Giddens v. Giddens

722 So. 2d 114, 98 La.App. 3 Cir. 868, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3599, 1998 WL 857908
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1998
DocketNo. 98-868
StatusPublished

This text of 722 So. 2d 114 (Giddens v. Giddens) 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
Giddens v. Giddens, 722 So. 2d 114, 98 La.App. 3 Cir. 868, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3599, 1998 WL 857908 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

IiWOODARD, Judge.

This is a suit on a note by William H. Giddens, Jr. (Giddens, Jr.) against William H. Giddens, Sr. (Giddens), James East Ay-mond and Advance Equities. The trial court granted Giddens, Jr. summary judgment. We affirm.

FACTS

On March 10, 1978, W.O. Harrison (Harrison) transferred, by an act of Credit Sale Deed and Mortgage, to his nephew, William H. Giddens, Sr., and his wife, Marjorie Wise Giddens, 267.67 acres of land in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, for a contract price of $53,534.00. The act of sale specified that Harrison financed $51,000.00 of the total amount. As a result, Giddens issued a note for $51,000.00, payable to Harrison in twenty equal annual installments of principal and interest, commencing on March 10, 1979 and payable on March 10 of each year with a final installment payable on March 10, 1998. The note was paraphed “Ne Varietur ” for ^identification and secured by a duly recorded vendor’s hen associated with security interests.

By July 15, 1983, Giddens reduced his principal balance under the note to $40,-800.00, but stopped paying any installment thereafter. He experienced financial difficulties which eventually led him to file for bankruptcy protection under 11 U.S.C.A. § 12 on April 20,1987.

Giddens hsted in his petition for bankruptcy, the debt to Harrison, specifying an outstanding balance of $40,800.00. The petition also indicated a second mortgage on the land and unrelated tracts held by Exchange Bank and Trust Company (Exchange Bank). Gid-dens filed a Plan under 11 U.S.C.A. §§ 1221, et seq., on November 5, 1987, for which he obtained confirmation per 11 U.S.C.A. § 1225. In accordance with the confirmed plan, Giddens executed a Dation en Paiement of the land to Exchange Bank “subject to mortgage to W.O. Harrison” on March 15, 1988. Exchange Bank simultaneously deed[116]*116ed the land to H.B. Hubbard (Hubbard) “subject to mortgage to W.O. Harrison.”

Harrison died on March 3, 1988, naming Giddens as his testamentary executor and Giddens, Jr. as his sole universal legatee. The original judgment of possession, rendered on February 17, 1989, omitted the above described note from the inventoried assets subject to the succession. Nevertheless, on May 11,1989, Guidens filed a petition in the Harrison succession, seeking issuance of an amended judgment of possession. On May 15,1989, the court rendered a judgment of possession, declaring Giddens, Jr.’s entitlement to the note.

Giddens received his bankruptcy discharge on December 8, 1989, and his bankruptcy case was closed on February 9,1990.

On June 17, 1994, Hubbard sold the land to Aymond pursuant to a Credit Sale Deed for a total price of $296,466.00, “Subject to Mortgage to W.O. Harrison.”

Giddens, Jr. filed a petition for foreclosure by executory process on July 11, 1994. Ay-mond responded by filing for injunctive relief to arrest the writ of seizure and sale. A hearing was set for September 13, 1994, but a continuance was agreed upon without refix-ing a date.

Subsequently, Giddens, Jr. filed an amended and supplemental petition converting the matter into an ordinary proceeding and requesting an in rem money judgment on the note against Giddens and Aymond. On May 13,1996, Giddens, Jr. filed a second amended and supplemental petition, requesting, in the alternative to an kin rem money judgment, the dissolution of the Harrison/Giddens sale in lieu of foreclosure.

On February 7, 1997, Aymond transferred the land by donation inter vivos to Advance Equities, a trust organization domiciled in Maricopa County, Arizona. Later, it was discovered that Aymond was Advance Equities’ registered managing director and authorized agent. Giddens, Jr. filed a third amended petition, naming Advance Equities as an additional defendant. Efforts to serve Aymond in his capacity as Advance Equity’s managing director proved fruitless, and Gid-dens, Jr. obtained the appointment of a curator ad hoc for the purpose of receiving service.

On October 9, 1997, Giddens, Jr. filed a motion for summary judgment which the trial court heard and granted on December 18, 1997. The trial court entered judgment on Giddens, Jr.’s behalf against Aymond and Advance Equities on an in rem basis in the principal amount of $40,800.00, with applicable interest, attorney’s fees, and costs. The court also recognized the existence of Gid-dens, Jr.’s vendor’s lien.

Aymond filed a Motion for a New Trial which the trial court heard and denied on January 30,1998. Aymond and Advance Equities appeal.

LAW

Motion FOR Summaky Judgment

At the outset, we note that appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that governed the trial court’s consideration of whether or not summary judgment was appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Sup’rs of La. State Univ., 591 So.2d 342 (La.1991); Soileau v. D & J Tire, Inc., 97-318 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/8/97); 702 So.2d 818.

Aymond alleges that the trial court erred in granting Giddens, Jr.’s summary judgment. He states that current law provides that summary judgments are not favored and should be used cautiously and sparingly, and that there is a presumption against the grant of summary judgment. We disagree. Ay-mond would have us construe the new statute in a way precisely overruled by the legislature and our recent jurisprudence.

The law of summary judgment implemented in La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 was amended by Act No. 9 of the First Extraordinary Session of 1996. Further, in 1997, the legislature amended La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 to overturn legislatively, jurisprudence ^inconsistent with Hayes v. Autin, 96-287 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/26/96); 685 So.2d 691. In Hayes, we found that the legislature overruled the presumption against the grant of summary judgment. We stated that the amendment “leveled the playing field” by [117]*117removing the overriding presumption in favor of trial on the merits and by scrutinizing equally the supporting documents submitted by the mover and nonmover.

La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 now provides, in pertinent part, that “[t]he summary judgment procedure is designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action_ The procedure is favored and shall be construed to accomplish those ends.” In other words, summary judgment is favored and shall be applied liberally. Townley v. City of Iowa, 97-493 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/29/97); 702 So.2d 323.

The amended provisions of La.Code Civ.P. art. 966 are procedural in nature and, thus, subject to retroactive, as well as prospective, application. Kumpe v. State, 97-386 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/8/97); 701 So.2d 498.

Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and, admissions on file together with affidavits show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B).

La.Code Civ.P. art. 966, as amended, charges the moving party with the burden of proving that summary judgment is appropriate. In doing so, the moving party’s supporting documentation must be sufficient to establish that no genuine issue of material fact remains at stake. Such a burden is not unlike that assigned to the moving party before the amendments. Townley, 702 So.2d 323. Once the mover makes a prima facie

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722 So. 2d 114, 98 La.App. 3 Cir. 868, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 3599, 1998 WL 857908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/giddens-v-giddens-lactapp-1998.