Gibsland Bank & Trust Co. v. Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black (APLC)

114 So. 3d 529, 2013 WL 1979909, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 938
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2013
DocketNo. 47,763-CW
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 114 So. 3d 529 (Gibsland Bank & Trust Co. v. Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black (APLC)) 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
Gibsland Bank & Trust Co. v. Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black (APLC), 114 So. 3d 529, 2013 WL 1979909, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 938 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

BROWN, Chief Judge.

| ]This is an action for legal malpractice filed by plaintiff, Gibsland Bank and Trust Company (“Gibsland”), against the lawyer who prepared a title opinion, her law firm and their malpractice insurer. The issue in this writ grant to docket is whether the suit filed by Gibsland against defendants, Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black (APLC), Melanie F. McCullough, and First Mercury Insurance Company, was timely. Finding that Gibsland did not bring its action for malpractice within the time constraints set forth in La. R.S. 9:5605, we reverse and render.

Facts and Procedural Background

On July 31, 2008, Melanie F. McCullough, an attorney with Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black (hereinafter “the law firm”), issued a title opinion on property [531]*531owned by Oaketree Apartments, L.L.C., which was being used to secure a primary mortgage loan from Gibsland. The title opinion indicated that there were no mortgages or encumbrances on the property. A 1999 judicial mortgage by a third party, Michael Carr, on the debtor’s property had not been found in the title search. Based upon the law firm’s representations in the title opinion that there were no prior liens or encumbrances on Oaketree’s property, Gibsland granted Oaketree the loan.

On July 31, 2009, Gibsland sent the law firm a letter stating that Carr had filed suit against Oaketree to satisfy his 1999 money judgment by seizing the property and forcing a sheriffs sale. According to Carr, his judicial mortgage gave him a first lien position on the property. The bank’s letter to the law firm stated that “The Title Opinion prepared for the Bank by your firm and signed by Melanie F. McCullough ... did not reflect 12evidence of this existing judgment.” Carr’s intention to force a sheriffs sale was “cause for immediate concern to the Bank. The Bank is formally requesting research and remediation by Kitchens, Benton, Kitchens & Black on this situation in order to best protect the interest of the Bank.”

In August 2009, the law firm advised Gibsland that because the debtor’s name occurred in several documents and in the Webster Parish Mortgage Records incorrectly as “Oaktree” rather than “Oake-tree” Apartments, the bank’s position was defensible. The law firm also told Gib-sland at that time that the firm’s legal malpractice insurer had been contacted for appointment of legal representation.

In September 2009, Gibsland intervened in Carr’s suit and petitioned to enjoin the sheriffs sale and have the bank’s mortgage declared primary to Carr’s mortgage. A hearing was held on September 29, 2009. Carr introduced evidence that Oaketree had applied for refinancing with Gibsland in 2003, and that Carr had filed a “Partial Release of Judgment” in the mortgage records in 2003, in which Carr granted Oaketree a partial release of judgment as to two tracts of land in exchange for $80,000. Carr also introduced evidence that on the same date and at the same time that the partial release was recorded in the mortgage records, a collateral mortgage and a collateral assignment of leases and rents by “Oaketree” to the bank were also recorded in the mortgage records. The trial court ruled in favor of Gibsland, finding that its 2008 mortgage primed Carr’s 1999 money judgment. On appeal, this court reversed, finding that the public records provided sufficient notice of Carr’s judicial mortgage, which was ranked |-¡ahead of the bank’s mortgage, and of the 2003 partial release, both of which should have been discovered by the law firm in its 2008 title research. See Carr v. Oaktree Apartments, 45,514 (La.App.2d Cir.08/11/10), 46 So.3d 793, writ denied, 10-2092 (La.11/12/10), 49 So.3d 896.

On April 11, 2011, Gibsland filed the instant malpractice action. Defendants filed an exception of prescription, claiming that the one-year prescriptive period set forth in La. R.S. 9:5605, which begins to run from the date that a reasonable person was or should have been aware of the act(s) of malpractice, began running when the bank discovered that its interest in the Oaketree property was in jeopardy due to Carr’s lawsuit.

The law firm further asserted that Gib-sland’s July 31, 2009, letter, in which the bank stated its “immediate concern” about Carr’s claim and noted that the firm’s title opinion had not reflected Carr’s judicial mortgage, was evidence1 of the point in time when the bank became aware of potential damage caused by the law firm’s error.

[532]*532In opposition to the exception of prescription, the bank claimed that in order to file a claim for legal malpractice, there had to be a negligent act and resulting damages. In the instant case, according to the bank, no damages were incurred until August 11, 2010, the date that the Second Circuit made an adverse ruling against Gibsland. The bank suggested that the malpractice was not evident, and therefore there was no viable claim, until the ruling by this court, because until that time, the trial court had upheld the bank’s position as holding the primary mortgage on the property. Therefore, prescription began to run from the date of the Second Circuit’s | ^ruling, August 11, 2010, and Gib-sland’s suit against defendants, which was filed on April 11, 2011, was timely.

The exception was heard on June 23, 2011. The bank’s president, Thomas Martin, and the bank’s attorney in the summary proceeding, Jonathan Stewart, testified at this hearing. Martin testified that he was concerned when he received the title opinion from the law firm because he knew that there was a prior judgment against Oaketree, but when he asked whether the judgment was still in place, McCullough advised him that it “wasn’t found.” Martin identified Gibsland’s July 31, 2009, letter to the law firm, in which the bank acknowledged its awareness of Carr’s intent to seize the property and that the title opinion did not reflect the existing judgment. Martin and Stewart agreed that the July 31, 2009, letter demonstrated the bank’s notice that its interest in the property was in jeopardy due to the law firm’s oversight. Martin further admitted that once the bank was initially notified of the malpractice, the bank could have sought further legal advice from another attorney to determine whether the law firm had actually committed malpractice, but chose not to do so. Stewart stated that he had notice of the potential malpractice claim in August 2009 when Kitchens advised him that he had notified his law firm’s malpractice insurer of the matter and had requested representation. Stewart also testified that he knew that Carr was appealing the lower court’s ruling no later than the end of December 2009, and that he was aware that the ruling could be overturned on appeal.

| sThe trial court denied defendants’ exception of prescription, agreeing with Gib-sland, finding that prescription began running from the date that damages were incurred, which was August 11, 2010, the date of the Second Circuit’s adverse ruling. Therefore, since suit had been filed on April 11, 2011, it was timely. Defendants sought supervisory review with this court, which was denied on the showing made. The supreme court granted defendants’ writ application and remanded the matter to the trial court for reconsideration of its ruling in light of the supreme court’s recent decision in Jenkins v. Starns, 11-1170 (La.01/24/12), 85 So.3d 612.

In Jenkins, supra at 627-28, the supreme court held that the continuous representation rule, an application of the doctrine of contra non valentem,

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114 So. 3d 529, 2013 WL 1979909, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibsland-bank-trust-co-v-kitchens-benton-kitchens-black-aplc-lactapp-2013.