Jackson v. Jackson

425 So. 2d 379
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided December 22, 1982·No. 82-411·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

425 So.2d 379 (1982)

Johnny Lafurn JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Janice Moon JACKSON, Defendant-Appellee-Appellant.

No. 82-411.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 22, 1982.

*381 Colleen McDaniel, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee-appellant.

Roy & Hattan, L. Lane Roy, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellant.

Before CULPEPPER, DOUCET and YELVERTON, JJ.

YELVERTON, Judge.

This appeal questions some twelve rulings made by the trial court relating to the determination of community assets and liabilities and the settlement of the claims of the parties, in this protracted community property settlement litigation.

Janice Jackson (now remarried, she will hereafter be called Ms. Bell) sued Johnny L. Jackson for separation on May 17, 1977. A judgment of separation was signed June 19, 1978, followed by a divorce granted February 12, 1979 based on the husband's adultery.

Ms. Bell filed for a partition of the community in 1978 praying for a partition in kind where appropriate and by licitation where necessary. A court-appointed notary public was ordered to inventory the community. The return of the inventory was filed into the record in December, 1979. It showed that the assets consisted only of movables. It listed the liabilities. Jackson thereafter prayed for a partition by licitation of the movables. Ms. Bell answered by attacking the inventory as being incomplete.

A hearing was subsequently conducted on the traversal of the inventory and judgment was rendered on April 5, 1982, accepting and homologating the inventory except as to twelve items, some of which were included in the inventory and some of which were not. By ruling on these twelve disputed items and homologating the remainder of the inventory, the trial court obviously intended to establish the assets and liabilities of the community and the settlement of the claims of the parties, leaving for a later determination the appraisal of the community assets and the final partition, i.e., the allocation of the assets and liabilities to the parties.

Jackson appealed certain of the twelve rulings, and Ms. Bell answered complaining of the others.

At the outset we note that the judgment of the trial court is not an appealable partial final judgment as defined by La.C. C.P. art. 1915 since it does not fall within the situations enumerated by that article. See Lee v. Lee, 375 So.2d 769 (La.App. 4th Cir.1979). However, by exercising our supervisory *382 jurisdiction, this court has authority to review the case. See Lee v. Lee, supra at p. 772, fn. 6, and p. 773, fn. 7, and Butler v. Butler, 228 So.2d 339 (La.App. 1st Cir.1969). We chose to do so in the interest of justice, hoping that we can thereby avert another appeal, and also hoping that we can help this case toward its conclusion, for it has been already five and a half years in litigation and it needs to be terminated.

We will now discuss the twelve complaints of error which are before us.

1. The community home and rental derived therefrom.

Jackson sold the family home to his brother in May, 1977, seven days before Ms. Bell filed her suit for separation. Jackson's brother thereafter let the house out for rent. The home was sold to third parties in October, 1979. Ms. Bell appeared in this latter sale as a vendor and shared in the proceeds. At the same time she formally ratified the May, 1977 sale to Jackson's brother.

The trial court concluded that having ratified the sale to Jackson's brother and having joined in and shared in the proceeds of the subsequent sale to third parties, Ms. Bell was precluded from demanding a further accounting. We find no error in this ruling.

2. The F&J Amoco property.

This immovable, a major item of the community, was purchased by Jackson and his business partner, Cox, for the price of $64,000 in 1976, during the existence of the Jacksons' marriage. On May 20, 1977, three days after the suit for separation was filed, an instrument was recorded in the Lafayette Parish Conveyance Records transferring Jackson's half interest in the property to his partner Cox for a recited consideration of only $2,000. This instrument was dated May 10, which was seven days before the filing of the separation. The property was burdened by a one year old mortgage in the original amount of $51,000. There was no language in the Jackson to Cox conveyance that required the latter to assume the mortgage debt.

Two years passed after the above transaction. Then there occurred a transfer of a half interest in the property from Cox to one A.J. Arsenault. The recited consideration was again only $2,000, but this time the purchaser assumed the mortgage which then had a balance of about $43,000. It turned out, not surprisingly, that the A.J. Arsenault named in that deed was in fact the new wife of Jackson.

Ms. Bell sought an accounting from Jackson on the ground that both transactions were simulations done to defraud her. The trial court, after considering the testimony of the parties, the suspect appearance of the transactions, and Jackson's credibility, found as follows:

"The court concludes that the sale of the F&J Amoco property was a simulation and the court will, therefore, annul the sale."

We do not interpret the quoted language to mean that the district court was declaring the sales were simulations and nullities affecting title. To achieve that result an action in declaration of simulation must be brought and all parties with record interests in the property are indispensable parties.[1] In the instant proceedings neither Cox nor Arsenault were parties. We interpret the trial court's language to mean simply that the sale is to be overlooked for purposes of an accounting to the community by Jackson. This means that Jackson must account to the community for the value of the property based on its evaluation as of the time when the case is tried on its merits, and also for the net income derived therefrom subject to such credits he can prove he is entitled to based on payments made by him or on his behalf on the mortgage.[2] We believe that the trial court's ruling as we have interpreted it is correct.

*383 3. Storage fees.

A number of the movables have been in storage since the separation. Jackson has been paying the storage fees. Ms. Bell contends that this expense should be paid altogether by Jackson since he has had the constructive use of the movables. The trial court concluded that storage costs were a necessary expense for the preservation of the community assets. He found this item to be a community debt. We agree that this cost is a liability of the community.

4. Community savings accounts.

There were two of these, both in the name of John T. Jackson. The first, a $10,000 account which was clearly community funds, referred to as the "Blue Chip" savings account in Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, was withdrawn in its entirety by Jackson shortly before the separation. After listening to the testimony and the failure of Jackson to explain how this money was spent, the trial court concluded that this was an item for which Jackson must account to the community. We find no error in that ruling.

The other savings account was in the amount of $4,000 in the American Bank & Trust Company. The court found this was the separate property of Jackson having been deposited two years after the legal separation. We agree with that ruling also.

5. Ce

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