Melissa Danielle Sinclair v. Seth D. Sinclair

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: July 23, 2024
• Docket: 2023CA1210
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL

FIRST CIRCUIT

NO. 2023 CA 1210

MELISSA DANIELLE SINCLAIR

VERSUS

SETH D. SINCLAIR JUL 2 3 2024 Judgment Rendered: ____ _

On Appeal from the Family Court of East Baton Rouge In and for the Parish ofEast Baton Rouge State ofLouisiana Trial Court No. 201952

Honorable Erika L. Green, Judge Presiding

Marcus T. Foote Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee, Baton Rouge, LA Melissa D. Sinclair

Mark D. Plaisance Attorneys for Defendant-Appellant, Marcus J. Plaisance Seth D. Sinclair Prairieville, LA and- Harley M. Brown Baton Rouge, LA

BEFORE: McCLENDON, HESTER, AND MILLER, JJ. HESTER,J.

This is an appeal by a former husband from a judgment of the trial court

rescinding a community property agreement on account oflesion. For the following

reasons, we dismiss the appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Melissa Danielle Sinclair (" Danielle") and Seth D. Sinclair (" Seth") were

married on October 16, 2004. On October 20, 2015, Danielle filed a " Petition for

102 Divorce and Ancillary Matters." A judgment of divorce was rendered on

December 13, 2016. On February 7, 2017, Danielle filed a " Petition to Judicially

Partition Community Property" requesting the court to partition the community

property pursuant to the provisions ofLa. R.S. 9:2801. She attached to her petition

a detailed descriptive list of the community assets, liabilities, and reimbursement

claims known to her. On May 7, 2018, the attorneys for Seth and Danielle signed a

case management schedule to set deadlines for the community property trial.

Thereafter, on July 10, 2018, Seth filed a " Motion to Homologate Full Settlement of

Community" stating that the parties executed a full settlement of all community

properties and any and all claims arising from their marriage. He attached to his

motion the parties' " Community Property Settlement" signed by Seth on November

10, 2017, and signed by Danielle on July 9, 2018 (" the community property

agreement"). On July 12, 2018, a judgment was signed by the trial court ordering

that " the Community Property Settlement attached .. i.s made the Order of [the]

Court, and given full force and effect, as the partition ofthe community property and

settlement of all claims between [ Danielle] and [ Seth]."

On April 30, 2020, Danielle filed a "Petition to Rescind Extrajudicial Partition

Agreement" contending that the community property agreement was in violation of

La. Civ. Code art. 814 and should be rescinded on account of lesion. In response,

Seth filed dilatory and peremptory exceptions and affirmative defenses. On August

2 12, 2020, the trial court sustained Seth's exception of vagueness and gave Danielle

thirty days to amend her petition. Danielle timely filed a " First Amending and

Supplemental Petition to Rescind Extrajudicial Partition Agreement." 1 In the

supplemental petition, Danielle contends that the value ofSeth's "BRPD retirement"

was erroneous, resulting in her receiving less by more than one-fourth of her one-

half portion ofthe community property.

Danielle's petition to rescind and amending and supplemental petition to

rescind came before the trial court on February 10 and 11, 2022. During the trial,

the parties submitted joint exhibit one into evidence stipulating to the values and

possessions of the community assets, liabilities, and reimbursement claims other

than the value of Seth's Baton Rouge Police Department retirement2 and Seth's

home mortgage reimbursement claim. The parties agreed that the value of those

items would be tried before the court.

On May 16, 2022, the trial court signed a judgment in favor of Danielle and

against Seth, rescinding the community property agreement on the grounds oflesion.

The trial court issued written reasons for judgment. In its written reasons, the trial

court found the value of Seth's BRPD account to be $48,365.27 and the net value of

the community to be $92,352.07.

Seth timely filed a " Motion to Amend Judgment to Correct Errors of

Calculation, and For New Trial on Finding Lesion with Corrected Calculations"

requesting that the May 16, 2022 judgment be amended to correct errors of

calculation and that a new trial be granted to consider Seth's reimbursement claims.

In his motion, Seth contended that the corrected calculations resulted in the

community property agreement not being lesionary. Seth's motion was heard on

1 The first page or pages ofDanielle's amending and supplemental petition are missing from our

record.

2 Seth's retirement account is referred to throughout the record as his MPERS account (Municipal

Police Employees Retirement System) and his BRPD retirement account.

3 June 14, 2022. The trial court granted Seth's motion and signed a judgment on June

23, 2022, vacating the May 16, 2022 judgment and dismissing Danielle's petition to

rescind and first amending and supplemental petition to amend.

On June 28, 2022, Danielle filed a " Motion for New Trial, or in Alternative,

Amendment ofJudgment" contending that the June 23, 2022 judgment was the result

of calculation errors. In her motion, Danielle contended that there were two issues

with the trial court's original calculation and that Seth's motion for new trial only

cited one ofthe calculation issues. Danielle's motion for new trial was heard on July

19, 2022. On February 3, 2023, the trial court signed a judgment vacating the June

23, 2022 judgment, rendering judgment in favor of Danielle and against Seth, and

rescinding the community property agreement on the grounds of lesion. It is from

this February 3, 2023 judgment that Seth appeals, contending that the community

property agreement that was made a judgment of the court was a transaction and

compromise and had the effect ofres judicata not subject to being set aside by lesion

under La. Civ. Code art. 814. Seth also contends that the trial court erred in vacating

the judgment it rendered on Seth's motion for new trial because Danielle's motion

for new trial was untimely.

