Miller v. Miller

480 So. 2d 789
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided November 7, 1985·No. 84-802·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

480 So.2d 789 (1985)

Louella Cain MILLER, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Virgle E. MILLER, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 84-802.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 7, 1985.
Writ Denied January 31, 1986.

*790 Alfred S. Landry, Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellant.

William J.F. Gearheard, Howard Martin, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before GUIDRY, STOKER and KING, JJ.

GUIDRY, Judge.

This matter was consolidated for purposes of appeal with a similarly entitled matter, Miller v. Miller, 480 So.2d 795 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1985). For the reasons hereafter set forth, we decide the issues in both appeals in this opinion but will render a separate decree in the matter above referred to.

These matters stem from a partition of community property between the parties. This litigation is of long standing and has been before this court on two separate occasions, see 405 So.2d 534 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1981) and 405 So.2d 564 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1981). Following finality of our decision with regard to the merits of the community property partition, plaintiff, Louella Cain Miller, filed a "Petition for Rule Nisi" requesting the trial court to adjudicate certain items belonging to the community as divisible in kind and certain other items as divisable by licitation. Plaintiff also filed a Rule Nisi requesting that monies in certain Texas bank accounts in the name of Virgle E. Miller be declared community property and ordered partitioned. Plaintiff has appealed the separate judgments of the trial court, i.e., a judgment finding that the matter of the division of the Texas bank accounts was res judicata (our docket number 84-802) and a judgment which ordered a division and distribution of the proceeds from the sale and rental of the community home (our docket number 84-993).[1]

FACTS

Louella Cain Miller and Virgle E. Miller were married on January 23, 1962. The parties were divorced on August 10, 1977. On July 25, 1978, Louella filed suit for a partition of the community property. Judgment in the suit was rendered by the trial court on June 2, 1980. The latter judgment set forth with specificity of description the several items of property found by the trial court to be community property. Louella appealed the trial court's June 2, 1980 judgment objecting only to the trial court determination with reference to a profit sharing plan which Virgle had with his employer. Virgle answered the appeal asserting eight claims for set-offs which had been denied by the trial court. In a decision rendered October 7, 1981, we affirmed the trial court's ruling in part and amended it in part to hold that Virgle's account in the profit sharing plan was a community asset and therefore, Louella was entitled to one-half of all contributions and earnings. We also held that the trial court's award of attorney's fees was erroneous and therefore reversed and set aside that part of the judgment. Miller v. Miller, 405 So.2d 564 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1981).

On January 15, 1982, after finality of our judgment, Louella filed a "Petition for Rule Nisi" requesting a determination by the trial court that certain community properties were divisible in kind; the family home belonging to the former community was indivisible in kind and therefore should be partitioned by public sale; and, the parties should be recognized as owners of the above properties and sent into possession of same. Judgment on this rule was signed on September 20, 1982 wherein certain property was adjudged divisible in kind and the parties were sent into possession of *791 the equally divided property. The judgment further provided that:

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that all amounts of money received for any reason which belong to the community property estate of the parties, including rental income from community home which plaintiff has rented since March, 1975 less expenses is to be divided equally between the parties and anyone holding said funds is hereby directed to distribute the funds equally to the parties. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the immovable property belonging to the community as the former family home, is declared indivisible in kind and the Sheriff is ordered to seize it and sell it at public auction after due advertisement and appraisal in accordance with law. The parties are allowed to sell said immovable property at private sale or to one of the parties during said interval."

On May 20, 1982, Louella filed another "Petition for Rule Nisi" requesting that monies in two bank accounts in the name of Virgle Miller in the Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, Texas, be partitioned by the court. By minute entry of May 15, 1984, the trial court rejected Louella's claim, holding that the court had previously ruled on the issue of the ownership of monies in the Texas bank accounts. The trial judge stated that such matter was therefore res judicata. Formal judgment to this effect was signed by the trial court on May 25, 1984. Louella took a devolutive appeal from that judgment on June 25, 1984. (Our Docket No. 84-802).

Louella filed a "Rule to Show Cause" on June 22, 1984 requesting that Virgle appear and show cause why a second judgment on the May 20, 1982 rule regarding the monies from the Texas bank accounts should not be disregarded. This rule alleged that Virgle had submitted to the trial court a document entitled "Judgment on Rule" for the purpose of obtaining a second judgment on the rule. Asserting that the judgment of May 25, 1984 completely disposed of the issue on that rule, Louella sought to have any second judgment on the same rule barred. She further contended that the trial court was divested of jurisdiction to enter another judgment on that rule due to the pendency of such judgment on appeal with this court.

On July 9, 1984, Louella filed yet another Rule Nisi, this one seeking to have funds in the registry of the court belonging to the former community distributed between the parties. In this rule, Louella asserted that rental funds of the family home had been equally divided between the parties since June 2, 1984.

On August 8, 1984, Louella filed a motion to continue the scheduled rules due to the fact that the May 25, 1984 judgment had been appealed. Instead of granting the motion to continue, Judge Marcus Broussard, Jr., ordered that the rules scheduled for hearing in August of 1984 be recalled.

On September 4, 1984, District Judge G. Bradford Ware, who was assigned to hear all matters in this case, signed a judgment allegedly pursuant to a hearing held in chambers on January 10, 1984. The judgment set forth the following:

"The court, having heard the pleadings, evidence and argument of counsel, and considering the law and the evidence to be in favor of defendant in rule, VIRGLE E. MILLER, set forth in minute entry dated May 14, 1984;
That the court has ruled on the issue of the amount each of the parties is to receive from the sale of the community home, on June 2, 1980, and in this regard, each party is to receive $21,900 of the $43,800.00 in the escrow account; from this amount is deducted one-half (½) of $25,753.00 (which represents revenue received from rental of the family home) or $12,786.50 from Louella Cain Miller's share since she has received the total rental income from March 1, 1975 to December 31, 1979;
Accordingly, it is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that VIRGLE E. MILLER is to receive *792 his one-half (½) share of the amount

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