Loeb v. Loeb

252 So. 2d 516, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5561
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 15, 1971
DocketNo. 4473
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 252 So. 2d 516 (Loeb v. Loeb) 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
Loeb v. Loeb, 252 So. 2d 516, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5561 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

BOUTALL, Judge.

This matter is before the court on an appeal from a summary judgment rendered in favor of plaintiffs and against defendants. The defendants appeal contesting both the right to use summary judgment procedure and the rendition of the summary judgment based upon the affidavits furnished.

This suit was filed on December 3, 1969, by Marian Slipman Loeb, divorced wife of Hilbert S. Loeb, and by Tucker & Schone-kas, a commercial partnership composed of J. Gibson Tucker, Jr. and Russell J. Scho-nekas, against defendants, Hilbert S. Loeb, the divorced husband of plaintiff, and Fountainhead, Inc., seeking a judgment in the amount of $10,000.00 as attorney’s fees due Tucker & Schonekas under a partition agreement entered into by the Loebs. After answer was filed by the defendants, the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment alleging that there are no material facts at issue and that they are entitled to a summary judgment in accordance with the original petition. After a hearing thereon, the trial judge rendered summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendants in solido, and they prosecute this devolutive appeal.

The first issue to be considered is the complaint by the defendants that summary judgment procedure is not permissible in this case. Defendants rely upon the provisions of art. 969 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure which states:

“Judgments on the pleadings and summary judgments shall not be granted in any action for divorce, separation from bed and board, or annulment of marriage, nor in any case where the community, paraphernal, or dotal rights may be involved in an action between husband and wife.”

The defendants urge to us that this is an action between a husband and wife, Marian Slipman Loeb and Hilbert S. Loeb, which arises out of community rights. They contend that, since this action is covered by the plain terms of said article, no summary judgment can issue herein. In order to answer this contention it is necessary to retrace the course of events which leads us to the present suit.

Marian Slipman Loeb originally brought a suit for divorce against Hilbert S. Loeb, and a divorce was subsequently obtained in February, 1969, by Mrs. Loeb in Suit No. 487-409 of the docket of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. A month or so later, a partition action, Suit No. 490-084, was filed in that court in March, 1969. As a result of that suit, the community was settled and partitioned by a definitive agreement between the parties dated June 11, 1969 (Tr. Pages 13 et seq.) which is filed in the present proceedings. This agreement was entered into by Hilbert S. Loeb and Mrs. Marian Slipman Loeb, at a time when they were divorced, and the other defendant herein, Fountainhead, Inc., intervened in the agreement between those two parties. The partnership of Tucker & Schonekas was not a signatory to the document, but apparently had prepared the document.

Under the terms of the document, Mrs. Loeb received a certain piece of real property subject to the specific indebtedness thereon, and certain movable property. Mr. Loeb received the remainder of all the property, assumed the specific indebtedness thereon, and in addition assumed all of the community debts.

The pertinent parts of the document are as follows:

“ * * * The said Marian Slipman Loeb, as an additional consideration, does hereby set over, assign and quitclaim unto the said Hilbert S. Loeb, any and all interest which she has or may have in and to the above described property which is taken by Hilbert S. Loeb, as his portion of the community.
As an additional consideration and in order to make up to the said Marian [519]*519Slipman Loeb for any difference which may exist between the value of the properties received by Hilbert S. Loeb over the properties received by Marian Slip-man Loeb, the said Hilbert S. Loeb and Fountainhead, Incorporated hereby assume and obligate themselves to pay and do the following:
1.) Any and all community debts, including the above described written obligations, to be paid by Hilbert S. Loeb.
2.) Hilbert S. Loeb and/or Fountainhead, Inc. will pay to the firm of Tucker & Schonekas, attorneys for Marian Slip-man Loeb, the fee of $10,000.00, in cash, on or before July 1, 1969, as a fee for filing suits and partitioning the community on behalf of Marian Slipman Loeb. Fountainhead, Inc. takes cognizance of this obligation, assumes and ratifies same, and obligates itself as stated above as can be seen by a certified copy of the minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors of said corporation attached hereto. * * * ”

In addition to the agreements between Mr. and Mrs. Loeb mentioned therein, Hilbert S. Loeb bound himself by the document to sell or donate all of the property he received under the agreement to Fountainhead, Inc. That corporation in addition to the herein above quotation, recites its authority by resolution of the Board of Directors adopted June 9, 1969, copy of which was attached to the document, as follows:

“ * * * The corporation hereby assumes, recognizes and takes cognizance of the debt owed by the corporation to Tucker & Schonekas, Attorneys, for the attorneys’ fees of the community property in the amount of $10,000.00 due and payable on or before July 1, 1969.”

On December 3, 1969, Mrs. Marian Slipman Loeb and Tucker & Schonekas instituted the present suit, alleging that the fee was not paid and praying for judgment against both Mr. Loeb and Fountainhead, Inc. As may be seen by the recitation of the events above, it is apparent that the motion for summary judgment is not prohibited by the terms of article 969. Primarily, we do not consider this as an action between husband and wife. The parties were divorced in February of 1969 and the present suit was not brought until December of 1969. Additionally, the partition suit was brought in March of 1969, at a time when the parties were already divorced, and the agreement, which was signed by these two parties, further recites that Mr. Loeb had already remarried. For a similar interpretation we refer to the case of Patrick v. Patrick, 230 So.2d 759 (La.App.2nd Cir. 1970), which interpretation was enunciated in Thomas v. Otwell, 234 So.2d 475 (La.App.3rd Cir. 1970).

Additionally, we note that there is another aspect of this issue which we must consider, that is, that there are other parties involved in this proceeding. As pointed out by the trial judge, basically this is an action for summary judgment by a law firm for a legal fee. Certainly, Tucker & Schonekas could sue Mr. Loeb and Mrs. Loeb for legal fees without regard to the contract or partition agreement between them. However, the only basis for Tucker & Schonekas to sue Fountainhead, Inc., arises out of the partition agreement wherein Fountainhead, Inc., agreed to pay the legal fee. Tucker & Schonekas was not a party to that agreement but Mrs. Loeb was, and to the extent of the legal fees, there exists a community of interest between her and her attorneys. Under the provisions of LSA-C.C.P. art. 463, Tucker & Schonekas, in order to sue Fountainhead, Inc., must make Mrs. Loeb a party in the suit, and since their interests are identical, she is properly made a party plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
252 So. 2d 516, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loeb-v-loeb-lactapp-1971.