Vincent v. Lemaire

370 So. 2d 190
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 1979
Docket6940
StatusPublished

This text of 370 So. 2d 190 (Vincent v. Lemaire) 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
Vincent v. Lemaire, 370 So. 2d 190 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

370 So.2d 190 (1979)

Shirley VINCENT, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
Joseph Jessie LEMAIRE, Defendant and Appellee.

No. 6940.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 11, 1979.

*192 Thompson & Sellers by Roger C. Sellers, Abbeville, and Darrell J. Hartman, Kaplan, for plaintiff-appellant.

Theall & Fontana by Anthony J. Fontana, Jr., Abbeville, Wade A. Mouton, Kaplan, for defendant-appellee.

Before CULPEPPER, CUTRER and STOKER, JJ.

CULPEPPER, Judge.

This suit originated with a petition by the plaintiff wife, Shirley Vincent, seeking a separation from bed and board from the defendant husband, Joseph Jessie Lemaire. The judgment of separation was rendered on August 25, 1975 and is not at issue on this appeal. On August 10, 1977 the plaintiff wife filed a petition for partition of community property. The only community asset alleged is the sum of $200,000 received by the defendant husband on or about August 4, 1977 in settlement of his claim for personal injuries under the Jones Act, arising out of an accident which occurred on January 5, 1975. The cause of action under the Jones Act arose during the existence of the community, but the settlement funds were not received by defendant until after the dissolution of the community.

At the time of filing her petition for partition, the wife also obtained a temporary restraining order, without a bond, enjoining the defendant husband from disposing of any of the settlement funds. On August 12, 1977, the defendant husband obtained an order reducing the amount restrained to $50,000, and, on the same date, an order that plaintiff post a bond in the sum of $5,000 as security for any damages sustained by defendant because of the wrongful issuance of the temporary restraining order. Pursuant to a later rule to fix the amount of these damages, the court rendered a judgment on February 8, 1979 awarding the defendant husband $500 as attorney's fees, but referred the question of any other damages to the merits. On the trial of the merits, the district judge held that of the $200,000 in settlement funds, $18,342.52 was owned by the community, $3,342.52 being for lost wages and $15,000 being for pain and suffering during the community. The plaintiff wife appealed. The defendant husband answered the appeal.

The plaintiff wife contends the trial court erred in: (1) Failing to order the production of a settlement brochure prepared by defendant's attorneys during negotiation of his personal injury claim. (2) Awarding defendant $75 in attorney's fees for opposing plaintiff's motion to produce the settlement brochure. (3) Failing to allow plaintiff to take the depositions of two psychiatrists who treated defendant. (4) Placing the burden of proof upon plaintiff to show what portion of the settlement funds were owned by the community. (5) Quashing subpoenaes duces tecum to defendant's attorney and the insurance adjuster to produce their files in connection with the settlement. (6) Finding that only $18,342.52 of the $200,000 settlement is owned by the community.

In his answer to the appeal, the defendant husband contends the trial court erred in: (1) Not following the itemization of the settlement funds in the judgment of August 4, 1975 approving the Jones Act settlement. (2) Denying defendant's reconventional demand for damages in the sum of $95,200 for wrongful issuance of the temporary restraining order. (3) Failing to recall the preliminary injunction upon rendition of the partition judgment.

GENERAL FACTS

The general facts are that plaintiff and defendant were married in 1956. On January 5, 1975, at which time defendant was 49 years of age, he was injured while working as a seaman for Brown & Root, Inc. off the coast of Brazil. The barge he was on was struck by a wave, causing him to fall backward *193 and strike the back of his head. He was flown to New Orleans, where he was seen by physicians and hospitalized. On about April 1, 1975, he returned to his home in Vermilion Parish. Within the next few days, he went to physicians in Lafayette, complaining of pain in his head, neck and shoulders. He was admitted to the hospital in Lafayette. While there he developed behavioral changes later diagnosed as post-traumatic paranoid psychosis. On his return to his home with his wife and children, his behavior became so erratic and irrational that on about May 1, 1975 he was sent to Central State Hospital in Pineville, Louisiana. There his condition was diagnosed as psychosis with brain trauma and as psychotic depressive reaction. After about 15 days at Central, he returned to Kaplan to his wife and children. But his behavior again became irrational and he was recommitted to Central State Hospital. On July 15, 1975, he returned to Kaplan but lived with his oldest son. His wife stated that he had ordered her out of the house. On July 28, 1975, his wife filed the suit for separation.

After the separation, defendant continued to have serious medical problems. In early 1976, he complained of back pain and was finally diagnosed as having a herniated cervical disc for which he underwent surgery. He continued to complaint of headaches which were diagnosed as left occipital neuralgia, for which a neucretomy was performed in January of 1977. This latter surgical procedure relieved the severe headaches, but plaintiff continued to suffer from back complaints and depression up until the time of the Jones Act settlement, with only a fair prognosis for recovery, provided defendant receive continued psychiatric treatment.

Having stated the general facts, we will now address plaintiff's contentions of error in the order listed above.

FAILURE TO ORDER PRODUCTION OF SETTLEMENT BROCHURE

Plaintiff's first contention is that the trial judge erred in denying her motion to produce the settlement brochure, a document prepared by defendant's attorneys in negotiating the settlement of the Jones Act claim. The trial judge denied the motion to produce the brochure for three reasons: (1) LSA-C.C.P. Article 1424 prohibits the discovery of an attorney's work product. (2) All information contained in the brochure, except the attorney's work product, and in particular all of the medical records in defendant's possession at the time of preparation of the brochure, had already been supplied to the plaintiff. (3) Much of the information sought by plaintiff from the brochure is irrelevant to the present partition of the community which existed for only seven months after defendant's accident.

We agree with the trial judge's ruling. The record shows defendant's attorneys furnished to plaintiff all the medical evidence in their possession. This was the principal evidence plaintiff needed to prepare for trial of this partition of the settlement funds under the rules established in West v. Ortego, 325 So.2d 242 (La.1975). In West the court held that where a spouse is injured during the community, but the settlement of the claim is made after dissolution of the community, that portion of the settlement funds which compensates for predissolution damages is owned by the community, and that portion of the settlement which compensates for post-dissolution damages falls into the separate estate of the injured spouse. Thus, the issue in the present case was how much of the settlement funds compensated for damage to the community during the seven months between the time of the accident and the time of dissolution. Defendant furnished to plaintiff all of the medical records concerning this issue.

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Related

West v. Ortego
325 So. 2d 242 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1975)
Broussard v. Broussard
340 So. 2d 1309 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
Chambers v. Chambers
249 So. 2d 896 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1971)
Barton v. Barton
349 So. 2d 1013 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
370 So. 2d 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vincent-v-lemaire-lactapp-1979.