Doyle v. Lonesome Dev., Ltd. Liab. Co.

254 So. 3d 714
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 18, 2018
Docket2017 CA 0787
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 254 So. 3d 714 (Doyle v. Lonesome Dev., Ltd. Liab. 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
Doyle v. Lonesome Dev., Ltd. Liab. Co., 254 So. 3d 714 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

PENZATO, J.

Plaintiffs/Appellants, Shawn P. Doyle and Thyme B. Doyle, individually, and on behalf of their minor children, Brady Doyle, Shawn Michael Doyle, and Maggie Grace Doyle, and Defendants/Appellants, Lonesome Development, LLC and Nautilus Insurance Company, appeal the trial court's judgment granting summary judgment *717in favor of Appellee, Natchez Trace Property Owners Association, Inc., and dismissing plaintiffs' claims against Natchez Trace. For the reasons that follow, we affirm, in part, and reverse, in part, the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 16, 2014, the minor children, Brady, Shawn Michael, and Maggie Grace, were playing soccer directly behind their home with other children in a common area of the Natchez Trace subdivision located in Covington, Louisiana, when a rotten tree fell on Brady Doyle causing him severe injuries. Plaintiffs filed suit against Lonesome Development, LLC (Lonesome), Natchez Trace Property Owners Association, Inc. (Natchez Trace), Renaissance Property Management (Renaissance), and their insurers.1 Plaintiffs alleged that both Lonesome and Natchez Trace, the homeowners' association, were responsible for maintaining and keeping in good repair the common areas of the subdivision pursuant to a recorded Dedication of Servitudes, Easements and Restrictive Covenants (Restrictive Covenants). Plaintiffs also claimed that Lonesome, Natchez Trace, and Renaissance had responsibility for, custody of, and control and garde over the rotten tree and knew or should have known that the rotten tree posed an unreasonable risk of harm to those in the common areas.

Lonesome originally owned and developed the Natchez Trace subdivision in 2006. At the same time, Lonesome created Natchez Trace as a non-profit corporation for the "development, management, regulation, operation and maintenance" of the common areas and other areas of the subdivision. Timothy Henning and Don McMath, both managing members of Lonesome, were the original directors of Natchez Trace. On February 17, 2012, Lonesome transferred the Natchez Trace subdivision to Natchez Trace pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants, less seventeen parcels of land. Mr. Henning signed the Act of Transfer as the manager of Lonesome and as the authorized agent of Natchez Trace. On September 29, 2012, Natchez Trace entered into a Property Management Agreement with Renaissance to manage the homeowners' association. Renaissance agreed to be "responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of properties owned, dedicated or reserved" to Natchez Trace.

Plaintiffs amended their petition claiming that because the quarterly assessments they paid to Natchez Trace were used to pay Renaissance for its maintenance obligation of the common areas, plaintiffs were either direct beneficiaries or third-party beneficiaries of the contract between Natchez Trace and Renaissance. Plaintiffs also alleged that because they were required to pay quarterly dues for the right to use the common areas for recreational purposes, the common areas are commercial recreational facilities.

Lonesome and its insurer (collectively "Lonesome") filed a motion for summary judgment on July 28, 2015, claiming that it was entitled immunity pursuant to the Recreational Use Immunity Statutes, La. R.S. 9:2791 and 9:2795. After a hearing, the trial court signed a judgment denying the motion for summary judgment on April 28, 2016. Lonesome filed a second motion for summary judgment on October 31, 2016. Natchez Trace and Renaissance also filed a motion for summary judgment *718claiming virtually identical allegations, asserting entitlement to immunity from plaintiffs' delictual claims pursuant to the Recreational Use Immunity Statutes. Plaintiffs opposed both motions for summary judgment in a single opposition.

On January 19, 2017, the trial court held a hearing and orally denied the motions for summary judgment filed by Lonesome and Renaissance. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by Natchez Trace. On February 8, 2017, the trial court signed a judgment denying Renaissance's motion for summary judgment and granting summary judgment in favor of Natchez Trace. On February 9, 2017, the trial court signed a judgment denying Lonesome's motion for summary judgment. Lonesome, its insurer, and plaintiffs filed devolutive appeals from the granting of Natchez Trace's motion for summary judgment. On November 30, 2017, this court, recognizing a lack of decretal language in the judgment, issued an interim order remanding the matter to the trial court to consider whether the February 8, 2017 judgment may be amended. On December 11, 2017, the trial court signed an amended judgment, denying summary judgment as to Lonesome and Renaissance, granting summary judgment as to Natchez Trace, and dismissing all of plaintiffs' claims against Natchez Trace. The December 11, 2017 amended judgment is precise, definite, and certain, and does contain the requisite decretal language. See Johnson v. Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church , 2005-0337 (La. App. 1 Cir. 3/24/06), 934 So.2d 66, 67. Therefore, we maintain this appeal.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Summary judgment procedure is favored and "is designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action .... and shall be construed to accomplish these ends." La. C.C.P. art. 966(A)(2).2 In reviewing the trial court's decision on a motion for summary judgment, this court applies a de novo standard of review using the same criteria applied by the trial courts to determine whether summary judgment is appropriate. Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Inc., 93-2512 (La. 7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730, 750-51.

The burden of proof is on the mover. If the mover will not bear the burden of proof at trial, the mover's burden does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party's claim, but only to point out to the court the absence of factual support for one or more of the elements necessary to the adverse party's claim. Thereafter, the burden is on the adverse party to produce factual support sufficient to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact or that the mover is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La. C.C.P. art. 966(D)(1).

"After an opportunity for adequate discovery, a motion for summary judgment shall be granted if the motion, memorandum, and supporting documents show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." La. C.C.P. art. 966(A)(3).

A fact is material if it potentially ensures or precludes recovery, affects a litigant's ultimate success, or determines the outcome of the legal dispute. A genuine issue of material fact is one as to which reasonable persons could disagree; if reasonable persons could reach *719only one conclusion, there is no need for trial on that issue and summary judgment is appropriate.

Jackson v. City of New Orleans, 2012-2742 (La.

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Bluebook (online)
254 So. 3d 714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doyle-v-lonesome-dev-ltd-liab-co-lactapp-2018.