T.P. Homes, Inc. v. Taylor

1 So. 3d 507, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 392, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 1391, 2008 WL 4737106
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2008
DocketNo. 08-CA-392
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1 So. 3d 507 (T.P. Homes, Inc. v. Taylor) 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
T.P. Homes, Inc. v. Taylor, 1 So. 3d 507, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 392, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 1391, 2008 WL 4737106 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

|2This is a concursus proceeding brought by Sam J. Chauppette, the judicial liquidator of T.P. Homes Inc. — the dissolved corporation. It involves the amounts owed to the shareholders — appellant Billy M. Taylor and appellee Vincent J. Pervel— from the corporation’s remaining assets. Mr. Chauppette invoked the concursus proceeding whereby he deposited $24,471.39, the disputed funds, into the registry of court. After sustaining exceptions of res judicata, peremption, and prescription, the trial judge dismissed the concursus. He distributed the funds on deposit equally between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Pervel in accordance with the court’s prior August 19, 2002 judgment ordering equal disbursement. Mr. Taylor now appeals. He does not argue that the 2002 judgment lacks res judicata effect to the present suit. Instead, he argues that the exceptions were not properly before the court and the exceptions of prescription and peremption lack merit. Finding that the exception of res judicata was properly before the court, we affirm.

Procedural History

On June 18, 2002, Mr. Chauppette, the judicial liquidator of the corporation, filed an application for approval to finalize the liquidation and distribution of corporate assets. The matter was heard on August 19, 2002. Mr. Pervel, Mr. |sTaylor, and the liquidator were present. The court, after considering the evidence, pleadings, and arguments of counsel, rendered judgment that date. The court ordered that the corporation be dissolved. It further ordered equal distribution of the remaining assets to the shareholders as follows:

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that after paying the balance of any fees and cost [sic] associated with these liquidation proceedings that the remaining assets of the corporation be paid in equal shares to BILLY M. TAYLOR and VINCENT PERVEL after receipt of a Certificate of Dissolution from the Secretary of State’s office and the filing of the certificate in the records of the Recorder of Mortgages for the Parish of Jefferson.

Approximately nine months later, Mr. Chauppette invoked the present concursus proceeding. He asserted that Mr. Pervel and Mr. Taylor could not agree as to the division of the proceeds.

[509]*509Mr. Pervel filed an answer in which he asserted, among other things, that a con-cursus proceeding was unnecessary. He stated:

It is the position of [Mr. Pervel] that all claims were either litigated in the trial of this matter, were resolved during the liquidation proceedings, or have prescribed.
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AND FURTHER ANSWERING, Vincent J. Pervel avers that a concursus is unnecessary, in that the Order of this Honorable Court rendered on August 19, 2002 already establishes that all assets of [the corporation] are to be paid in equal shares to Billy M. Taylor and Vincent J. Pervel.

Mr. Pervel asked that his “answer and affirmative defenses be deemed good sufficient, and that after due proceedings ... that [the court] follow its judgment of August 19, 2002, dividing all remaining funds of [the corporation], in equal shares between Billy M. Taylor and Vincent J. Perv-el[.]”

Mr. Pervel also submitted a trial memo in which he attached the August 19, 2002 judgment. He attached a certified copy of the Secretary of State’s dissolution of the corporation, showing that it was filed into the records of the Recorder of Mortgages on September 24, 2002. He argued that according to the attached 14documents, all of the conditions set forth in the August 19, 2002 judgment had been met. Thus, the only remaining matter was disbursement of the remaining assets in equal shares to Mr. Taylor and Mr. Pervel in accordance with that judgment.

He stated that the matter was set for trial but no trial was necessary. He asserted that the 2002 judgment had never been appealed and was now final. Furthermore, he asserted that all claims between Mr. Pervel and Mr. Taylor were previously resolved or had long since prescribed. He asked the court to simply order the disbursement of the registry funds in equal shares to Mr. Taylor and Mr. Pervel.

The matter was heard on December 13, 2007. Mr. Taylor’s counsel first asked the trial judge if he could urge an exception and the judge agreed. Mr. Pervel’s counsel did not object. Mr. Taylor’s counsel argued the exception of res judicata based on the 2002 judgment ordering equal disbursement of the remaining assets. The 2002 judgment and underlying pleadings were admitted into evidence without objection.

Counsel also argued that many issues were dealt with at a former trial of the matter and thus formed an additional ground for the exception of res judicata.1 However, he did not introduce evidence on the additional ground. Counsel next argued exceptions of prescription and per-emption.

In concluding, counsel asked the court to enforce its earlier judgment of August 19, 2002.

|sCounsel for Mr. Taylor argued that the matter was not prescribed or perempted. In addition, he argued that because Mr. Taylor was still owed money as a result of certain loans, he was entitled to all of the funds on deposit.

[510]*510The trial judge stated that he previously heard all of these matters in 2002 and that he had already ruled on the issue. He sustained the exception of res judicata. As a result, he would divide the funds equally between the parties as previously ordered. After the oral ruling, Mr. Taylor’s counsel proffered documents to allegedly show that his client was still owed reimbursement for loans. Mr.Pervel’s counsel objected to any of the proffered items.

Seven days later, the trial judge rendered a written judgment dismissing the concursus petition on the grounds of res judicata, peremption, and prescription. He ordered that the funds on deposit be divided equally between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Pervel in accordance with the August 19, 2002 judgment.

Analysis

Mr. Taylor assigned three errors: (1) The trial judge erred in summarily conducting a concursus proceeding. (2) Exceptions of prescription, peremption, and res judicata were not presented to the trial court in written pleadings and should not have been heard. (3) The trial judge erred in finding that the matter was per-empted.

Because we find that the exception of res judicata was properly before the court, we pretermit a discussion regarding the exceptions of prescription and peremption.

| «Res Judicata

The doctrine of res judicata is set forth in La.R.S. 13:4231, which provides as follows:

Except as otherwise provided by law, a valid and final judgment is conclusive between the same parties, except on appeal or other direct review, to the following extent:
(1) If the judgment is in favor of the plaintiff, all causes of action existing at the time of final judgment arising out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the litigation are extinguished and merged in the judgment.
(2) If the judgment is in favor of the defendant, all causes of action existing at the time of final judgment arising out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the litigation are extinguished and the judgment bars a subsequent action on those causes of action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 So. 3d 507, 8 La.App. 5 Cir. 392, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 1391, 2008 WL 4737106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tp-homes-inc-v-taylor-lactapp-2008.