ITT Residential Capital Corp. v. Cheuk

656 So. 2d 747, 1995 WL 320362
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 30, 1995
Docket94-CA-744
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 656 So. 2d 747 (ITT Residential Capital Corp. v. Cheuk) 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
ITT Residential Capital Corp. v. Cheuk, 656 So. 2d 747, 1995 WL 320362 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

656 So.2d 747 (1995)

ITT RESIDENTIAL CAPITAL CORPORATION
v.
Phenix Sheng CHEUK and Shu Lau Cheuk.

No. 94-CA-744.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

May 30, 1995.

*748 Jane F. Mentz and Stacy C. Wheat, Shapiro & Kreisman, Metairie, for plaintiff/appellee, ITT Residential Capital Corp.

Jerome Friedman, Metairie, for defendants/appellants, Phenix Sheng Cheuk and Shu Lau Cheuk.

Before BOWES, GOTHARD and CANNELLA, JJ.

*749 BOWES, Judge.

Defendants, Phenix Sheng Cheuk and Shu Lau Cheuk (hereinafter "Cheuk"), appeal from a ruling of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, ITT Residential Capital Corporation (hereinafter "ITT Corp."). We affirm in part and annul and set aside in part.

ITT Corp. filed a petition to enforce mortgage on real estate, via ordinaria on May 10, 1993. In the petition, ITT Corp. alleges that it is the owner of a promissory note executed by Cheuk dated October 3, 1984 in the principal sum of One Hundred Thirty Thousand ($130,000.00) Dollars, which it obtained through assignment from Broekema & Associates. Broekema obtained the note in a bulk transfer from the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). The note is secured by an act of mortgage executed on October 3, 1984 against property bearing the address 2813 Greenwood Park, Kenner, Louisiana. The petition further alleges that:

Petitioner avers that the said note and mortgage are past due and exigible and that the monthly installment due on February 1, 1992 and all subsequent installments are due and unpaid, and that because of said default, the entire unpaid principal balance in the sum of $115,343.41 together with interest at the rate of 7.360% percent per annum from January 1, 1992 until December 1, 1992, the next change date provided for in said note, and with interest at the rate of 7.000% percent per annum from December 1, 1992 until the next change date provided for in said note or until said note is paid in full, whichever occurs first, plus a late charge of $48.46 on each delinquent installment of principal and interest from February 16, 1992 through December 16, 1992 and a late charge of $47.29 on each delinquent installment of principal and interest from January 16, 1993 to present, together with reasonable attorney's fees are due, owing and unpaid.

Cheuk answered, denying the allegations of plaintiff's petition and further asserting several affirmative defenses. ITT Corp. filed a motion for summary judgment; a hearing was held on that motion on January 24, 1994 at which time the trial court took the matter under advisement. On April 13, 1994, the trial court issued a judgment, with reasons, granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The defendants filed a motion for appeal on May 12, 1994, which was granted by the trial court on May 17, 1994. However, also on May 17, 1994, the trial court rendered a second judgment which again granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, in the amount as prayed for in the petition, but in addition added "together with reasonable attorney's fees on both principal and interest and all costs of these proceedings."

On appeal, defendants present four assignments of error which raise the following three issues:

1. and 2. The trial court erred in finding that there were no issues of material fact and that plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.

3. The trial court erred granting summary judgment despite the existence of unanswered discovery and an outstanding rule to compel answers to that discovery.

4. The trial court erred in rendering a second judgment dated May 17, 1994 subsequent to its original judgment of April 13, 1994 in which it substantially altered the content of its April 13, 1994 judgment and added provisions for interest costs and attorney's fees.

ANALYSIS

A motion for summary judgment may be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, and affidavits show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La.C.C.P. Article 966.

In Billiot v. B.P., Oil Company, Wingard, 93-1118 (La. 9/29/94), 645 So.2d 604, the Louisiana Supreme Court said:

A "genuine issue" is a "triable issue." More precisely, "[a]n issue is genuine if reasonable persons could disagree. If on the state of the evidence, reasonable persons could reach only one conclusion, there *750 is no need for a trial on that issue. Summary judgment is the means for disposing of such meretricious disputes." In determining whether an issue is "genuine," courts cannot consider the merits, make credibility determinations, evaluate testimony or weigh evidence. "Formal allegations without substance should be closely scrutinized to determine if they truly do reveal genuine issues of fact."
A fact is "material" when its existence or nonexistence may be essential to plaintiff's cause of action under the applicable theory of recovery. "[F]acts are material if they potentially insure or preclude recovery, affect a litigant's ultimate success, or determine the outcome of the legal dispute." Simply put, a "material" fact is one that would matter on the trial on the merits. Any doubt as to a dispute regarding a material issue of fact must be resolved against granting the motion and in favor of a trial on the merits.
* * * * * *
Procedurally, the court's first task on a motion for summary judgment is determining whether the moving party's supporting documents—pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions and affidavits—are sufficient to resolve all material factual issues. "To satisfy this burden, the mover must meet a strict standard of showing that it is quite clear as to what is the truth and that there has been excluded any real doubt as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact." In making this determination, the mover's supporting documents must be closely scrutinized and the non-mover's indulgently treated. Since the moving party bears the burden of proving the lack of a material issue of fact, inferences to be drawn from the underlying facts before the court must be viewed in light most favorable to the non-moving party.
If the court determines that the moving party has met this onerous burden, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to present evidence demonstrating that material factual issues remain. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 967 outlines the non-moving party's burden of production as follows:
When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported ... an adverse party may not rest on the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but his response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided above, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. If he does not so respond, summary judgment, if appropriate, shall be rendered against him.
As this court has oft-stated, summary judgment may be granted when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that the mover is entitled to judgment on the facts before the court. Likewise, summary judgment is appropriate when all the relevant facts are marshalled before the court, the marshalled facts are undisputed, and the only issue is the ultimate conclusion to be drawn from those facts.

[Citations omitted].

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Bluebook (online)
656 So. 2d 747, 1995 WL 320362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/itt-residential-capital-corp-v-cheuk-lactapp-1995.