Doe v. Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co.

214 So. 3d 99, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0552, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 428
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 15, 2017
DocketNO. 2016-CA-0552
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 214 So. 3d 99 (Doe v. Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co.) 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
Doe v. Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co., 214 So. 3d 99, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0552, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 428 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Judge Joy Cossich Lobrano

hln this attorney fee dispute, plain-tifi/appellant Jane Doe (“Doe”) appeals the February 19, 2016 judgment of the district [101]*101court denying post-trial attorney’s fees to Doe.

The underlying litigation arises from Doe’s lawsuit against defendant/appellee Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Company d/b/a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana (“Blue Cross”) alleging violations of the Louisiana Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, La. R.S. 22:1023. Trial was held on February 13, 2014. On April 23, 2014, the district court entered judgment (the “2014 trial judgment”) awarding Doe $50,000.00 in statutory damages plus judicial interest, costs, and “reasonable attorney’s fees” in an amount “to be determined at a later date.”

On May 7, 2014, the parties entered into stipulations as to the amount of recoverable attorney’s fees and costs. The stipulations read:

1. If counsel for Jane Doe were called to testify he would testify that the reasonable attorneys’ fees in favor of Jane Doe, through April 29, 2014, are $36,440.50, an amount which defendant Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co. does not contest.
|22. Jane Doe’s recoverable court costs, as of April 29, 2014, are $756.36, an amount which defendant Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Co. does not contest.
3. The parties agree[ ] that, in the event the judgment is not appealed, or is affirmed, the defendant will pay the foregoing sums for attorney[’]s fees and costs through April 29, 2014, together with any sums agreed to or awarded for attorney[’]s fees and costs after that date.

Blue Cross appealed the 2014 trial judgment, and Doe answered the appeal, requesting that this Court modify the 2014 trial judgment to increase statutory damages and award “judicial interest from the date of demand until paid, all costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.” On May 20, 2015, this Court affirmed the 2014 trial judgment. Doe v. La. Health Serv. & Indem. Co., 2014-0789 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/20/15), 172 So.3d 132. This Court’s opinion did not address attorney’s fees specifically corresponding to work done by Doe’s counsel on appeal. See id. Doe did not apply to this Court for rehearing or seek supervisory review from the Louisiana Supreme Court. Blue Cross filed a writ application with the Louisiana Supreme Court, which was voluntarily dismissed. On August 20, 2015, Blue Cross issued payment to Doe in the amount of $101,134.40, which represented $50,000.00 damages awarded at trial, $13,864.04 in judicial interest as calculated by Blue Cross, plus $37,270.36 in attorney’s fees and costs.1

On September 8, 2015, Doe filed a motion in the district court to set the amount of post-trial attorney’s fees relative to the appeal, the Supreme Court writ application, and the instant motion, and sought insurance penalties in connection |swith Blue Cross’ nonpayment of the attorney’s fees at issue. On February 19, 2016, the district court entered judgment denying Doe’s motion on the basis that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal did not award Doe attorney’s fees for work done on appeal of the 2014 trial judgment. This appeal of the district court’s February 19, 2016 judgment followed.

On appeal, Doe sets forth the following assignments of error:

1. The District Court erred in dismissing Jane Doe’s Motion for Attor[102]*102ney’s Fees based on the erroneous holding that this Court did not grant attorney’s fees to Jane Doe.
2. The District Court erred in not enforcing the stipulation between the parties to determine what additional attorneys’ fees were owed should the judgment of the District Court be affirmed, as it was.
3. The District Court erred in failing to enforce Blue Cross’ agreement to pay the $146,761.66 judgment.

Before addressing the substantive issues on appeal, we must address the jurisdictional and procedural issues affecting this matter. Blue Cross contends that the district court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the attorney fee dispute following the conclusion of the appeal and dismissal of the Supreme Court writ application. We disagree, as the 2014 trial judgment of the district court specifically reserved the issue of attorney’s fees to be adjudicated at a later date.

La. C.C.P. art. 2088 provides, in pertinent part:

The jurisdiction of the trial court over all matters in the case reviewable under the appeal is divested, and that of the appellate court attaches, on the granting of the order of appeal and the timely filing of the appeal bond, in the case of a suspensive appeal or on the granting of the order of appeal, in the case of a devolutive appeal. Thereafter, the trial court has jurisdiction in the case only over those matters not reviewable under the appeal...

I .¡This article contains a list of specific actions over which a district court retains jurisdiction in a case after the filing of an order of appeal. As this Court has explained:

... the list of circumstances over which the trial court retains jurisdiction enumerated in La. C.C.P. art. 2088 is not intended to be exclusive.... Under the express provisions of the article, the trial court is not considered divested of jurisdiction to consider any issue that is “not reviewable on appeal.” This language, “not reviewable under the appeal,” has generally been interpreted to give the trial court continuing jurisdiction over all issues that are “unaffected by the appeal,” even if the issue is not specifically listed in La. C.C.P. art. 2088.

State Through Dep’t of Soc. Servs. on Behalf of Harden v. S. Baptist Hosp., 94-2228, pp. 6-7 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/12/95), 663 So.2d 443, 448-49 (internal citations omitted)(emphasis added).

As the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal explained in Law Offices of Fred L. Herman, APLC v. Helmer, 2013-235, p. 4 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/9/13), 128 So.3d 310, 312, “the enumerated list of matters in Article 2088 over which the trial court retains jurisdiction is not exclusive, and that the inquiry on this issue is instead whether the matters in question are reviewable in the appeal.” Id. The court determined that a particular attorney fee dispute, which was decided by the district court and was before the Fifth Circuit on a second appeal, was not reviewed on the original appeal of the underlying claim; the Fifth Circuit found that the adjudication of the amount of attorney’s fees was “specifically reserved by the trial judge for resolution at a later date.” Id. Under those facts, the Fifth Circuit rejected the argument that the district court lost jurisdiction when the underlying judgment was appealed. See also Quantum Res. Mgmt., L.L.C. v. Pirate Lake Oil Corp., 2013-74, pp. 7-8 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/30/13), 128 So.3d 462, 466, Brandner v. Staf-Rath, L.L.C., 2012-62, p. 3 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/31/12), 102 So.3d 186, 188-189 n. 3, Thibaut v. Thi[103]*103baut, 607 So.2d 587, 609 (La. App. 1st Cir. 1992).

We find this reasoning persuasive.

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214 So. 3d 99, 2016 La.App. 4 Cir. 0552, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 428, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-louisiana-health-service-indemnity-co-lactapp-2017.