired 17-19 stores in Ouachita Parish.1

After they retired from teaching, Man-mohan and Kailash worked full-time in the first two stores, without pay, until 1999. Manmohan died June |s21, 2010. By this time, Kailash was 87 years old and in frail health. Within days of Manmohan’s death, Karl informed Kailash that he and Sook-ham owned 100% of the convenience store enterprise. At that time, Kailash canceled Karl’s power of attorney.

On February 9, 2011, Kailash and the succession of Manmohan filed a “Petition for Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Wrongful Conversion of Properties, Accounting and Recovery of Damages.”2 They prayed for a judgment ordering Karl and Sookham “to provide and furnish a detailed accounting of all business of the venture, including all assets, profits, rents and revenues from the inception of ‘High’s No. 1’ convenience store to date, and that all such assets, profits, rents and revenues be declared and adjudged rightfully belonging to. the venture” in which Kailash and Manmohan each owned a one-third interest, “with the remaining one-third interest in such venture owned jointly by defendants,” Karl and Sookham. Plaintiffs also prayed for a judgment against Karl and Sookham, in solido, for “all just sums, losses and damages as are determined fair and just by the trier of fact.”

Subsequently, on May 14, 2012, plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment, seeking a declaration that Manmohan, Kai-lash and Karl were equal partners in a joint venture. Plaintiffs contended that the parties had |fiunresolved discovery issues.3 The court ordered defendants to appear on June 14, 2012, and show cause why the motion should not be granted.4

On June 14, 2012, a hearing on a motion to compel was held. Thereafter, the hearing on the motion for summary judgment was scheduled for July 6, 2012. Subsequently, on June 19, 2012, defendants filed a peremptory exception of prescription/peremption and a motion for summary judgment. Thereafter, plaintiffs were ordered to appear on July 6, 2012, to show cause why defendants’ motion for summary judgment and exception of preseription/peremption should not be granted.

On July 5, 2012, plaintiffs’ counsel hand delivered to the district court written objections to the trial on the exceptions, contending defendants violated LSA-C.C.P. art. 1571 and Louisiana District Court Rule 9.14 by failing to file a “pink slip,” requesting that the matters be fixed for trial. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that [475]*475because the pink slip was not filed, plaintiffs did not learn that the exceptions were fixed for trial until the day before the trial date. According to plaintiffs’ counsel, the district court faxed the order fixing the exceptions for trial to counsel’s office after 8:00 p.m. on July 3, 2012. Counsel argued that by the time the court’s order arrived, his office had closed for the Fourth of July holiday.

|7The court overruled plaintiffs’ objections to fixing the hearing date, and the hearing was conducted on July 6, 2012, as scheduled. In so ruling, the district court stated:

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124 So. 3d 470, 2013 WL 4854744, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 1842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dhaliwal-v-dhaliwal-lactapp-2013.