Roy v. Landry

489 So. 2d 1018
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 28, 1986
DocketCA 85 0266
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 489 So. 2d 1018 (Roy v. Landry) 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
Roy v. Landry, 489 So. 2d 1018 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

489 So.2d 1018 (1986)

Irene ROY
v.
Whybra J. LANDRY.

No. CA 85 0266.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 28, 1986.

Craig L. Kaster, Baton Rouge, for Irene Roy, appellant.

John A. Lieux, Gonzales, for Whybra Landry, appellee.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and JOHN S. COVINGTON, JJ.

JOHN S. COVINGTON, Judge.

Plaintiff devolutively appealed the district court judgment, read, rendered and signed on October 26, 1984, dismissing her suit for partition of community property.

Irene Schwartz and Whybra J. Landry were married on June 12, 1947; in 1976 Irene filed two suits for separation from bed and board; after the first suit was filed she and Mr. Landry reconciled but she filed the second suit on July 13, 1976. On July 30, 1976, the matter was heard in the nature of a confirmation, the defendant husband having filed an answer; defendant's attorney was present at the July 30 hearing but defendant was not. At the conclusion of the hearing the court rendered judgment in favor of Irene; the formal judgment was not read and signed until February 24, 1978.

Both parties testified that after trial of the separation suit was concluded they met at their married daughter's home and Mr. Landry prepared an uncounselled, hand printed document styled "Seperation (sic) of Property Belonging to Irene S. Landry *1019 & W.J. Landry" which listed various items of movable property being divided. Some of the items and all values were printed with a blue ink ballpoint pen; other items and the subject headings were printed with black ink ballpoint pen. Plaintiff, defendant, and their son-in-law signed the undated sheet of paper at the bottom.

The "separation of property" instrument contains one item which is at the center of this controversy, listed as "Kaiser Retirement Plan" followed by the figure "1762.00"; that item was placed in the "W.J. Landry" column. Irene's column and Mr. Landry's column each totalled "17086.00." Both testified that it was their intention to completely divide the community effects on an equal basis and Mr. Landry's defense is that they did just that. Irene testified that she was mislead by Mr. Landry into believing the Kaiser Retirement Plan was worth only $1,762 when, in fact, it was worth much more and, for that reason, she sought a supplemental partition of the true value of the retirement plan.

Robert Hlebak, Kaiser Aluminum's employee in charge of Kaiser's salaried employee's retirement plan at its Gramercy facility, testified that annual statements are sent to each participant in the plan and that usually the notices are sent to the employee's residence; he testified that Mr. Landry's notices were sent to a post office box in Gonzales. Mr. Hlebak testified, utilizing the annual statement for the period ending December 31, 1975, that if Mr. Landry had terminated his employment at any time in 1976 all that he would have been eligible to receive as a lump-sum would have been $1,762.51, representing his contribution to the plan and interest thereon. However, utilizing the same statement, he testified that if Mr. Landry had terminated his employment in 1976 and had left his accumulated contributions intact Mr. Landry would have been entitled to a deferred monthly retirement benefit of $342.20 beginning at age 62. The statement, offered in evidence as a joint exhibit, reflects Mr. Landry's date of birth as being March 13, 1928 and that he commenced his employment at Kaiser on May 18, 1957. Defendant's answer to plaintiff's request for admissions states that he became a salaried employee in December, 1965. Mr. Hlebak testified, and the retirement plan introduced into evidence states, that after serving for ten or more years in a salaried position, an employee's right to receive a retirement benefit, although deferred to age 62, becomes vested and that the deferred but vested retirement benefit at the end of 1975 was $342.20. On re-direct, Mr. Hlebak testified that in the event Mr. Landry had terminated his employment with Kaiser in 1976 and had elected to withdraw the accumulated contributions and interest at that time he would have been eligible for a deferred retirement benefit of $302.00 per month at age 62.

At the time Irene filed the separation suit in which the judgment was rendered, Mr. Landry had 19 years, 1 month and 26 days of service in Kaiser's employ, as reflected by the annual statement ending December 31, 1975 and an extension of calculations thereon.

On February 28, 1983, Mr. Landry was terminated because of economic conditions which necessitated a reduction of Kaiser's work force when the Gramercy facility was reorganized. He opted to take his "full early retirement" benefits in the form of a lump-sum payment, provided for in the retirement plan. The amount of the lump-sum payment he received shortly after March 11, 1983 was $94,579.10. Irene sought, via an amended petition, one-half of the lump-sum payment after discovery procedures produced the precise amount that had been paid. In Irene's post-trial memorandum of authorities, she sought judgment for $34,243.19 on the basis of formulae set out in case law. In her appellate brief, Irene asserts she is entitled to $34,012.83 "from the supplemental partition of retirement benefits," again utilizing formulae set out in case law.

*1020 ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Irene assigns as errors the trial court's

1. finding that the hand printed document the parties signed included a transfer of the spouses' "interest in the vested benefits" of the retirement plan to Mr. Landry and that the document constituted a community property settlement which had been ratified by the actions of the parties; and

2. holding that Irene was not entitled to a supplemental partition of the community assets because nothing was omitted from the hand printed settlement document.

DISTRICT COURT

After observing that Irene, but not Mr. Landry, was present in court on July 30, 1976 "when the Separation from Bed and Board was rendered" and that the formal judgment "was not signed until February 24, 1978," the trial court reasoned, in part, as follows:

... Plaintiff and Defendant both believed in good faith, that they were legally separated on July 30, 1976. The evidence ... established that following her appearance in Court on July 30, 1976,... the parties sat down and consummated a property settlement.... At issue... is a KRP Retirement Plan....
The parties decided in the property settlement that defendant would keep the KRP Program and plaintiff would receive benefits equal to one-half of the value they ascribed to the KRP Program at Kaiser Aluminum. On February 28, 1983, Mr. Landry was forced into an early retirement ... for which he received $94,597.10 [in a lump sum] as his interest in the retirement program. Plaintiff now claims that she is entitled to one-half of these proceeds, despite the fact that the parties proported (sic) to divide all items of property belonging to the community on or about July 30, 1976.
The initial issue ... is ... whether ... the ... settlement is valid, as between the parties thereto.
The evidence ... clearly established that the parties, ..., entered into a community property settlement ... prior to judicial termination of the community....
... [T]he parties can and did ... ratify said agreement.
. . . . .
... Succession of Tucker, 445 So.2d 510 (La.App. 3d Cir.1984) ...

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489 So. 2d 1018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roy-v-landry-lactapp-1986.