DISCUSSION

Appellate courts have the duty to determine sua sponte whether their subject

matter jurisdiction exists, even when the parties do not raise the issue. Advanced

Leveling & Concrete Solutions v. Lathan Company, Inc., 2017-1250 ( La. App.

1st Cir. 12/20/18), 268 So.3d 1044, 1046 ( en bane). This court's appellate

jurisdiction extends to final judgments and to interlocutory judgments when

expressly allowed by law. See La. Code Civ. P. art. 2083(A) and ( C). A final

judgment is one that determines the merits of a controversy in whole or in part; in

contrast, an interlocutory judgment does not determine the merits, but only

4 preliminary matters in the course of an action. La. Code Civ. P. art. 1841.

Advanced Leveling & Concrete Solutions, 268 So.3d at 1046.

The February 3, 2023 judgment provides:

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that judgment signed on June 23, 2022 is vacated for the written reasons issued on January 17, 2023. Final judgment is rendered in favor of [Danielle] and against [ Seth] and the Community Property Settlement Agreement ... is hereby rescinded on the grounds of lesion.

The February 3, 2023 judgment rescinding the community property agreement is not

determinative ofthe entirety ofthe merits ofthe claims between the parties because

the community property partition has yet to be effected. See Tramontin v.

Tramontin, 2010-0060 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 12/22/10), 53 So.3d 707, 712.

Furthermore, it does not fall into any ofthe categories of partial final judgments set

forth in La. Code Civ. P. art. 1915(A), and does not contain a designation that it is

final for purposes ofimmediate appeal pursuant to La. Code Civ. P. art. 191 S(B )(1 ).3

3 Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article1915 provides:

A. A final judgment may be rendered and signed by the court, even though it may not grant the successful party or parties all of the relief prayed for, or may not adjudicate all ofthe issues in the case, when the court: 1) Dismisses the suit as to less than all of the parties, defendants, third party plaintiffs, third party defendants, or intervenors. 2) Grants a motion for judgment on the pleadings, as provided by Articles 965, 968, and 969. 3) Grants a motion for summary judgment, as provided by Articles 966 through 969, but not including a summary judgment granted pursuant to Article 966(E). 4) Signs a judgment on either the principal or incidental demand, when the two have been tried separately, as provided by Article 1038. 5) Signs a judgment on the issue ofliability when that issue has been tried separately by the court, or when, in a jury trial, the issue ofliability has been tried before a jury and the issue ofdamages is to be tried before a different jury. 6) Imposes sanctions or disciplinary action pursuant to Article 191, 863, or 864 or Code ofEvidence Article 510(0).

B. ( 1) When a court renders a partial judgment or partial summary judgment or sustains an exception in part, as to one or more but less than all of the claims, demands, issues, or theories against a party, whether in an original demand, reconventional demand, cross-claim, third-party claim, or intervention, the judgment shall not constitute a final judgment unless it is designated as a final judgment by the court after an express determination that there is no just reason for delay.

2) In the absence ofsuch a determination and designation, any such order or decision shall not constitute a final judgment for the purpose ofan immediate appeal and may be revised at any time prior to rendition of the judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities ofall the parties.

5 Thus, the February 3, 2023 judgment is not a final judgment, and this court lacks

subject matter jurisdiction to review it on appeal. See Joseph v. Ratcliff, 2010- 1342

La. App. 1st Cir. 3/25/11), 63 So.3d 220,224.

Although this court has discretion to convert an appeal to an application for

supervisory writs, it may only do so ifthe appeal would have been timely had it been

filed as a supervisory writ application. Succession of Jaga, 2016-1291 ( La. App.

1st Cir. 9/15/17), 227 So.3d 325, 328 n.2. A party intending to apply to this court

for a supervisory writ shall give notice of such intention by requesting a return date

to be set by the trial court, which shall not exceed thirty days from the date of the

notice of judgment. See Uniform Rules- Courts of Appeal, Rules 4-2 and 4-3. In

this case, notice of the February 3, 2023 judgment was mailed to the parties on

February 10, 2023, and the motion for appeal was filed on March 30, 2023. Because

the appeal was not filed within thirty days ofthe notice ofjudgment, the motion for

appeal cannot be considered a timely filed application for supervisory writs under

Uniform Rules- Courts of Appeal, Rule 4-3. Accordingly, we decline to convert the

appeal to an application for supervisory writs.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we dismiss the appeal. All costs of the appeal are

assessed against Seth D. Sinclair.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

6 STATE OF LOUISIANA

2023 CA 1210

SETH D. SINCLAIR

Mcclendon, J., concurring in the result.

The original petition to judicially partition the community property was filed by Ms.

Sinclair on February?, 2017. Thereafter, her petition to rescind the extrajudicial partition

agreement was filed into the same suit record, as was her first amending and

supplemental petition to rescind the extrajudicial partition agreement. Further, Ms.

Sinclair, in addition to requesting the rescission of the partition agreement, prayed that

the partition action be re-instated so as to restore [ Ms.] Sinclair and [ Mr.] Sinclair to

co[-]ownership in the assets, debts, and claims of the former community, as so to permit

Ms. Sinclair to receive a fair partition of the same." Therefore, there are still matters

pending between the parties in this proceeding. Accordingly, I concur in the result.