Stewart Title of Louisiana v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc.

112 So. 3d 949, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1369, 2013 WL 1247861, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 591
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 27, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-CA-1369
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 112 So. 3d 949 (Stewart Title of Louisiana v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc.) 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
Stewart Title of Louisiana v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 112 So. 3d 949, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1369, 2013 WL 1247861, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 591 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

MAX N. TOBIAS, JR., Judge.

| fin this concursus proceeding, the appellant, LTA, Inc. (“LTA”), appeals the trial court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of the appellees/defendants, Chevron USA, Inc. and Huntington Beach Company (collectively, “Chevron”), entitling Chevron to the monies deposited into the registry of the trial court. For the [950]*950reasons that follow, we find that genuine issues of material fact remain precluding summary judgment. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand this matter for further proceedings.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Stewart Title of Louisiana (“Stewart Title”) initiated the instant concursus proceeding following the breach of a Purchase and Sale Agreement (“PSA”) executed on 14 June 2010 between Keiichi-Mar Investing, LLC (“Keiichi-Mar”) and Chevron. Pursuant to the PSA, Keiichi-Mar agreed to purchase from Chevron the former Chevron building, located at the corner of O’Keefe Avenue and Gravier Street in New Orleans.1 The appellant, LTA, was not a signatory to the PSA.2 |2The PSA required an initial $300,000.00 deposit by Keiichi-Mar as purchaser upon its acceptance, which became non-refundable after the 15-day inspection period.3 In the event of Keiichi-Mar’s default, the PSA provided for Chevron as seller to retain the deposit as liquidated damages.

Keiichi-Mar signed the PSA on 9 June 2010. The following day, LTA, which undeniably stood to profit from Keiichi-Mar’s successful purchase of the Chevron building by virtue of a supplementary agreement executed by Keiichi-Mar in LTA’s favor, delivered a company check in the amount of $300,000 to Stewart Title’s chief operating officer, Sharall Grissen, with specific verbal instructions that the money not be referenced or earmarked to any particular purchase agreement or escrow document number.4 Chevron then executed the PSA on 14 June 2010. On 17 June 2010, Chevron threatened to back out of the PSA unless Keiichi-Mar deposited the earnest money required by the contract by noon of the following day.5 Within twenty-four hours, the $300,000 check | ^previously delivered to Stewart Title by LTA was deposited into Stewart Title’s commercial escrow account on 18 June 2010. As previously instructed by LTA, the deposit was [951]*951not posted to any specific contract or purchase agreement. Thereafter, Joyce Du-Saules, Stewart Title’s commercial department assistant, emailed Ed Rubenstein, a senior real estate project manager at Chevron, notifying Chevron that $300,000 of “earnest money” had been deposited into Stewart Title’s escrow account, and subsequently confirmed for him that the check deposited was a company check.6

During the ensuing days, it appeared that the sale was moving forward.

Then, on 28 June 2010, Kenneth Lobell, on behalf of LTA, requested that Stewart Title return to LTA the funds that LTA had previously deposited with it in escrow. At the direction of Ms. Grissen, Stewart Title issued a refund check to LTA that same day in the amount of $300,000. Mr. Lobell personally procured the refund check and deposited the funds into LTA’s account at Chase Bank.

Following receipt of LTA’s refund request, Ms. Grissen sent an email to Mr. Rubenstein on the afternoon of 28 June 2010 at Chevron advising him of LTA’s request for a refund check. On 1 July 2010, operating under the assumption that LTA intended for its $300,000 deposit to be considered and treated as Keiichi-Mar’s earnest money deposit under the PSA, and since Keiichi-Mar and Chevron both indicated their intentions to move forward with the sale, Chevron demanded that Stewart Title place a stop payment on the $300,000 refund check it issued to LTA. Accordingly, Stewart Title retracted the monies that were previously refunded to LTA on 28 June 2010.

l4Under the terms of the PSA, the inspection period ended at 5:00 p.m. on 29 June 2010. At no time prior to 29 June 2010 did Keiichi-Mar or Chevron notify Stewart Title that the PSA had been can-celled or that the sale was not going through. Thereafter, however, Keiichi-Mar breached its obligation to purchase the Chevron building, which Chevron argued entitled it to the $300,000 initial deposit made by LTA on behalf of Keiichi-Mar as liquidated damages under the express terms of the PSA. Contrarily, LTA argued that the $300,000 deposit was made on its own behalf and for its own benefit and, thus, LTA was free to withdraw the money at any time.

In accordance with the terms of the PSA, because Chevron and LTA asserted competing interests to the $300,000, Stewart Title deposited the money into the registry of the court and initiated the instant concursus proceeding.7

Chevron moved for summary judgment on the basis that the testimony and evidence established that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the $300,000 deposited with Stewart Title by LTA was intended by the parties to be considered and treated as Keiichi-Mar’s initial deposit required under the PSA and, as such, when Keiichi-Mar breached the PSA, Chevron was entitled to the deposit as liquidated damages. The trial court determined that “the facts supported the conclusion that LTA intended its check to be used and considered as Keiichi-Mar’s deposit.” Accordingly, on 5 April 2012, the trial court, assigning reasons, granted Chevron’s motion entitling Chevron to the funds deposited into the registry of the court as a result of Keiichi-Mar’s breach of the PSA.

[952]*952It is from this judgment that LTA filed the instant appeal.

| r,DISCUSSION

Initially, we consider Chevron’s contention that LTA’s appeal raises an issue that is not properly before the court. Specifically, citing Canons from the Code of Judicial Conduct, LTA assigns as error the trial judge’s failure to recuse herself.8 LTA did not raise the recusal issue in the trial court and, thus, has not properly preserved the issue for appeal. ' Recusal of a judge is governed by La. C.C.P. arts. 151 through 161. La. C.C.P. art. 154 specifically requires that a party desiring to re-cuse a judge of a district court file a written motion, assigning the ground for recusation. The record in the instant case contains no written motion for recusal. Moreover, the trial court made no ruling concerning recusal. With no motion by LTA and no ruling by the trial court, this court has nothing to review. This assignment is without error.

In addition, LTA assigns four reasons why the trial court erred in granting Chevron’s motion for summary judgment entitling Chevron to receive the $800,000 held in the court’s registry. Because we find a genuine issue of material fact precluding summary judgment exists as to whether LTA intended for the $300,000 check it deposited with Stewart Title to constitute Keiichi-Mar’s initial deposit under the PSA, or was intended by LTA to be used solely for its own benefit in the event the sale fell through and LTA desired to move forward with the purchase of the building, we pretermit discussion of the remaining assignments of error and remand this matter for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

| ^Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern a trial court’s consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. John C. Bose Consulting Engineer, LLC v. John T.

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Bluebook (online)
112 So. 3d 949, 2012 La.App. 4 Cir. 1369, 2013 WL 1247861, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-title-of-louisiana-v-chevron-usa-inc-lactapp-2013.