Jamie Glaser v. Noah Hasslock

JAMIE GLASER * NO. 2024-CA-0059

VERSUS * COURT OF APPEAL

NOAH HASSLOCK * FOURTH CIRCUIT

* STATE OF LOUISIANA

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APPEAL FROM
CIVIL DISTRICT COURT, ORLEANS PARISH
NO. 2021-05237, DIVISION “A”
Honorable Ellen M Hazeur, Judge
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JUDGE SANDRA CABRINA JENKINS
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(Court composed of Judge Sandra Cabrina Jenkins, Judge Tiffany Gautier Chase,
Judge Karen K. Herman)

Emma Kingsdorf Schwab
IRPINO, AVIN & HAWKINS
2216 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE

J. William Starr
ATTORNEY AT LAW
3505 Lake Kristin Drive
Gretna, LA 70056

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

AFFIRMED
AUGUST 21, 2024

SCJ
TGC
KKH
This appeal arises from the execution of a promissory note in the amount of

$9,000.00 between Jamie Glaser (“Ms. Glaser”) and Noah Hasslock (“Mr.

Hasslock”). Mr. Hasslock appeals the trial court’s October 3, 2023 judgment

awarding $9,000.00 in damages and $2,765.28 in attorney’s fees in favor of Ms.

Glaser. For the reasons to follow, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ms. Glaser and Mr. Hasslock were engaged to be married. Prior to their

marriage, a home was purchased solely in the name of Mr. Hasslock with the

understanding that the home would serve as their marital domicile. Ms. Glaser

received $9,000.00 from her parents to assist with wedding costs. Ms. Glaser

elected to use the $9,000.00 to help Mr. Hasslock with a down payment on the

home. On December 31, 2014, a promissory note (the “Note”) in the amount of

$9,000.00 was executed between Ms. Glaser and Mr. Hasslock. In consideration,

the funds from Ms. Glaser were only to be used for the first time purchase of a

single family home. The Note outlined the events of acceleration: 1) “Maker’s

failure to use the fund[s] to purchase a first time single family home,” 2) “Maker’s

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failure to put home into ‘joint tenancy’ with Payee,” and 3) “Payee does not live in

home purchased with these funds.”

Mr. Hasslock purchased a single family home in Destrehan, Louisiana on

February 26, 2015, using the $9,000.00 for the down payment. A few months later,

Ms. Glaser and Mr. Hasslock married, and the home was their marital domicile.

Ms. Glaser and Mr. Hasslock divorced on November 21, 2018.

Ms. Glaser filed a petition to enforce the Note on June 21, 2021. Thereafter,

on July 23, 2021, Mr. Hasslock filed a peremptory exception of prescription. Mr.

Hasslock alleged that Ms. Glaser’s claims prescribed pursuant to La. C.C. art.

3498.1 Mr. Hasslock argued an event of acceleration occurred when he failed to put

the home into joint tenancy with the payee, and over five years passed since the

Note was executed and the home was purchased. Ms. Glaser opposed, arguing that

prescription did not begin to run until she moved out of the property. Subsequent to

a hearing on the exception, the trial court denied the exception of prescription.

Thereafter, Ms. Glaser moved for summary judgment, in which the trial court

denied the motion.

The trial court issued a scheduling order on December 14, 2021. The

schedule set May 31, 2022, as the deadline for discovery. Mr. Hasslock moved for

leave to file an amended answer on October 17, 2022. Next, Mr. Hasslock moved

for supplementation of discovery responses under La. C.C.P. art. 1428.2 After a

1 Louisiana Civil Code article 3498 provides “[a]ctions on instruments, whether negotiable or
not, and on promissory notes, whether negotiable or not, are subject to a liberative prescription of
five years. This prescription commences to run from the day payment is exigible.”
2 Louisiana Civil Code of Procedure article 1428 states:

A party who has responded to a request for discovery with a response that was
complete when made is under no duty to supplement his response to include
information thereafter acquired, except as follows:

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show cause hearing, the trial court signed a judgment on March 15, 2023, denying

Mr. Hasslock’s motion to order supplemental discovery responses. Mr. Hasslock

filed a notice of intent to apply for supervisory writ. This Court denied the writ on

May 25, 2023. See Glaser v. Hasslock, 2023-C-0320 (unpub.).

Thereafter, on July 25, 2023, Mr. Hasslock submitted pre-trial inserts which

included two witnesses and an exhibit that were not previously disclosed during

discovery. Ms. Glaser filed a motion in limine to exclude the testimony of the

undisclosed witnesses and the exhibits produced beyond the discovery deadline.

Trial was held on September 25, 2023. Prior to the commencement of trial, a

hearing on the motion in limine was held, and the trial court granted the motion in

limine.

On October 3, 2023, the trial court signed a judgment in favor of Ms. Glaser,

awarding $9,000.00 in damages and $2,765.28 in attorney’s fees. Mr. Hasslock

filed a motion for suspensive appeal or in the alternative a devolutive appeal on

November 21, 2023. Thereafter, Mr. Hasslock moved to convert the motion to a

devolutive appeal. This appeal timely followed.

