Ken Lawler Builders, Inc. v. Delaney

837 So. 2d 1, 2002 WL 1842926
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 14, 2002
Docket36,263-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 837 So. 2d 1 (Ken Lawler Builders, Inc. v. Delaney) 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
Ken Lawler Builders, Inc. v. Delaney, 837 So. 2d 1, 2002 WL 1842926 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

837 So.2d 1 (2002)

KEN LAWLER BUILDERS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Cynthia M. DELANEY and Sandra Richardson Kittler, Defendants.

No. 36,263-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 14, 2002.
Rehearing Denied September 12, 2002.

*3 English & Associates By Larry English, Shreveport, Calvin B. Lester Jr., for Appellant-Intervenor, Access.1 Communications Shreveport, LLC.

Rogers & Hearne, By W. Lake Hearne, Shreveport, for Appellee.

English & Associates, By Larry English, Shreveport, for Defendants.

Before NORRIS, STEWART and KOSTELKA, JJ.

KOSTELKA, J.

From the summary judgment granted in favor of Ken Lawler Builders, Inc. ("Lawler") against Cynthia Delaney ("Delaney") and Sandra Richardson Kittler ("Kittler"), Access.1 Communications Shreveport, LLC ("Access.1"), Intervenor, appeals. We amend the judgment, and, as amended, affirm.

FACTS

On June 10, 1998, Lawler and Delaney Broadcasting, Inc. ("DBI"), through its representative, Delaney, entered into an immovable property lease agreement in which DBI agreed to pay Lawler $350 per month for an initial ten-year term[1] ("Lawler-DBI lease"). DBI operated a radio business and was leasing the land to erect a radio tower. The lease provisions allowed DBI to assign the lease at any time along with any transfer of ownership of the tower.

DBI subsequently sold its interest in the radio station to Ninety-Five Point Seven, Inc., which in turn sold the radio station to Access.1 on September 6, 2000. The sale and assignment of assets, sold, assigned, transferred and delivered to Access.1 all right, title and interest in the Lawler-DBI lease.

Previously, on July 5, 2000, Lawler sold the immovable property subject to the lease to Mary Elizabeth Hutches ("Hutches"). Although the sale conveyed the property "subject to" the Lawler-DBI lease, Lawler "retain[ed] all rights to rentals due under said lease, including any renewals or extensions thereof." The deed also provided that the covenants contained therein "shall bind ... successors and assigns of the parties hereto...." The sale was recorded in the Caddo Parish public records on July 7, 2000. By undated cash sale deed, Hutches sold the immovable property to Access.1.[2] The cash sale deed mentioned neither the lease nor the reservation of rights by Lawler.

On April 18, 2001, Lawler instituted suit, pursuant to the Lawler-DBI lease, against *4 Delaney and Kittler for unpaid lease payments from November, 2000 forward. The petition alleged that the named defendants dissolved DBI on December 6, 1999, and, as its shareholders, Delaney and Kittler were liable under the lease.

On April 25, 2001, Access.1 tendered $1,400 to Lawler representing rent payments from November, 2000 to February, 2001, which it refused.[3]

On May 21, 2001, Delany and Kittler filed exceptions of no cause of action, failure to join an indispensable party and a motion for summary judgment which the trial court denied on June 25, 2001.

Lawler sought a summary judgment on September 7, 2001. On September 28, 2001, Access.1 filed a Petition for Intervention into the suit which the trial court granted on October 2, 2001. Thereafter, Access.1 filed a pleading entitled Answer to Motion for Summary Judgment and Defendants Exceptions of Reconventional Demand for Summary Judgment. Therein, Access.1 opposed Lawler's summary judgment, pled exceptions of no cause and no right of action and sought a summary judgment in favor of Access.1. Delaney and Kittler also opposed Lawler's motion for summary judgment. Both Lawler's and Access.1's motions for summary judgment and Access.1's exceptions were submitted on briefs without oral argument.

The trial court granted summary judgment on October 31, 2001, in favor of Lawler and against Delaney and Kittler, in the amount of $36,750. This appeal by Access.1 of the October 31, 2001 judgment ensued.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Access.1 specifies four errors. Notably, however, the issues raised in the first two assignments of error, i.e., that the trial court erred in denying Delaney's and Kittler's exception of no cause of action and failure to join an indispensable party,[4] were disposed of by the trial court in the June 25, 2001 judgment which has not been appealed. Accordingly, these issues are the subject of a final judgment which we are precluded from addressing on appeal. La. C.C.P. art.2082. Specifically, these issues include Access.1's claims that the lease was extinguished by confusion and that Lawler had no right to collect rentals under the reservation clause.

Access.1 has raised two issues on appeal in support of its no cause of action claim that were not presented to the trial court by Delaney and Kittler. Access.1 claims Lawler failed to allege facts sufficient to establish the personal liability of Delaney and Kittler[5] and that Lawler has no cause of action against Delaney and Kittler due to the eventual assignment of the lease to Access.1.[6]

*5 We find, however, that these issues are not properly before us for review. While it is proper for an appellate court to consider a peremptory exception presented for the first time on appeal, it is necessary that the exception be "pleaded prior to a submission of the case for a decision...." (Emphasis added). La. C.C.P. art. 2163. In this case, the arguments are raised in brief and not by pleading. Briefs are merely written arguments and are not part of the pleadings on appeal. City of New Orleans v. Di Benedetto, 144 So.2d 558 (La.App. 1st Cir.1962). Further, as Intevenor, Access.1 is required to take the proceedings as it finds them and cannot urge matters which enlarge the issues or raise issues between defendant and plaintiff which they have not themselves raised. Rubion Transfer & Storage Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 240 La. 440, 123 So.2d 880 (1960); State ex rel. Pope v. Bunkie Coca Cola Bottling Co., 59 So.2d 393 (La.App. 2d Cir.1952), judgment affirmed, 222 La. 603, 63 So.2d 13 (1953); State ex rel. Temple v. Vernon Parish School Bd., 178 So. 176 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1938). Because Delaney and Kittler failed to raise these arguments in their own behalf, Access.1 is precluded from doing so.

Lawler's Summary Judgment

In its next assignment of error, Access.1 urges that the trial court erred in granting Lawler's summary judgment.

Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria which govern the district courts' consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Sup'rs of Louisiana State University, 591 So.2d 342 (La.1991); Steier v. Heller, 31,733 (La. App.2d Cir.05/05/99), 732 So.2d 787. The law governing the summary judgment procedure is set forth in La. C.C.P. art. 966. As amended in 1996, Article 966 provides that the summary judgment procedure is designed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action, except those disallowed by Article 969. La. C.C.P. art. 966(A)(2); Steier, supra; Traweek v. Jackson, 30,248 (La.App.2d Cir.02/25/98), 709 So.2d 867. The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La. C.C.P. art. 966(B).

La. C.C.P. art.

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837 So. 2d 1, 2002 WL 1842926, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ken-lawler-builders-inc-v-delaney-lactapp-2002.