O'Connor v. Nelson

60 So. 3d 27, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 250, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 14, 2011 WL 102640
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 11, 2011
DocketNo. 10-CA-250
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 60 So. 3d 27 (O'Connor v. Nelson) 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
O'Connor v. Nelson, 60 So. 3d 27, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 250, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 14, 2011 WL 102640 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

MARION F. EDWARDS, Chief Judge.

| ;>This appeal from a judgment granting an exception of no right of action, a motion to strike portions of the petition, and a motion for summary judgment in a wrongful death action has been before this Court before.1 The underlying lawsuit is one brought by the mother, great-grandmother, and step great-grandfather of a five-year-old child who drowned at the home of her paternal grandparents while in the legal custody of her father. The facts of custody of the child, the relationships [30]*30among the parties, and the claims of the action for wrongful death are complicated and were fully set forth in our prior opinion as follows:

On September 22, 1998, Isis Marie Larmeu was born to Danielle Larmeu and Ronny Nelson, who later married then separated. Initially, Danielle Lar-meu obtained physical custody of Isis during the separation. On November 8, 1999, Danielle Larmeu, by written petition to the Juvenile Court for Jefferson Parish, surrendered temporary custody of Isis to Danielle’s grandmother, Sandra O’Connor. Ronny Nelson did not appear in these proceedings but his parental rights were reserved in compliance with state law. On October 21, 2002, Sandra O’Connor was granted permanent custody of Isis and Ronny Nelson was ordered to pay child support of $100.00 per month to Mrs. O’Connor.
|sOn March 26, 2008, Ronny Nelson petitioned for full custody of Isis. On January 12, 2004, the juvenile court awarded full custody of Isis to Ronny Nelson. On March 24, 2004, Isis Lar-meu drowned in a swimming pool while she was under Camille Spinelli’s supervision.
On April 18, 2004, Sandra O’Connor, James O’Connor, and Danielle Larmeu filed a petition for damages against Ronny Nelson, Camille Spinelli, Valentino Spinelli, and XYZ Insurance Company. On June 2, 2004, defendants filed an answer and partial exception of no cause/right of action against Sandra and James O’Connor. That same day, defendants also filed a Motion to Strike three paragraphs from plaintiffs’ petition and also a partial Motion for Summary Judgment in favor of Ronny Nelson and Valentino Spinelli.
On August 13, 2004, Ronny Nelson filed a cross-claim and third-party demand against his mother, Camille Spi-nelli, and, her insurer, AIG Insurance Company. On September 8, 2004, the trial judge heard defendants’ partial exception of no cause/right of action, motion to strike, and partial motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs had not filed oppositions to defendants’ exception or motions so plaintiffs’ counsel was not permitted oral argument on the issues.
On September 13, 2004, the trial judge signed a written judgment granting defendants’ partial exception of no right of action, motion to strike, and partial motion for summary judgment, which dismissed Ronny Nelson and Valentino Spi-nelli as defendants with prejudice. On September 17, 2004, plaintiffs filed a motion to set aside the judgment or for rehearing. On December 13, 2004, after a hearing, the trial judge refused to set aside the previous rulings....

Because the judgment did not adjudicate all the claims of all of the parties, and there was no consideration of the cross-claims made by one of the defendants, we found the judgment was not a final, ap-pealable judgment. Further, the judgment was not designated as a final and appealable judgment as required for our review. Accordingly, we dismissed the appeal without prejudice.2

The matter went forward in the trial court with continued discovery and the filing of an intervention and other proceedings by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens), the homeowner’s insurance carrier for Valentino Spinelli.

[31]*31|4In October of 2009, Citizens3 filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that Isis Larmeu was an insured under the terms of the policy and, therefore, was not covered under the liability provisions of the homeowner’s policy. Additionally, Citizens asserted that neither Camille Spinelli nor Ronny Nelson is an insured and, therefore, Citizens did not have a duty to defend either of them. In that motion, Citizens also asked for a designation that all judgments are now final and appeal-able. The O’Connors and Danielle Lar-meu filed a motion to revise the court’s prior judgment of September 13, 2004.

The trial court considered both motions at a hearing on November 28, 2009 and rendered judgment on December 1, 2009 that granted the motion for summary judgment and dismissed Citizens with prejudice. In a separate judgment dated the same day, the trial court denied the motion to revise the 2004 judgment and designated the judgment as final and ap-pealable. Therefore, there are two judgments now in the proper procedural posture for our appellate review.

The first judgment, rendered on September 13, 2004, granted an exception of no right of action and dismissed Sandra O’Connor and James O’Connor as plaintiffs. That judgment also granted a summary judgment dismissing Ronny Nelson and Valentino Spinelli as defendants in the lawsuit. Finally, the judgment struck three paragraphs from the original petition relating to the custody proceedings in the Juvenile Court.4

The exception of no right of action was filed by defendants, Ronny Nelson (Isis’ father), Camille Spinelli (Isis’ paternal grandmother), and Valentino Spinelli, 15(CamiIIe’s ex-husband who is unrelated to Isis, but owns the house in which the child drowned).

Mr. Nelson and the Spinellis also filed a motion to strike three paragraphs from the petition for damages, arguing that the allegations set forth in the paragraphs are “immaterial, impertinent, and contain scandalous matter.” Finally, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Spinelli filed a motion for summary judgment based on the argument that Isis was in the sole care of Camille Spinelli when the tragedy occurred.5

None of the plaintiffs filed written pleadings opposing any of the above motions. However, counsel for plaintiffs appeared at the hearing on the motions. At that hearing, counsel acknowledged that he failed to file oppositions to the motions but requested that he be allowed to argue his position at the hearing. Counsel maintained that under the local rule of the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District, even when no written opposition is filed, the trial judge may entertain argument in opposition at the hearing. The trial judge responded as follows:

MR. MILLS: I would like to respond to what ...
THE COURT: You can’t. I’m sorry. You didn’t file an opposition.
MR. MILLS: Well ...
THE COURT: Have you read the local rules? Am I incorrect in saying that if [32]*32you don’t file an opposition, there’s no argument that you....
MR. KOGOS: I don’t think so, Your Honor.
MR. MILLS: It’s up to the court, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I don’t think so.
MR. KOGOS: I think it’s a clear rule.
IfiTHE COURT: I mean you put me in a bad position. You didn’t do it. I can’t help you. There’s nothing more I can do. You can’t argue.

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Bluebook (online)
60 So. 3d 27, 10 La.App. 5 Cir. 250, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 14, 2011 WL 102640, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oconnor-v-nelson-lactapp-2011.