Lambert v. Cronvich

373 So. 2d 554
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 19, 1979
Docket9647, 9646
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 373 So. 2d 554 (Lambert v. Cronvich) 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
Lambert v. Cronvich, 373 So. 2d 554 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

373 So.2d 554 (1979)

Donald G. LAMBERT, Sharon W. Lambert, Lambert Aviation, Inc. and Lambert Construction Company, Inc.
v.
Alwynn J. CRONVICH, Sheriff for the Parish of Jefferson, et al.

Nos. 9647, 9646.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 10, 1979.
Rehearing Denied August 13, 1979.[*]
Writ Refused October 19, 1979.

*555 Marian Mayer Berkett, Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans, counsel for Maryland Cas. Co., defendant-appellant, Charles F. Seemann, Jr., Matt J. Farley, New Orleans, of counsel.

Henry L. Klein, Klein & Rouse, Cecil M. Burglass, New Orleans, counsel for Donald G. Lambert and Sharon W. Lambert, plaintiffs-appellees.

Sessions, Fishman, Rosenson, Snellings & Boisfontaine, Robert E. Winn, J. David Forsyth, New Orleans, counsel for the Bank of New Orleans and Trust Co., defendant-appellant.

Eugene R. Preaus, Eileen Gleason Shaver, Phelps, Dunbar, Marks, Claverie & Sims, New Orleans, counsel for Hibernia Nat. Bank in New Orleans, defendant-appellant.

Before LEMMON, BOUTALL and BEER, JJ.

BOUTALL, Judge.

This is a suit filed by judgment debtors against judgment creditors seeking to prevent excessive seizure of the debtors' assets and to reduce the judgment by crediting payment of certain funds towards it. On trial it was consolidated with the case of Bank of New Orleans and Trust Company et al. v. Lambert et al., # 184-822 of the 24th Judicial District Court, Parish of Jefferson, and the consolidation was continued on appeal in this court under Docket # 9646, 373 So.2d 550. It is the judgment in that case sought to be modified herein.

The original suit, i. e. the companion suit, was a suit filed by The Bank of New Orleans and Trust Company, Maryland Casualty Company and Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans vs. Donald G. Lambert, Sharon W. Lambert, Lambert Aviation, Inc. and Lambert Construction Company, Inc. as continuing guarantors, and as makers and endorsers, on certain promissory notes representing money loaned by the banks. That case resulted in a money judgment in excess of $5,000,000 rendered on November 30, 1976. A devolutive appeal was subsequently taken on January 31, 1977, which is the companion case, # 9646 of our docket.

On February 7, 1977 the present suit was filed by those same four defendants, Donald G. Lambert, Sharon W. Lambert, Lambert Aviation, Inc. and Lambert Construction Company, Inc. seeking an injunction to stay execution on the November 30, 1976 judgment and asking for an accounting of certain funds which should be applied as credit to the reduction of the amount of the judgment. These funds are alleged to be payments received from the trustee in bankruptcy of Donald G. Lambert Contractor, Inc., the primary obligor on most of the notes, certain funds on deposit with The Bank of New Orleans, and funds alleged to be due Donald G. Lambert Contractor, Inc. for work done but not paid for on several public road contracts, which were eventually paid to Maryland Casualty Company, the surety on the construction bonds in those contracts.

After the petition was filed there then began a procedural contest between the parties resulting in a myriad of pleadings being filed, such as to make the legal battleground a morass of technical obstacles. Because of the result we reach on the merits of these claims, we find it unnecessary to discuss all of them because most have lost their relevance. Additionally, the litigation between these parties has been bitter and prolonged and we conclude that a decision on the merits will assist in its final resolution.

From the outset of this suit, the trial judge was presented with procedural questions relating to the ability of plaintiffs to bring such a suit to modify the judgment in the companion suit, as well as the applicability of all of the sums sought to be included as credit. Initially the trial judge concluded that the only fund which could be properly allocated as credit was the amount paid the judgment creditors by the trustee in bankruptcy from the assets of the bankrupt corporation, Donald G. Lambert Contractor, Inc. At that time the record indicates that The Bank of New Orleans and the Hibernia were agreeable to a voluntary *556 credit of these amounts, but no agreement was forthcoming from Maryland Casualty Company. As a result trial was had and judgment was rendered granting the Lamberts credit for those funds paid. The judgment also granted credit against BNO for funds which it had on deposit in Lambert's account and funds received from the collateral pool. Several pleadings followed contesting the correctness of the judgment, and this was followed by several corrected judgments producing the judgment of March 2, 1977 (with the amendment of March 7, 1977) which appeared to have resolved most of the issues presented to the court. That judgment, as amended, decreed the rule for an accounting in the allocation of credits be made absolute, and recognized the following credits against the judgment rendered November 30, 1976 in case # 184-822: (1) that Maryland Casualty Company apply as credit the sum of $1,204,727.62 received from the bankruptcy proceedings, reducing the principal amount owed by that amount; (2) that Hibernia National Bank apply as credit to Lambert the sum of $158,884.74 received from the bankruptcy proceedings reducing the principal amount, (3) that The Bank of New Orleans and Trust Company apply as credit the sum of $1,453,769.41 received from the bankruptcy proceedings plus an additional $126,093.74 being the amount of Lambert funds held at BNO plus additional funds collected, all reducing the principal amount owed. The judgment further ordered that all the pending exceptions or motions filed by BNO and Hibernia to Lambert's reconventional demand in the first suit, with which this suit was consolidated, were re-scheduled for trial.

As to the judgment of March 2, 1977, the appellants herein raise no particular objection as to the amounts credited except that they contend generally that the Lambert plaintiffs in this suit are not entitled to maintain this action as will be considered later on, and that the allocation of the credit directly against the principal itself is improper. However, Lambert obtained new counsel and moved for a new trial on the basis that the judgment did not require the judgment creditors to account for funds that were obtained by them from any of the Lambert contracts, and that the judgment failed to give credit arising from the alleged seizure of contract funds from the State and several other governmental agencies under the pertinent road contracts. While the hearing on the motion for new trial was pending, the Lamberts obtained an ex parte order to consolidate this suit with the original suit, # 184-822, and a third suit entitled Sharon W. Lambert, et al. vs. Maryland Casualty Company, # 196-638, filed subsequent to the original suit.[1]

After hearing, the court granted a new trial on April 19, 1977 limited to evidence of all sums received or credited to Maryland Casualty Company on contracts between Donald G. Lambert Contractor, Inc. and the State of Louisiana or other political subdivisions subsequent to October 1, 1975, said sums to be subject to any credit due Maryland Casualty Company under the law or the terms of the contracts. By this action the court opened up for examination the third fund alleged in the petition to be applicable as credit on the November 30, 1976 judgment.

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Related

Payton v. Colar
518 So. 2d 1104 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
Shutts v. Phillips Petroleum Co.
732 P.2d 1286 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1987)
Lambert v. Maryland Cas. Co.
418 So. 2d 553 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
Lambert v. Maryland Cas. Co.
403 So. 2d 739 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1981)
Lambert v. Cronvich
376 So. 2d 960 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
Bank of New Orleans & Trust Co. v. Lambert
373 So. 2d 550 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1979)

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373 So. 2d 554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lambert-v-cronvich-lactapp-1979.