Rain CII Carbon LLC v. M.H. Detrick Co.

49 So. 3d 923, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 0510, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1282, 2010 WL 3705167
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 22, 2010
DocketNo. 2010-CA-0510
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 49 So. 3d 923 (Rain CII Carbon LLC v. M.H. Detrick Co.) 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
Rain CII Carbon LLC v. M.H. Detrick Co., 49 So. 3d 923, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 0510, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1282, 2010 WL 3705167 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

MURRAY, Judge.

| ¶ Defendant Maryland Casualty Company [“MCC”] appeals the trial court’s granting of a preliminary injunction enjoining MCC from prosecuting an action it filed in an Illinois state court against its co-defendant M.H. Detrick Company [“Detrick”].

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

On September 28, 2009, the plaintiff, Rain CII Carbon, L.L.C. [“Rain”] filed the instant suit against Detrick and its insurer, MCC,1 alleging Detrick had sold Rain a defective brick installation system that had failed, causing a temporary shutdown of Rain’s Norco plant. On October 23, 2009, MCC filed suit against Detrick and Rain in Illinois seeking a declaratory judgment that its policy did not provide coverage for the damages allegedly sustained by Rain.2 [925]*925Approximately three weeks later, Rain filed a motion in the instant suit seeking a preliminary injunction preventing MCC from pursuing the Illinois litigation; De-trick joined in the motion. Then, on November 25, 2009, Detrick filed its answer, as well as a cross claim against MCC, in the instant case.

|2The trial court heard oral argument on the motion for preliminary injunction, and rendered judgment on December 11, 2009 granting the motion and enjoining MCC from proceeding with the Illinois declaratory judgment action. MCC filed both the instant appeal and an application for supervisory writs asking this court to vacate the preliminary injunction.3

Subsequent to the filing of the appeal and the writ application, the parties entered into mediation. Upon joint motion of the parties, we stayed consideration of the writ application until March 1, 2010 pending the outcome of mediation. On February 23, 2010, the parties entered into a settlement whereby Rain, in exchange for a sum paid by MCC, completely released all its claims against Detrick and MCC. MCC accepted the settlement subject to a reservation of its rights to seek recovery from its insured, Detrick, to the extent that it might be determined that coverage does not exist under MCC’s policy. Pursuant to the settlement, on March 30, 2010, the district court entered an order dismissing with prejudice Rain’s claims against both defendants. In addition, the Illinois court on April 2, 2010, entered an order dismissing Rain without prejudice from the Illinois action.

Pursuant to this court’s order, MCC supplemented its writ application with copies of the district court’s order of dismissal and the Illinois court’s order of dismissal. On April 8, 2010, we granted the writ application and vacated the district court’s anti-suit injunction.4 Subsequently, however, Detrick moved for rehearing and at that time, apprised this court of the existence of the instant, | spending appeal of the district court’s judgment. We granted rehearing, vacated our prior writ disposition, and dismissed MCC’s writ application on the grounds that the district court’s ruling was a final, appealable judgment.

DISCUSSION

Motion to Strike

MCC’s primary argument on appeal is that the dismissal of the plaintiff Rain’s main demand after the issuance of the preliminary injunction transformed MCC’s Illinois action into the first-filed suit and made the district court’s preliminary injunction inappropriate. In support of this argument, MCC has attached to its brief copies of the aforementioned order of the district court dismissing Rain’s claims and the order of the Illinois court dismissing Rain from that litigation. Detrick, however, has filed a Motion to Strike these attachments to MCC’s brief, as well as MCC’s primary argument, on the basis that an appellate court is precluded from considering any evidence or ruling upon any issue that was not considered or ruled [926]*926upon by the trial court. Having deferred ruling upon Detrick’s motion until now, we grant the motion.

We agree that proceedings that occurred after the judgment being appealed are not properly before the appellate court and therefore should not be considered. Cabral v. Ward, 609 So.2d 872, 877 (La.App. 5 Cir.1992). See also: State v. Jones, 1997-2593, p. 6 (La.3/4/98), 707 So.2d 975, 978-79; LHO New Orleans LM, L.P. v. MHI Leaseco New Orleans, Inc., 2006-0489, p. 13 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/16/08), 983 So.2d 217, 226. As a court of record, an appellate court must limit its review to the evidence in the record before it; therefore, the court generally cannot consider any actions of the trial court taken after the granting of the motion |4for appeal. See La. C.C.P. art. 2164; River Parishes Financial Services, L.L.C. v. Goines, 2007-0641, pp. 5-6 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/6/08), 979 So.2d 518, 521.

Accordingly, although we recognize that the posture of the instant case has changed since the district court’s granting of the preliminary injunction, for purposes of this appeal we consider only whether the trial court properly issued the injunction at the time that judgment was rendered.

Preliminary Injunction

A trial court has broad discretion in the granting or denial of a preliminary injunction, and its decision will not be disturbed on review absent clear abuse of that discretion. Cajun Elec. Power Co-op., Inc. v. Triton Coal Co., 590 So.2d 813, 816 (La.App. 4th Cir.1991). Louisiana jurisprudence clearly supports a trial court, under appropriate circumstances, enjoining the prosecution of a suit subsequently filed in another state involving the same controversy. Id., Transamerica Insurance Company v. Whitney National Bank, 251 La. 800, 806-807, 206 So.2d 500,502-503 (1968). The jurisprudence reflects that courts abhor a multiplicity of lawsuits to settle a single issue, as such actions are expensive for the litigants and result in an unnecessary duplication of judicial time. Cajun Electric Power Co-op, supra, at 816; Bell v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 500 So.2d 828, 831 (La.App. 1st Cir.1986). Because multiple lawsuits are reprobated by jurisprudential rule, it is not necessary to allege or prove irreparable injury when seeking an injunction to enjoin a declaratory judgment action filed subsequent to the initial lawsuit to clarify an issue involved in the original lawsuit. Bell v. Travelers Indemnity Co., supra, at 831.

In Cajun Elec. Power Co-op., Inc. v. Triton Coal Co., supra, this court considered whether the trial court erred when it denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a | (¡preliminary injunction to prevent the defendant from proceeding with a subsequently filed suit in a Wyoming court involving substantially the same parties and the same issues. On March 19, 1991, the plaintiffs filed suit against defendant for breach of contract for the sale of coal to be used in Cajun Electric’s generating facility, alleging a dispute about the interpretation of the price. On March 29,1991, prior to answering the plaintiffs’ suit, defendant filed an action in a Wyoming court naming plaintiffs as defendants. On August 6, 1991, defendant filed an answer and recon-ventional demand against the plaintiffs in the Louisiana suit. Thereafter, plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction preventing defendant from pursuing the Wyoming suit. In reversing the trial court’s denial of the motion for preliminary injunction, this court stated:

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49 So. 3d 923, 2010 La.App. 4 Cir. 0510, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1282, 2010 WL 3705167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rain-cii-carbon-llc-v-mh-detrick-co-lactapp-2010.