Krecek v. Dick

136 So. 3d 261, 2014 WL 700620
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 19, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-CA-0804
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 136 So. 3d 261 (Krecek v. Dick) 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
Krecek v. Dick, 136 So. 3d 261, 2014 WL 700620 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

JAMES F. McKAY III, Chief Judge.

LThis appeal arises out of an eviction proceeding from the First City Court for the City of New Orleans. Karen Ann Krecek Dick (“Mrs. Dick”) appeals the April 25, 2013 judgment denying her exceptions of lis pendens and lack of subject matter jurisdiction and granting a rule for possession of premises in favor of plaintiff, John Krecek (“Mr. Krecek”).1 We affirm.

Pursuant to a judgment of possession rendered September 15, 2006, in the succession of Violet DeMunnick Krecek, Mr. Krecek, the surviving spouse, was awarded an undivided one-half ownership interest in the community property and a lifetime usufruct over the separate and community property belonging to the estate of the decedent. Mr. Krecek was further granted the right to sell, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of all assets subject to the usufruct. His children, Mrs. Dick, David J. Krecek and Carol Ann Krecek O’Donahue, were recognized as naked owners subject to Mr. Krecek’s lifetime usufruct. Included in the decedent’s estate is a duplex located at 6348-50 Colbert Street in New Orleans. Mrs. Dick, along |2with her husband, Robert Dick, III, and her son, Shane Dick, resided at 6348 Colbert Street, while Mr. Krecek occupied the other half of the duplex.

On April 16, 2013, Mr. Krecek filed a rule for possession seeking to evict Mrs. Dick and her family due to non-payment of rent. The matter proceeded to trial on April 25, 2013. On the day of trial, Mrs. Dick filed declinatory exceptions of lis pendens and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The exception of lis pend&ns was asserted based on a petition for injunctive relief previously filed by Mr. Krecek in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans on March 12, 2013. See John Krecek v. Karen K. Dick, Shane Dick and Robert Dick, III, Case No. 13-2436, Division “N-8”. In that action, Mr. Krecek sought to enjoin Mrs. Dick and the co-defendants from abusing, threatening and harassing him and from coming within one hundred feet of his home.

Regarding the exception of lack of subject matter jurisdiction, Mrs. Dick submits that her responsive pleading filed in the First City Court, captioned “Declinatory Exceptions of Lis Pendens and Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction”, constitutes a compulsory reconventional demand, which exceeds the jurisdictional amount set forth in La. C.C.P. art. 4843(E).2 More specifically, Mrs. Dick avers that said “reconven-tional demand” seeks the termination of Mr. Krecek’s usufruct due to his neglect in failing to make over $30,000.00 in repairs to the property.

|sAt trial on the eviction, Mr. Krecek introduced the judgment of possession [264]*264from his late wife’s succession and a letter dated January 11, 2013, wherein he instructed Mrs. Dick to begin paying $300.00 per month in rent beginning February 15, 2013. No rent was paid as of the date of trial. Following oral argument, the introduction of evidence, and statements made by Mrs. Dick and her husband (that they were unable to pay the rent), the trial court denied the exceptions and granted Mr. Krecek’s rule for possession. Mrs. Dick’s timely appeal followed.

On appeal, Mrs. Dick asserts that the trial court erred in denying the exception of lis pendens in light of Mr. Krecek’s previously filed petition for preliminary injunction, which concerns the same transaction or occurrence, and is between the same parties in the same capacities. She also asserts that the trial court erred in denying the exception of lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on the reconven-tional demand for damages in excess of the First City Court’s jurisdictional amount. Mrs. Dick submits that as a result of its failure to deny the exceptions, the trial court erred in granting the eviction. For the reasons that follow, we find no merit in these assignments of error.

Lis Pendens

The district court’s ruling on an exception of lis pendens is a question of law, and the standard of review of the appellate court in reviewing a question of law is whether the court’s interpretive decision is legally correct. 727 Toulouse, L.L.C. v. Bistro at the Maison De Ville, L.L.C., 2012-1014, p. 7 (La.App. 4 Cir. 8/21/13), 122 So.3d 1152, 1157. If the decision of the district court is based upon pan erroneous application of the law rather than on a valid exercise of discretion, then the decision is not due deference by the reviewing court. Id. at p. 8, 122 So.3d at 1157-1158.

Under the provisions of La. C.C.P. art. 531, “[w]hen two or more suits are pending in a Louisiana court or courts on the same transaction or occurrence, between the same parties in the same capacities, the defendant may have all but the first suit dismissed by excepting thereto.... ” The test for lis pendens is to determine whether a final judgment in the first suit would be res judicata in the second suit. Robert L. Manard III PLC v. Falcon Law Firm PLC, 2012-0147, p. 5 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/16/12), 119 So.3d 1, 4 (citing Glass v. Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, 2002-0412, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 11/6/02), 832 So.2d 403, 406).

The first requirement for granting an exception of lis pendens is that there are two or more suits pending. Revel v. Charamie, 2005-0976, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/15/06), 926 So.2d 582, 584, (citing Glass v. Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, supra). Here, there are two suits pending. Thus, the requirement that there exist two or more pending cases has been met.

The second requirement for granting an exception of lis pendens is that the suits involve the same transaction or occurrence. Revel, supra (citing Hy-Octane Investments, Ltd. v. G & B Oil Products, Inc., 97-28, p. 5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/29/97), 702 So.2d 1057, 1060). What constitutes the transaction or occurrence is to be determined on a case-by-case basis. In re Succession of Bernat, 2013-277, p. 8 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/9/13), 123 So.3d 1277, 1284.

The meaning of the phrase “transaction or occurrence” was extensively addressed in Hy-Octane Investments, Ltd., supra, pp. 5-6, 702 So.2d at 1060, as follows:

|sThe term “transaction or occurrence” is used in seven articles of the Code of Civil Procedure. In addition to its use in Article 1061, it is found in [265]*265Article 425, which deals with preclusion by judgment; it is used in Articles 531 and 532, both dealing with lis pendens; in Article 891, the term enumerates one of the required formalities of a petition; in Article 1071 it defines the parameters of a cross-claim; and in Article 4845, the term helps define the jurisdictional limits of city and parish courts. Another provision, Article 1153, uses the slightly different expression “conduct, transaction, or occurrence” as part of the formula for when an amendment to a pleading relates back for prescription purposes.
Although none of these articles specifically define the expression “transaction or occurrence,” they variously equate the term with “the subject matter of the litigation” (Articles 425 & 891), “the subject matter of the principal action” or “principal demand” (Article 1061 & 4845), and “the subject matter either of the original action or a reconventional demand or relating to any property that is the subject matter of the original action” (Article 1071).

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Bluebook (online)
136 So. 3d 261, 2014 WL 700620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krecek-v-dick-lactapp-2014.