DISCUSSION

(1) A party is under a duty seasonably to supplement his response with respect to
any question directly addressed to the identity and location of persons having
knowledge of discoverable matters, and the identity of each person expected to be
called as an expert witness at trial, the subject matter on which he is expected to
testify, and the substance of his testimony.

(2) A party is under a duty seasonably to amend a prior response if he obtains
information upon the basis of which he knows that the response was incorrect
when made, or he knows that the response though correct when made is no longer
true and the circumstances are such that a failure to amend the response is in
substance a knowing concealment.

(3) A duty to supplement responses may be imposed by order of the court,
agreement of the parties, or at any time prior to trial through new requests for
supplementation of prior responses.

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In Mr. Hasslock’s two assignments of error, he argues: 1) the trial court

erred in granting the motion in limine, preventing the allowance of evidence or

questioning concerning the gift letter signed by Ms. Glaser on January 6, 2015; and

2) the trial court erred in not allowing him to introduce evidence relating to his

personal Capital One Bank account.3

Motion in Limine

Mr. Hasslock asserts he discovered the January 6, 2015 gift letter signed by

Ms. Glasser, which referenced the money loaned to him for the purchase the home.

Mr. Hasslock further asserts that the gift letter indicated Ms. Glasser gifted him

$6,000.00. Mr. Hasslock contends that the Hasslock Capital One Account should

have been allowed into evidence because the account shows the $6,000.00 deposit

and the account was mentioned in the initial discovery filed by Ms. Glaser.

“[T]he standard of review for a motion in limine is abuse of discretion.”

River Rental Realty LLC v. Deep S. Leasing, LLC, 2017-0982, p. 8 (La. App. 4 Cir.

6/20/18), 250 So.3d 372, 377 (citing Cooper v. Pub. Belt R.R., 2002-2051, p. 3 (La.

App. 4 Cir. 1/22/03), 839 So.2d 181,183).

Here, based on the September 25, 2023 hearing transcript, the trial court

references Mr. Hasslock’s failure to timely disclose the witnesses and exhibits. In

relevant excerpts, the trial court relayed:

THE COURT:

Okay. Thank you both. Plaintiff’s motion in limine is granted. In its
exhibit and witness list filed on April 21, 2022 Defendant does not list
any representatives from Capital One or Crescent Title. He also does
not list any gift letter. Defendant never revised these lists to identify
these witnesses or this exhibit. To allow witnesses and evidence that

3 Appellant identifies his personal bank account and joint bank account by designating the full

account numbers. As a precautionary measure to protect the parties’ privacy, we have elected to
only list the bank accounts as “Hasslock Capital One Account” and “Joint Capital One Account.”

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were not timely disclosed to Plaintiff would be unfair and prejudicial
to Plaintiff. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion in limine is granted as
prayed for.

The trial court concluded that it would be prejudicial to Ms. Glaser if Mr. Hasslock

was allowed to introduce witnesses and exhibits that were not timely disclosed. “It

is well established that trial courts in Louisiana have broad discretion when

regulating pre-trial discovery, which discretion will not be disturbed on appeal

absent a clear showing of abuse.” Hamilton v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co., 2022-

0106, p. 7 (La. App. 4 Cir. 11/9/22), 351 So.3d 829, 835 (quoting Moak v. Illinois

Cent. R.R. Co., 631 So.2d 401, 406 (La. 1994)).

The record provides that Mr. Hasslock waited approximately thirteen

months after the discovery deadline to disclose the witnesses and exhibits. While

Mr. Hasslock asserts that he discovered the gift letter after approaching the title

company to get copies of the checks used as down payment on the purchase of the

house, we do not find this argument to be persuasive. Mr. Hasslock as the sole

mortgage holder had the means to ascertain the gift letter and the Hasslock Capital

One Account documents that were associated with his mortgage application prior

to the discovery deadline.

Additionally, while Mr. Hasslock contends that he should have been allowed

to introduce evidence of the Hasslock Capital One Account which was the subject

of Ms. Glaser’s original discovery requests, he fails to consider that prior to the

discovery deadline, Ms. Glaser sent him a certificate pursuant to La. R.S. 6:3334 on

May 2, 2022, requesting his signature to obtain the documents from the account

4 Louisiana Revised Statute 6:333 outlines the limited circumstances for disclosure of a

customer’s financial records. See City Life Live, L.L.C. v. Post Office Employees Fed. Credit
Union, 55,483, p. 21 (La. App. 2 Cir. 5/15/24), 385 So.3d 1175, 1185.

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they were joint account holders on. However, Mr. Hasslock waited approximately

four months to sign and return the certificate, which was after the discovery

deadline. Therefore, we do not find that the trial court abused its discretion in

granting Ms. Glaser’s motion in limine.

