Ventura v. Rubio

785 So. 2d 880, 2001 WL 540573
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 16, 2001
Docket2000-CA-0682
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 785 So. 2d 880 (Ventura v. Rubio) 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
Ventura v. Rubio, 785 So. 2d 880, 2001 WL 540573 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

785 So.2d 880 (2001)

Patricia Licette VENTURA
v.
Rafael Carlos RUBIO, Sr.

No. 2000-CA-0682.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

March 16, 2001.

*883 Robert D. Levenstein, Laplace, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee.

Rafael Rubio, Sr., Metairie, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant.

Court composed of Judge STEVEN R. PLOTKIN, Judge MIRIAM G. WALTZER, Judge MAX N. TOBIAS, Jr.

PER CURIAM.

Rafael Carlos Rubio, Sr. ("Rubio") devolutively appeals a judgment of the Civil District Court dated October 29, 1999. The motion for appeal was filed with the clerk of court on November 24, 1999; the order granting the appeal was signed by the trial judge on November 30, 1999. Because the issues addressed below are date sensitive, we provide a detailed date history of this case as reflected by the record before us.

On June 26, 1998, Patricia Licette Ventura ("Ventura") filed a petition for a Civil Code Article 103 divorce from Rubio. In addition, she asked for a judgment in her favor of joint custody of the parties' two minor children, Rafael Carlos Rubio, Jr. and Ericka Regina Rubio, with herself named as the primary physical custodian, and for child support. On July 7, 1998, the court issued an order setting a hearing on the issues of custody and child support for August 26, 1998. A blank sheriffs return appears in the record; nothing in the record shows that the petition or the July 7, 1998 order was ever served upon Rubio.

On July 29, 1998, Ventura's counsel filed a motion to continue the August 26, 1998 hearing asserting a conflict in his schedule and a lack of service of either the petition or the July 7, 1998 order. By order of August 7, 1998, the court granted a continuance until October 7, 1998. On August 25, 1998, Ventura's counsel again filed a *884 motion for continuance alleging a conflict in his schedule and a lack of service of the petition and order. The court granted the continuance on September 4, 1998, and reset the matter for hearing on October 28, 1998. On October 14, 1998, Ventura filed a motion for the appointment of a special process server pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1293, and the court issued an order dated October 22, 1998 granting the motion.

Rubio filed a responsive pleading on March 25, 1999, in which he admitted the allegations relative to the divorce and admitted that joint custody was in the best interest of the children.

On April 8, 1999, Ventura's counsel filed a motion to reset the matters last set for hearing on October 28, 1998. An order of the court dated April 20, 1999 reset the matters for June 16, 1999. On May 20, 1999, Ventura's counsel filed another motion to reset this hearing. By order of May 27, 1999, the court confirmed that the matter was reset for hearing on June 16, 1999. On June 8, 1999, Rubio was served with notice of the pending June 16, 1999 hearing date.

On June 3, 1999, Ventura's counsel filed a motion to continue the June 16, 1999 hearing asserting a conflict in his schedule and further asserting that counsel for Rubio concurred in the motion for a continuance. On June 8, 1999, the court granted the motion for continuance and reset the hearing for August 31, 1999. During that time, on June 4, 1999, Rubio filed a request for notice of judgment citing La. C.C.P. arts. 1572, 1913 and 1914. Another order bearing a filing date of June 16, 1999, was issued by the court on June 22, 1999 setting the divorce matter for trial on August 31, 1999.

On August 31, 1999, the matter came for trial. A number of issues, including child custody and visitation, child support, and evaluation of the parties, were addressed. The court issued a written judgment dated October 29, 1999 as a result of that hearing. Although the transcript of the hearing clearly indicates that all orders, except for the divorce, were intended to be interim or temporary, the October 29, 1999 judgment (hereinafter, "the judgment") fails to specifically indicate that it is interim or temporary. Furthermore, the judgment varies somewhat from what the transcript reflects was ordered at the hearing.

Apparently, a draft of the judgment that was ultimately signed was mailed to Rubio's counsel by Ventura's counsel on or about October 20, 1999, since a motion to set a status conference "before signing of judgment filed by petitioner" was filed by Rubio's counsel on October 29, 1999[1]. Nonetheless, the judgment, substantially as drafted by Ventura's counsel, was signed by the court.

The record reflects that Rubio appealed only the October 29, 1999 judgment. The record before us reflects that no motion or order of appeal was filed or requested regarding any order or judgment dated after October 29, 1999. Supervisory writs were not sought. Therefore, this court is limited to a consideration of issues relating to the October 29, 1999 judgment only. La. C.C.P. articles 3942, 3943.

*885 Although the briefs filed by the parties enlighten us as to what the parties may have intended, we, as a court of record, must limit our review to that which is in the record before us. The Court of Appeal is not a court of first impression and cannot review evidence that was not before the trial court. Arceneaux v. Arceneaux, 98-1178 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/17/99), 733 So.2d 86, writ denied, 99-0518 (La.4/9/99), 740 So.2d 633, writ not considered, 99-1351 (La.6/25/99), 745 So.2d 624; Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 1-3. In this case, we are limited to a review of the pleadings, orders, the judgment and transcript. In doing so, we take notice of the discrepancies between the transcript and the judgment, as hereinafter discussed.

The transcript of the hearing affirmatively reflects that the court issued custody orders granting custody of the children to Ventura and granting "status quo" visitation to Rubio of every other weekend from 5 p.m. on Friday through 5 p.m. on Sunday with Rafael, Jr. and from 5 p.m. on Friday through 5 p.m. on Saturday with Ericka. The party receiving the child(ren) was made responsible for picking up the child(ren) from the other party's residence. The court also issued an order of child support payable by Rubio to Ventura of $859.14 per month based upon Ventura's monthly income of $3,095 and a "stipulated income" of $35,000 per annum for Rubio. The transcript does not reflect how those amounts were determined. By implication, the award of child support was made retroactive to June 1998, except that through the date Rubio passed the Louisiana State Bar examination the monthly child support would be but $40. Further, the court referred the parties to be evaluated by Gail Pesses[2] and ordered a preliminary injunction against Rubio enjoining him from harassing Ventura at home or work. Rubio's counsel stated for the record that he had no questions of Ventura. All of the foregoing was established solely through the testimony of Ventura. Rubio was not sworn and did not testify. The court stated at the end of the proceedings:

Judgment is (sic) prayed as to the Divorce. And Court will enter the Interim orders as recited by counsel.

The judgment went further than as reflected by the transcript for it decrees the following: (1) appoints Ms. Pesses to conduct an evaluation and orders that each party would pay his or her own share of the evaluation expense, which would be taxed as costs of court; (2) orders Rubio to sign a medical release for Ms.

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785 So. 2d 880, 2001 WL 540573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ventura-v-rubio-lactapp-2001.