Guidry v. Cheramie

345 So. 2d 157, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4498
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 21, 1977
DocketNo. 11224
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 345 So. 2d 157 (Guidry v. Cheramie) 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
Guidry v. Cheramie, 345 So. 2d 157, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4498 (La. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

COVINGTON, Judge.

This is a suspensive appeal from a judgment setting aside the judicial sale in the partition suit and denying the homologation of the partition; the judgment also rejected the opponents’ attack on the validity of the partition judgment. The opponents answered the appeal.

The facts are not in dispute, having been jointly stipulated by the parties. The suit arose over a partition by licitation of the subject property, which had been acquired by Leoca Cheramie and Euzide Adams Cheramie during their marriage, by deed dated August 7, 1901. Both of them died intestate, he in 1953 and she in 1959, and their successions have not been opened. Their sole forced heirs are five children and the six children of a pre-deceased son. Their estate was comprised of the subject property, situated in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.

Subsequently, Numa Guidry and his wife, Mercedes Guidry, who was one of the Cher-amie daughters, brought a suit for partition by licitation of the subject property on April 10, 1973, against the other nine coheirs, Mark Cheramie, Alzire Cheramie Le-fort, Elie Cheramie, Annette Cheramie LeLoup, Teddy Cheramie, Patricia Chera-mie, Betsy Cheramie Ayo, Russell A. Chera-mie, and Carolyn Cheramie LaPlante. At the time of the partition suit, Numa Guidry owned an undivided Vs interest in the subject property, which he had purchased from Odeia Cheramie Pierce, one of the Cheramie heirs; and Mercedes Cheramie Guidry [159]*159owned another undivided Ve interest which she acquired by inheritance from her parents. Three of the defendants in the partition suit were served by personal service; the others were served by domiciliary service.

The defendants in the partition suit filed no pleadings, and on June 21, 1974, a preliminary default was entered against all defendants. The default was confirmed on November 5, 1974. Notice of the default judgment was not served on any defendant.

On the same day on which the default judgment was signed, the plaintiffs sought to execute the judgment and they had the clerk of court issue a commission to the sheriff to sell the property.

After advertisement, the property was sold at public auction on December 11,1974, to Numa Guidry, Robert J. Guidry and Dick J. Guidry for the sum of $40,000.00.

When the partition came on for homolo-gation, the defendants filed opposition. One of them, Carolyn Cheramie LaPlante, withdrew her opposition on November 11, 1975. Two purchasers of the property at the sale, Dick J. Guidry and Robert J. Gui-dry, filed an exception of no right and no cause of action to the opposition.

The matter came on for hearing, and judgment was rendered on September 20, 1976. This judgment is now on appeal.

The trial court found that defendants, Annette Cheramie LeLoup, Elie Cheramie, Mark Cheramie and Alzire Cheramie Le-fort, had been served in the partition suit by domiciliary service,1 and that no notice of judgment had been served on these defendants. The trial court then held that under the law the delays for application for a new trial and the taking of a suspensive appeal did not begin to run against these defendants until such time as they were served with notice of judgment as required by LSA-C.C.P. art. 1913. Since there was no notice of judgment served on these defendants, and the legal delays had not expired, the partition judgment confirmed against them on November 5, 1974, was not executory and final and the judicial sale was, thus, premature. The trial court then concluded the sheriff’s sale, being an attempted execution of a judgment that was not executory, was null and void.

It is elementary that until a judgment becomes, or is made, executory, no execution of the judgment can be effected. Only a judgment in an executory status may be enforced.

Therefore, we must determine whether, on the established facts in the instant case, the default judgment was an executory judgment when the plaintiffs in the partition suit proceeded to have it executed.

The partition proceeding is governed by the procedural rules regulating ordinary proceedings with reference to default judgments, motions for new trial, appeals, appropriate delays, notice of judgments and execution of judgments, as far as practicable. LSA-C.C.P. art. 4603.

Article 4603 expressly provides, in part: “Except as otherwise provided by law, a partition proceeding is subject to the rules regulating ordinary proceedings.”

Code of Civil Procedure article 4607 provides:

“When a partition is to be made by licitation, the sale shall be conducted at public auction and after the advertisements required for judicial sales under execution...."

The comments under this provision refer back to the general rules, beginning with LSA-C.C.P. art. 2331, which are applicable to judicial sales under fieri facias, the writ used to execute money judgments. See LSA-C.C.P. art. 2291.

Thus, the judgment by default in a partition proceeding must be taken in accordance with the rules set out in LSA-C. C.P. arts. 1701-1703, 1843.

Specifically, the notice of judgment requirements of LSA-C.C.P. art. 1913 are applicable.

LSA-C.C.P. art. 1913 provides as follows in part:

[160]*160“Notice of the signing of a default judgment against a defendant on whom citation was not served personally, and who filed no exceptions or answer, shall be served on the defendant by the sheriff, by either personal or domiciliary service.”
LSA-C.C.P. art. 2252 provides as follows: “A judgment creditor may proceed with the execution of a judgment only after the delay for a suspensive appeal therefrom has elapsed.”

Although the article uses the words “judgment creditor” this is an illustration, rather than restrictive, description of the party in whose favor the judgment was rendered. The provisions of this article were not intended to be limited to the party in whose favor a money judgment was rendered; they apply to any judgment obligee.

In the instant case the default judgment was taken against defendants who had been served by domiciliary service and who were mandatorily entitled to notice of judgment under LSA-C.C.P. art. 1913. The delays for applying for a new trial did not begin to run until such notice of judgment was served.

The record reflects that at the time that the execution of the partition judgment was sought no notice of judgment had yet been served. Consequently, the delay allowed for applying for new trial had not begun to run. LSA-C.C.P. art. 1913. LSA-C.C.P. arts. 1974 and 2123 in effect provide that the delay for suspensively appealing does not begin to run until the expiration of the delay allowed for applying for new trial.

It necessarily follows that until the time has elapsed in which a suspensive appeal may be taken a judgment is non-executory. In the instant case, the time in which to take a suspensive appeal had not even commenced to run. Consequently, the plaintiffs’ partition judgment was not executory when execution was attempted; therefore, the execution was premature and without legal effect.

Although the cases of Nassau Realty Co. v. Brown, 332 So.2d 206 (La.1976), and Bou-dreaux v. Allstate Finance Corporation, 217 So.2d 439 (La.App. 1 Cir.

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Related

Tucker v. Kelly
506 So. 2d 730 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
Guidry v. Cheramie
354 So. 2d 1280 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
Guidry v. Cherami
346 So. 2d 714 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
345 So. 2d 157, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guidry-v-cheramie-lactapp-1977.