Promissory Note

Lastly, we address whether the Note was extinguished. Mr. Hasslock asserts

that the Note was extinguished because the money was a gift.

At trial, Ms. Glaser testified that she did not have sufficient credit when she

and Mr. Hasslock were looking to purchase a house, thus her name was not going

to be on the title. Ms. Glaser relayed that she received $9,000.00 as a wedding fund

to her, in which she transferred the money to her personal bank account. She

testified that she agreed to loan Mr. Hasslock the $9,000.00 to be used towards the

down payment, but required him sign the Note documenting the terms of the loan.

Ms. Glaser testified that there were two separate transfers—the first being a

November 14, 2014 transfer from her personal checking account to she and Mr.

Hasslock’s joint checking account for $6,000.00, and the second being a check for

$3,000 on December 31, 2014. Ms. Glaser also testified that the $6,000.00 was

transferred to the Joint Capital One Account, and the funds were withdrawn from

Joint Capital One Account on December 23, 2014 to the Hasslock Capital One

Account. Ms. Glaser relayed that the Capital One subpoena showed that the

Hasslock Capital One Account was Mr. Hasslock’s bank account.

Ms. Glaser’s mother, Susan Simon, testified that she witnessed Hasslock

sign the Note and that he was not intoxicated. Ms. Simon testified that she

understood that the $9,000.00 would be returned to Ms. Glaser if the house was to

remain in Mr. Hasslock’s name only or if the marriage ended.

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[COUNSEL FOR MS. GLASER]:

What was your understanding about the money that was subject to the
note – was your understanding about the money from [Ms. Glaser] to
[Mr. Hasslock]; was it a gift, was it a loan, what was it?

MRS. SIMON:

Well they were getting married, so obviously it was given as a good
heart like yes I want to participate in this house, I want to be part of
the house. However, if that house was going to remain in his name
only, or if he left her or she left him, then he owed that much to her
because she didn’t have any stake in the ownership of the house. The
only stake she had was that $9000. So my understanding was she
wanted her [$]9000 back if he didn’t keep the promise or the
marriage.

Mrs. Simon further testified that when purchasing a house, a person cannot

use borrowed funds for a down payment. She attested that she was asked to

designate the $3,000.00 check as a gift so that it did not appear to be a loan. Mrs.

Simon elaborated that she and her husband gifted the money to Ms. Glaser, and

Ms. Glaser directed them to make her gift payment directly to Mr. Hasslock. Mrs.

Simon testified that she agreed to it as long as Mr. Hasslock signed the Note.

Mr. Hasslock testified that the money was provided to him as a gift. Mr.

Hasslock attested he did not recall signing the Note.

[COUNSEL FOR MS. GLASER]:

. . . I’m just asking you does the document identify you as the maker?

MR. HASSLOCK:

My name is next to the maker on the bottom.

***

[COUNSEL FOR MS. GLASER]:

And it says in the event any payment under this note is not paid when
due the maker agrees to pay in addition to the principal and interest
hereunder, reasonable attorney[’]s fees not exceeding 15% of the
outstanding balance owed and agreed, plus all other reasonable

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expenses incurred by payee in exercising any of its rights and
remedies upon default. Did I read that correctly?

MR. HASSLOCK:

I am confident that you can read, yeah. I don’t -yes, you read it
correctly.

Mr. Hasslock further testified he had no knowledge of the Capital One Bank

account that he and Ms. Glaser shared. Mr. Hasslock also testified that he was

intoxicated when he signed the Note.

At the conclusion of trial, the trial court made the following findings: 1) Ms.

Glaser made a prima facie case which then shifted the burden to Mr. Hasslock to

prove nonexistence or extinguishment of the Note; 2) Mr. Hasslock did not meet

his burden; and 3) Ms. Glaser’s intent was to loan the money rather than give a gift

to Mr. Hasslock. The trial court noted that while Mr. Hasslock claimed that he was

intoxicated when he signed the Note, such a testimony was self-serving as Mr.

Hasslock did not have corroborating evidence to establish that he was intoxicated,

or that Ms. Glaser knew or should have known he was intoxicated. The trial court

additionally noted that Mr. Hasslock testified that he only received $3,000.00,

however, in his written request for admission he admitted that he received

$9,000.00 for the down payment. The trial court explained that the Joint Capital

One Account reflected that $6,000.00 was deposited from Ms. Glaser’s personal

bank account. Finally, the trial court found it was Ms. Glaser’s intent to loan the

money to Mr. Hasslock in light of the execution of the Note on the same date the

check was dated and made payable to Mr. Hasslock.

In light of the record before us, we find that Mr. Hasslock failed to carry his

burden of proving that the Note was extinguished. As such, we do not find that the

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trial court erred in awarding $9,000.00 in damages and $2,765.28 in attorney’s fees

in favor of Ms. Glaser.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court’s October 3, 2023

judgment awarding $9,000.00 in damages and $2,765.28 in attorney’s fees in favor

of Ms. Glaser.

AFFIRMED

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