Dorries v. Linder

211 So. 3d 1242, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 54
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 11, 2017
DocketNo. 51,070-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 211 So. 3d 1242 (Dorries v. Linder) 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
Dorries v. Linder, 211 So. 3d 1242, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 54 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

GARRETT, J.

|; This litigation arises from a family dispute over an unpaid debt. The plaintiffs, David and Linda Dorries, are seeking to execute on a deficiency judgment against Linda’s brother, Edward Earle Linder (“Earle”), by seizing and selling at sheriffs sale his interest in immovable property located in Claiborne Parish. Earle claimed to have sold the property to a third party, who later intervened in the suit. Both sides appeal from a trial court judgment which upheld an injunction in favor of Earle and the intervenor, enjoining the seizure and sale of the property until the intervenor’s alleged ownership could be adjudicated. The judgment then fully adjudicated the ownership claim by granting a revocatory action on behalf of the plaintiffs and annulling Earle’s sale to the. intervenor. Earle and the intervenor contend that the trial court erred in annulling their transaction and that the intervenor acquired the property free and clear of the plaintiffs’ judicial mortgage. The plaintiffs agree with the ruling on their revocatory action, but also seek relief on some matters not ruled upon below and argue the trial court should not have assessed them half of the court costs. Both sides claim they are entitled to damages and attorney fees. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the trial court judgment in part and reverse in part.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

What began as a simple executory process lawsuit has now spun totally out of control due to the actions of Earle in failing to repay an obligation he clearly owed. In order to understand the chain of events leading up to the judgment that is now before us, some background information is necessary.

12Linda Linder Dorries, Earle Linder, and Randall Ray Linder are the children of R.B. Linder and Bobbie Ray Linder. In April 2003, the parents created a revocable inter vivos trust in which they designated themselves as the settlors, the sole income beneficiaries, and the trustees. Among other assets, several tracts of immovable property were placed in the trust by an act of donation. They included tracts in Claiborne Parish, one of which contained the parents’ residence and another containing what was known as “the yellow house.” Several of these tracts were located close to Lake Claiborne. The original act of donation involving the immovable property contained almost five single-spaced, legal-size pages of very complicated property descriptions.

Over time, the trust documents were amended on several occasions. The original trust document provided that, upon the death of the settlor last to die, the principal of the trust and all undistributed income “shall be immediately distributed” to the three Linder children in equal portions. It also initially provided that, after the deaths of both parents, Earle was to be temporary successor trustee for “the [1245]*1245single purpose of winding up the affairs of this trust and making the final distribution of the corpus thereof to the principal beneficiaries.” In a 2006 amendment, Earle and Randall were named temporary successor co-trustees for the same purpose.

The father died on November 13, 2010. In March 2012, the mother amended the trust to give a right of first refusal to purchase the property containing the parents’ home to Randall and “the Hatfield lot”1 to Earle. It also provided that upon her death, the trust would terminate “as soon as is treasonable.” It further stated that, subject to the rights of first refusal, the remaining principal, income from the sale of the two tracts, and all undistributed income “shall be immediately distributed to ... children of Settlors, in equal proportions to each, free of trust.” In August 2013, the mother resigned her position as trustee due to her declining health and appointed Earle and Randall as successor trustees. The last amendment to the trust was made in May 2014. The mother expressly revoked the 2012 amendment and the right of first refusal given to Earle for the Hatfield lot. However, Randall’s right of first refusal on the parents’ residence was maintained. The amendment stated that “[u]pon the death of the second settlor to die the trust shall be terminated as soon as is reasonable.” This amendment included language that, subject to Randall’s right of first refusal, “the remaining principal of this trust, income from the sale of the above tract, and all undistributed income shall be immediately distributed” to the three children “in equal proportions to each, free of trust, except that [Earle’s] share shall-be reduced by $12,000.” The mother died on July 9, 2014. As explained below, the immovable property remaining in the trust was not transferred by the trustees to the Linder children until January 2015.

Over the years, Linda and her husband, David, had loaned a substantial amount of money to Earle. The debt was evidenced in two promissory notes: a 2011 note for $115,000 and a 2012 note for $25,000. Earle secured the loans with a mortgage on two tracts of property he owned near Lake Claiborne. After Earle failed to repay them, the Dorrieses filed a petition for executory process on December 13, 2013. The property mortgaged by Earle was seized and sold, with benefit of appraisal, at sheriffs sale to the Dorrieses for $76,533.33, on February 12, 2014.

|4On July 16, 2014, the Dorrieses filed a petition for a deficiency judgment in the amount of $79,585.59, as of February 12, 2014, plus interest, and attorney fees of 15% of the amount due on November 5, 2013. Earle, acting in proper person, filed a general denial answer on August 1, 2014.

The Dorrieses then filed a motion for summary judgment, which was set for hearing on October 2, 2014. After the sheriff was unsuccessful in serving Earle, a private process server was appointed, who eventually located him. Paul Kitchens, as Earle’s counsel, filed an answer, an opposition to the motion for summary judgment, and a motion for continuance which asserted that Earle was domiciled in California. Over the Dorrieses’ objections, the continuance was granted, and the matter was reset for November 3, 2014. The Dorrieses also responded to’ the opposition.

On November 3, 2014, the trial court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment in open court and awarded them a deficiency judgment of $79,585.59, with interest, plus attorney fees of $22,312.50. At the conclusion of the hearing, Paul Kitchens filed a motion to withdraw as Earle’s counsel of record. However, he agreed to sign the judgment on the motion [1246]*1246for summary judgment when it was prepared. The trial court granted his motion and signed the judgment allowing him to withdraw. Judgment in conformity with the trial court’s ruling on summary judgment was signed on November 18, 2014. This judgment was recorded in the mortgage records of Claiborne Parish on November 26, 2014.2

Un the meantime, on November 4, 2014, Paul Kitchens notarized a cash sale deed whereby Earle purported to sell his interest in certain immovable property to X-Sell Properties, LLC, a Colorado company, for $25,000. The document had already been executed by X-Sell’s manager, Vicki Schmidt, on October 31, 2014, before a notary public in Arizona. The deed recited that no title opinion had been performed or requested and that the parties furnished the legal description. A lengthy, detailed—and very confusing—description of the property being sold was attached to the deed as an exhibit.

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Bluebook (online)
211 So. 3d 1242, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorries-v-linder-lactapp-2017.