Wegmann & Babst, LLC v. Feingerts

171 So. 3d 1131, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1262, 2015 WL 3893303
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 24, 2015
DocketNos. 2014-CA-1185, 2014-CA-1278
StatusPublished

This text of 171 So. 3d 1131 (Wegmann & Babst, LLC v. Feingerts) 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
Wegmann & Babst, LLC v. Feingerts, 171 So. 3d 1131, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1262, 2015 WL 3893303 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DENNIS R. BAGNERIS, SR., Judge.

| ¶ This matter involves an ongoing dispute over attorney’s fees and costs between Mr. Bruce L. Feingerts and his attorney, Mr. James A. Babst, arising out of a workers’ compensation case. For the following reasons, we hereby vacate the Civil District Court’s June 6, 2014 judgment that granted the exception of improper venue, and affirm the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration’s June 4,2014 judgment.

FACTS

The underlying facts of this case are set forth in this Court’s previous opinion Fein-gerts v. American Casualty Co. of Reading, 13-701, 132 So.3d 994 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/23/2013), whereby this Court1 affirmed an October 25, 2012 workers’ compensation judge’s (“WCJ”) decision to award Mr. Feingerts’ workers’ compensation attorneys collectively $10,000.00 in attorney fees’ upon his $50,000.00 settlement, and ordered Mr. Babst to pay Mr. Feingerts $5,000.00 for attorney’s fees plus all costs incurred in connection with his having to file and successfully pursue his petition for nullification of judgment obtained through iraud or ill practices. In accordance with the final October 25, 2012 judgment, | ^counsel for Mr. Feingerts sent two letters to Mr. Babst, dated April 11, 2014 and April 15, 2014, requesting that he immedi- ■ ately pay Mr. Feingerts any funds due to him currently being held in Mr. Babst’s [1133]*1133trust accounts. Thereafter, on April 15, 2014, Mr. Babst filed a petition for concur-sus in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans regarding the dispute of attorney’s fees and costs, and transferred Mr. Feingerts’ settlement funds to the concursus proceeding.

On April 24, 2014, Mr. Feingerts filed a motion to enforce judgment and for sanctions in the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration (“OWCA”) alleging that it had the exclusive jurisdiction to hear the underlying concursus proceeding. The OWCA granted Mr. Feingerts’ motion to enforce and ordered that Mr. Babst appear and show cause on May 13, 2014 why he should not be sanctioned to pay all fees and costs incurred by Mr. Feingerts. After a hearing, the OWCA issued a judgment on June 4, 2014, stating the following findings:

(1) Attorney James Babst has abused the judicial system with disdain and unfounded frivolous motions.
(2) The filing of the concursus proceeding in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans was a clear and obvious attempt to subvert the rules and orders, and the judgment that have been issued, or caused to be issued, by this Court and the Fourth Circuit.
(3) The Workers’ Compensation Court is the proper and exclusive court for jurisdiction on all issues relating to the Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs originally filed on the OWCA Court (said motion approved, subsequently annulled due to fraud and ill practices, the decisions of the OWCA Court affirmed by the Fourth Circuit, and writs denied by the Supreme Court.)

Based on these findings, the June 4, 2014 judgment ordered, in pertinent part: (1) the settlement funds be transferred from Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans and placed in the registry of the OWCA; (2) Mr. Babst pay the | ⅞$5,000.00, plus incurred costs, that was previously ordered in the OWCA’s October 25, 2012 judgment, and affirmed by this Court; (3) Mr. Babst to pay $2,096.25 for the costs incurred by Mr. Feingerts in filing the original petition to annul and the motion to enforce the judgment; (4) Mr. Babst to pay $3,894.00 in attorney’s fees and costs for forcing Mr. Feingerts to file an exception to the petition for concursus in Civil District Court; and (5) Mr. Babst to pay the costs for the transcript of the May 13, 2014 hearing.

On June 6, 2014, the Civil District Court granted Mr. Feingerts’ exception for improper venue and dismissed the petition with prejudice at Mr. Babst’s costs. The Civil District Court further ordered the Clerk of Court for the Parish of Orleans to immediately transfer the funds, in the amount of $38,994.40, to the registry of Office of Workers’ Compensation Court to be fully distributed in accordance with an order to be issued by that Court.

In regards to the Civil District Court appeal2, Mr. Babst argues on appeal that the Civil District Court erred when it (1) sustained the exception of venue, (2) dismissed the concursus with prejudice, (3) declined to exercise its subject matter jurisdiction presented in the concursus, and (4)ordered the transfer of the funds held in the court to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Office.

In regards to the OWCA appeal3, Mr. Babst argues on appeal that the OWCA erred when it (1) exercised subject matter jurisdiction over this matter, (2) interfered with the jurisdiction of the Civil District Court by ordering that funds Rheld in its registry be transferred to the OWCA, and [1134]*1134(8) imposed sanctions by ordering him to pay fees and costs.

DISCUSSION

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Mr. Babst argues that the Civil District Court had subject matter jurisdiction over this concursus proceeding and that both the Civil District Court, as well as the OWCA, erred in its determination that OWCA had exclusive jurisdiction. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure art. 4651 defines a concursus proceeding as “one in which two or more persons having competing or conflicting claims to money, property, or mortgages or privileges on property are impleaded and required to assert their respective claims contradictorily against all other parties to the proceeding.”

Jurisdiction is a separate and distinct legal concept from venue. Jurisdiction over the subject matter is the legal power and authority of a court to hear and determine a particular class of actions or proceedings, based on the object of the demand, the amount in dispute, or the value of the right asserted. La. C.C.P. art. 2. The jurisdiction of a court over the subject matter of an action or proceeding cannot be conferred by consent of the parties. A judgment rendered by a court which has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action or proceeding is void. La. C.C.P. art. 3. It is the duty of the court to examine subject matter jurisdiction sua sponte, even when the issue is not raised by the litigants. Boudreaux v. State, Dept. of Transp. and Development, 01-1329, p. 8 (La.2/26/02), 815 So.2d 7, 13. Venue is not concerned with the power and authority of a court, but with the parish where an action may be brought. La. C.C.P. art. 41.

| ^Pursuant to La. Const, art. V, § 16, original jurisdiction of all civil and criminal matters is vested in district courts, except as otherwise authorized by the constitution or “except as heretofore or hereafter provided by law for administrative agency determinations in [workers’] compensation matters.” Sampson v. Wendy’s Management, Inc., 593 So.2d 336, 337 (La.1992). Further, La. R.S. 23:1310.3(F)4 provides, in pertinent part:

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Sampson v. Wendy's Management, Inc.
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132 So. 3d 994 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)

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171 So. 3d 1131, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 1185, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1262, 2015 WL 3893303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wegmann-babst-llc-v-feingerts-lactapp-2015.