Schwarz v. Bourgeois

459 So. 2d 650, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 9918
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 14, 1984
DocketNo. CA-1888
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 459 So. 2d 650 (Schwarz v. Bourgeois) 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
Schwarz v. Bourgeois, 459 So. 2d 650, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 9918 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

GULOTTA, Judge.

In this litigation involving liquidation of a medical partnership, Rudolph J. Bourgeois, M.D. appeals from judgments ordering liquidation of the partnership under court supervision and establishing April 27, 1983 as the date of its dissolution. We affirm.

On February 21, 1983, Dr. Bourgeois and his four physician-partners in The Surgical Clinic of East New Orleans signed an “Agreement and Compromise” to separate their medical practice according to detailed and explicit stipulations. The agreement provided, inter alia, for removal of certain physicians from the suite then occupied by the partnership, reference of callers to the respective doctors at their new telephone numbers, announcements and advertisements by the departing doctors, disposition of all patient records, and the naming of a liquidator to disburse partnership funds and assets.

Of particular concern to the partners was the leasing of new office space by the [652]*652departing doctors. Specifically, Dr. Raymond A. Schwarz agreed to assume responsibility and liability for the partnership’s current lease of office space and to “hold harmless and indemnify Dr. Bourgeois” (who was also a signatory to that lease) from any and all claims and obligations arising under the lease.1 The departing doctors were to enter new lease arrangements for other office space, but if they did not do so within a specified time, the “Agreement and Compromise” was to be nullified. On the other hand, the Agreement further provided that once satisfactory, written lease arrangements had been made by the departing doctors, “... the Partnership shall be dissolved the following day, when a consent to dissolve shall be signed by all the partners.”

Dr. Bourgeois subsequently refused to sign the “consent to dissolve”; whereupon Dr. Schwarz and his assenting partners filed a rule nisi on November 18, 1983, entitled “Petition to Confirm Liquidator in Non-judicial Liquidation of Partnership”. This petition alleged that all the terms and conditions of the “Agreement and Compromise” had been performed, and prayed for liquidation of the partnership under court supervision.

In opposition to this rule to show cause, Dr. Bourgeois filed exceptions of unauthorized use of summary proceedings and no cause of action. Dr. Bourgeois argued that the petition was actually a suit to dissolve the partnership, and could only be brought under ordinary, not summary process. He further contended that the petition failed to state a cause of action for liquidation because the partnership must first be dissolved before being liquidated.

In written “REASONS FOR JUDGMENT” overruling Dr. Bourgeois’ exceptions, the trial judge stated that the detailed “Agreement and Compromise” was “really an agreement to dissolve and liquidate” signed by all the partners. He further stated:

“At a bench conference, with the court having before it the pleadings and the Agreement, counsel for Dr. Bourgeois conceded that the partners have been engaged in painful intra-partnership litigation for three years and the purpose of the Agreement was to bring an end to this intolerable situation. He further candidly stated that the only stumbling block to the full implementation of the Agreement to Dissolve and Liquidate is a disagreement which has arisen between Drs. Bourgeois and Schwarz involving Dr. Schwarz’ indemnification of Dr. Bourgeois under Article VI of the Agreement. It is conceded that Dr. Schwarz has tendered an Indemnification which is otherwise satisfactory, except that Dr. Schwarz refuses to include a liquidated damages clause for $100,000 which is demanded by Dr. Bourgeois.
“This demand by Dr. Bourgeois is obviously capricious and arbitrary and far beyond the undertakings to which Dr. Schwarz is committed under the Agreement. The same thing may be said of Dr. Bourgeois’s refusal to sign a so-called “Dissolution.” The Agreement is a contract to dissolve and liquidate predicated on suspensive conditions, all of which have been satisfied according to counsel’s concessions at the bench conference, and Dr. Bourgeois cannot impede the further execution of the Agreement by arbitrarily refusing to comply with the formality of executing a “Disso[653]*653lution” which he is now obliged to execute. See Article XIII of the Agreement.
“Accordingly, I overrule the exceptions and grant the relief sought in the rule nisi so that the liquidation can proceed in the manner meticulously spelled out in the Agreement between all of the parties, but subject to the court’s supervision.”

Dr. Bourgeois’ applications for supervisory writs from the trial court’s judgment were denied in this court and the Supreme Court. He subsequently filed the instant devolutive appeal.

During the ensuing court-supervised liquidation, the liquidator filed a summary rule asking the court to specify the date of partnership dissolution. He alleged that some of the partners had actually terminated all partnership transactions as of April 27, 1983, but questioned whether the date of dissolution of the partnership was on May 27, 1983, when the court ordered the court-supervised liquidation. In an August 1, 1983 judgment, the trial court established April 27, 1983, as the “date of the dissolution of the partnership”. Dr. Bourgeois has protectively appealed from this judgment also.

In support of his argument that the trial court erred in ordering dissolution and liquidation of the partnership on a summary rule to show cause, Dr. Bourgeois cites the established rule that a proceeding to determine the dissolution or termination of a partnership requires the use of ordinary process. LSA-C.C. Art. 2834; Dunlap v. Ramsey and Dunlap, 191 La. 158, 184 So. 710 (1938); Bunn v. O.L. Bunn, Inc., 341 So.2d 629 (La.App. 4th Cir.1977). See also Partnership of Meyers & Morris v. Meyers, 451 So.2d 1227 (La.App. 4th Cir.1984). Although we do not quarrel with these authorities, we conclude that they do not apply in the instant case.

A suit to dissolve a partnership must be brought as an ordinary proceeding; however, liquidation under the court’s supervision may proceed in a summary manner once the partnership has been dissolved. LSA-C.C. Art. 2834; LSA-R.S. 12:146; Bunn v. O.L. Bunn, Inc. supra; Partnership of Meyers & Morris v. Meyers, supra.

LSA-C.C. Art. 2826 provides that a partnership may be terminated either by the unanimous consent of its partners or by a judgment of termination. As pointed out by the trial judge, the partners of The Surgical Clinic of East New Orleans unanimously agreed, out of court, to dissolve and liquidate their partnership in the “Agreement and Compromise” executed by them on February 21, 1983, although the agreement is dependent on Article VIII’s suspensive condition: “In the event that satisfactory, written lease agreements are made by those departing doctors, the Partnership shall be dissolved the following day, when a consent to dissolve shall be signed by all the partners.” (Emphasis ours.) It is undisputed that the departing doctors have made new lease arrangements. Accordingly, we conclude, as did the trial judge, that the suspensive conditions to dissolution have been satisfied and the partnership was dissolved by the extrajudicial consent of the partners.

We reject Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
459 So. 2d 650, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 9918, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwarz-v-bourgeois-lactapp-1984.