Turner v. Associates Commercial Corp.

860 So. 2d 244, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 0224, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2934, 2003 WL 22439502
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2003
DocketNo. 03-CA-0224
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 860 So. 2d 244 (Turner v. Associates Commercial Corp.) 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
Turner v. Associates Commercial Corp., 860 So. 2d 244, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 0224, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2934, 2003 WL 22439502 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

|,SOL GOTHARD, Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from the trial judge’s ruling granting summary judgment and dismissing his suit against defendant Marc E. Johnson. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision of the trial court.

In November of 1997, Mr. Turner purchased a tractor truck from Parish Sales, Inc. The purchase was financed by Associates Commercial Corporation. The financing agreement provided that Turner was to make 42 payments of $1,228.00, and a final payment of $51,579.36. The agreement further provided that if a payment was missed, the loan would be accelerated and the entire amount of indebtedness would be due.

On December 3, 1998, Associates filed a petition for executory process, alleging that Turner was delinquent in his payments. A Writ of Seizure and Sale was issued.

In August of 1999, Associates filed a Rule to Produce Chattel, requesting an order requiring Turner to produce the truck. The Rule was set for October 1999, but was reset when service was not perfected. Turner was served on November 25, 1999, and the Rule was held on December 21,1999.

|3Shortly before the December hearing, Turner contacted Marc Johnson and asked for representation. At the hearing, Johnson requested a continuance and the matter was reset for February 1, 2000. The trial court informed the parties that Turner should settle the matter with Associates, pay the account, or turn over the truck.

Prior to the February hearing, Johnson contacted Associates. Johnson also asked Turner to provide all documentation to support his claim that he had made payments.

At the hearing on the Rule to Produce Chattel, the trial court found that the writ of seizure was valid and ordered Turner to produce the truck. The truck was sold at a Sheriffs Sale on June 7, 2000.

Mr. Turner instituted this present suit on January 31, 2001, against Parish Truck Sales, Associates, Inc., and Marc Johnson. Specific to this appeal, Turner alleged that Johnson committed legal malpractice in his representation, which caused him to lose the truck. Johnson filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted by the trial court. This appeal followed.

LSA-C.C.P. art. 966 provides in pertinent part as follows:

. The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
C. (1) After adequate discovery or after a case is set for trial, a motion which shows that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law shall be granted.

Summary judgments are now favored in the law and the rules should be applied liberally. Breaux v. Schiro, 01-1398 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/29/02), 821 So.2d 123, 125; writ denied, 02-1784 (La.10/4/02), 826 So.2d 1129.

|4On appeal this Court must review a summary judgment de novo and inquire whether there are genuine issues of material fact and whether the summary judgment should be granted in accordance with article 966. Id. The summary judgment procedure shall be construed to accomplish the ends of just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of allowable actions. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966; Perricone v. East Jefferson General Hospital, 98-343 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/14/98), 721 So.2d 48.

[246]*246Plaintiffs claim against Mr. Johnson alleges that Johnson committed legal malpractice in his representation of plaintiff.

A claim for legal malpractice is stated when the plaintiff alleges there was an attorney-client relationship, the attorney was guilty of negligence in his relationship with the client, and the plaintiff sustained some loss because of the attorney’s conduct. Nelson v. Waldrup, (La.App. 4 Cir.) 565 So.2d 1078, writ denied 569 So.2d 962 (La.1990); Jenkins v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co., 422 So.2d 1109 (La.1982). Plaintiff must meet this initial burden of proof before the burden “shifts to the defendant attorney to prove that the client could not have succeeded on'the original claim.” Nelson, at 1079.

Johnson v. Tschirn, 99-0625 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/29/99), 746 So.2d 629, 631-632, writ denied, 99-3077 (La.01/07/00), 752 So.2d 866.

In this case, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs claim against Johnson, finding that plaintiff failed to prove any negligence on Johnson’s part in his representation of plaintiff.

On appeal, plaintiff alleges that Johnson was negligent in failing to challenge the writ of seizure. Plaintiff alleges that there was insufficient service of the writ of seizure or the underlying petition for execu-tory process and that the writ of seizure had expired prior to the hearing date. Plaintiff further alleges that Johnson failed to present evidence of payment as a defense to prevent the seizure of the truck. Finally, plaintiff argues that Johnson was negligent in failing to preserve his right to appeal.

|sPlaintiff first alleges that the trial court erred in finding that he was properly served prior to the seizure and sale of his truck. He argues that service was insufficient because he was not served with the Petition for Executory Process or the Rule for Seizure and Sale, and was only served with the Rule to Produce Chattel.

Mr. Johnson had no ground to assert failure of service of the petition for execu-tory process since “Citation is not necessary in an executory process.” La. C.C.P. art. 2640. Johnson also had no ground to assert failure of notice of the writ of seizure and sale since it was never executed. La. C.C.P. art. 2721. Instead a Rule to Produce Chattel was directed to plaintiff, and plaintiff was properly served with that Rule. Accordingly, defendant was not negligent in failing to challenge the writ of seizure and sale based on insufficient notice.

Plaintiff next alleges that the trial court erred in finding that writ of seizure was not expired at the time of the Rule to Produce Chattel. He argues that the writ was expired because more than one year had elapsed from its issue when the Rule to Produce Chattel was held, and therefore defendant was negligent in failing to challenge the writ as untimely. Defendant responds that a writ of seizure does not expire with the passage of one year, and the writ was valid at the time of the Rule.

The codal articles pertaining to writ of sale and seizure do not provide for an expiration date. La. C.C.P. art. 2721 et seq. Plaintiff argues that a writ of sale and seizure is analogous to a writ of fieri facias (fifa), La. C.C.P. art. 2293, et seq., which expires one year from the date of issuance. La.C.C.P. art. 2294. The Code of Civil Procedure specifically enumerates those provisions which are applicable both to writs of fifa and writs of seizure and sale in La. C.C.P. art. 2724. The one year time limit for the execution of a writ of fifa is not set forth in art. 2724, and therefore does not apply to a writ of seizure and sale.

[247]*247| (¡Plaintiff next alleges that Mr. Johnson was negligent in failing to present evidence at the hearing, which would have prevented the seizure of his truekJn his reasons for judgment, the trial judge found that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
860 So. 2d 244, 3 La.App. 5 Cir. 0224, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 2934, 2003 WL 22439502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-associates-commercial-corp-lactapp-2003.