Landry v. Comeaux

971 So. 2d 434, 2007 WL 4245894
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 5, 2007
Docket07-891
StatusPublished

This text of 971 So. 2d 434 (Landry v. Comeaux) 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
Landry v. Comeaux, 971 So. 2d 434, 2007 WL 4245894 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

971 So.2d 434 (2007)

Claire Telezia LANDRY
v.
Phillip Larvin COMEAUX, II.

No. 07-891.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 5, 2007.

*435 L. Clayton Burgess, L. Clayton Burgess, A P.L.C., Lafayette, LA, for Defendant/Appellant Phillip Larvin Comeaux, II.

Glenn J. Armentor, The Glenn Armentor Law Corporation, Lafayette, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellee Claire Telezia Landry.

Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, JIMMIE C. PETERS, and JAMES T. GENOVESE, Judges.

GENOVESE, Judge.

In conjunction with a rule for increase in child support, Defendant, Phillip Comeaux, II (Comeaux), was found in contempt of court by the trial court for failure to produce certain financial documents. As a consequence of the contempt ruling, the trial court ordered Comeaux to produce said financial documentation and also ordered him to pay a $500.00 fine. Comeaux suspensively appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

Plaintiff, Claire Telezia Landry (Landry), and Comeaux are the unmarried parents of Madelyn Jolie Comeaux, born on January 27, 2001. On September 3, 2002, Landry filed a petition for custody and child support against Comeaux. An interim order of child support was set at $250.00 per month pending the outcome of Comeaux's personal injury action stemming from his October 18, 2001 offshore work accident.

On June 26, 2003, Landry filed a rule to show cause why child support should not be increased commensurate with Comeaux's receipt of workers' compensation benefits. On September 18, 2003, pursuant to consent judgment, child support was increased to $767.00 per month.

On February 4, 2005, Landry again filed a motion to increase child support, alleging that Comeaux "has received, through settlement, substantial monies in the resolution of his Longshoreman's and various third-party claims. . . ." Subsequent to several continuances, and before a hearing on Landry's motion to increase child support was held, Comeaux filed a motion to decrease his child support obligation. In his motion to decrease child support, Comeaux asserted that "[b]efore [he] even had a chance to regain some sort of employment he was involved in a severe motor vehicle accident on September 29, 2004, which . . . re-aggravated his previous back and neck injury." Consequently, Comeaux sought a reduction in child support from $767.00 per month to $417.86 per month based on his declaration that his annual income was less than $10,000.00.

On June 23, 2005, Landry filed two motions: (1) a motion to compel more complete and appropriate answers to her previously *436 filed interrogatories; and (2) a motion to compel production of documents. Landry alleged that "the interrogatories . . . have either not been answered at all or have been inappropriately or incompletely answered . . ." and that Comeaux failed to adequately produce the requested financial documents relevant to the issue of whether Comeaux's child support obligation should be increased.

On December 5, 2005,[1] a hearing was held on Landry's motion to compel wherein the trial court issued the following order:

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the defendant will produce copies of all monthly bank statements that have been generated for any checking and/or savings accounts opened by [Comeaux] subsequent to receiving settlement funds in 2004 and 2005, from his offshore case, beginning with the opening balances up to the current date, and supported by an affidavit listing all such accounts by [Comeaux].

The order also reset Landry's motion to increase child support and Comeaux's motion to decrease child support for a hearing on the merits on February 16, 2006.

On January 11, 2006, Landry filed another motion to compel production of documents due to Comeaux's alleged non-compliance with the trial court's December 5, 2005 order. A hearing was held on Landry's motion to compel on February 9, 2006. At said hearing, the trial court found that Comeaux had, in fact, violated the trial court's December 5, 2005 order. At the hearing, the trial court stated:

I hung my hat on three (3) things. One, the lack of statements for any month other than October, and months other than October and December. So that meant November was missing. It should have been provided before we got here today. And the other thing, there's two (2) checks that were paid into a money market account and no accounts were given in that account and no records for that account. Those two (2) accounts or that one (1) account, whatever it was.

The trial court's judgment, signed on June 19, 2006, ordered Comeaux to produce specific financial data within 10 days of its signing. In addition, the trial court found Comeaux "to be in violation of the Court's order herein[,]" and Comeaux was "sanctioned in the amount of $500.00 for his failure to produce the materials ordered herein, said sanctioning fine to be paid to the plaintiff herein, [Landry]." It is from this judgment that Comeaux suspensively appeals.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Comeaux now appeals, asserting two assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred in ruling that Phillip Comeaux, II, was in contempt of court because he fully complied with the court order of December 5, 2005 by producing all requested discovery that he had in his possession.
2. The trial court erred in ruling that Phillip Comeaux, II, was in contempt of court because the order made by the court was not lawful in that it allows the Plaintiff to circumvent mandatory obligations imposed by statutory law.

*437 LAW AND DISCUSSION

"The trial court has much discretion in imposing sanctions for failure to comply with discovery orders, and its ruling should not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." Hutchinson v. Westport Ins. Co., 04-1592, p. 2 (La.11/08/04), 886 So.2d 438, 440 (citing Lirette v. Babin Farms, Inc., 02-1402 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/2/03), 843 So.2d 1141; Garza v. Int'l. Maint. Corp., 97-317 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/29/97), 702 So.2d 1021).

Comeaux contends that he complied with the trial court's December 5, 2005 order. Comeaux also contends that on December 12, 2005, he sent Landry an affidavit and all copies of any and all statements that were in his possession at that time. Then, on February 3, 2006, Comeaux sent Landry an affidavit and a bank statement for the interim period between December 12, 2005 and February 3, 2006. In his brief, Comeaux maintains that he "fully complied with the [o]rder to [c]ompel [p]roduction of [d]ocuments because he produced all required documents within his possession" (emphasis added). Further, he contends that the trial court's "ruling of contempt and the accompanying $500[.00] penalty levied against [him] were manifestly erroneous." Comeaux urges that La.Code Civ.P. art. 1461[2] supports his assertion that he may only be required to produce documents that he has in his possession. Comeaux also cites La.Code Civ.P. art. 1469.2[3] in arguing that any order compelling the production of bank records is not enforceable unless the requirements of La.R.S. 6:333 have been met.

Landry contends that the trial court did not order Comeaux to subpoena his own bank records; instead, the trial court ordered Comeaux to obtain copies of bank statements that were easily within his "possession, custody and control" as set forth by La.Code Civ.P. art. 1461.

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971 So. 2d 434, 2007 WL 4245894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landry-v-comeaux-lactapp-2007.