Alvin Lee McNeely, Jr. v. the Unopened Succession of John Cole

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

CA 05-200

ALVIN LEE MCNEELY, JR.

VERSUS

THE UNOPENED SUCCESSION OF JOHN COLE

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APPEAL FROM THE
NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF RAPIDES, NO. 184,280
HONORABLE WILLIAM ROSS FOOTE, DISTRICT JUDGE

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JOHN D. SAUNDERS
JUDGE

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Court composed of John D. Saunders, Oswald A. Decuir, and Marc T. Amy, Judges.

AFFIRMED.

Stephen E. Everett
Attorney at Law
823 Johnston Street
Alexandria, LA 71301-0000
(318) 443-6312
Counsel for Third Party Plaintiffs/Appellants:
Judy Cole McKay
Dorothy Cole Bucco

Dan E. Melichar
Attorney at Law
P. O. Box 1306
Alexandria, LA 71301-0000
(318) 448-8565
Counsel for Third Party Defendant/Appellee:
Gerald Bernard

Ricky L. Sooter
Attorney at Law
3600 Jackson St., Suite 106A
Alexandria,, LA 71303-0000
(318) 767-0366
Counsel for Third Party Defendant/Appellee:
Sheriff William Earl Hilton

Todd Lee Farrar
Attorney at Law
P. O. Box 4028
Pineville, LA 71361-4028
(318) 448-4040
Counsel for Third Party Defendant:
Alvin Lee McNeely, Jr.

SAUNDERS, J.

This matter comes before us on appeal of the trial court’s granting of a Motion

for Summary Judgment. Appellants seek annulment of a judicial sale because the

judgment giving rise to the sale was subsequently declared null. The trial court

granted summary judgment dismissing the Sheriff and buyer with prejudice. We

affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff, Alvin Lee McNeely, filed suit on a note executed by John Cole

against his unopened succession. An attorney appointed to represent the succession

was served and judgment in the amount of $1,475.10 plus 10% interest and 10%

attorney’s fees was rendered. Subsequently, the trial court issued a Writ of Fieri

Facias directing the sheriff of Rapides Parish to seize and sell immovable property

owned by the succession. The property was seized on September 21, 1998 and listed

for sale on November 4, 1998. No bids were received so the property was re-

advertised and sold on March 24, 1999 to Gerald J. Bernard for $6,500.00. The

Sheriff’s deed was recorded on April 20, 1999 in Conveyance Book 1556, Page 554,

Entry No. 1100750.

Subsequent to the sale to Bernard, Judy Cole McKay and Dorothy Cole Bucco

filed a Petition to Nullify Judgment for fraud and/or ill practices. After trial on the

merits, the previous judgment rendered on behalf of Alvin McNeely was declared null

on May 31, 2000. Thereafter, McKay and Bucco filed a petition seeking damages

from McNeely and annulment of the sheriff’s sale. Bernard answered and McNeely

filed an Exception of Non-Joinder of an Indispensable Party. Judgment was then

rendered ordering the joinder of the Sheriff of Rapides Parish. Once joined, the

Sheriff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing that the public records doctrine

prohibited annulment of the sale. That motion was granted and both Bernard and the

Sheriff were dismissed from the suit with prejudice. Appellants timely perfected this

appeal of that ruling.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

The trial judge committed error in granting summary judgment in this

proceeding.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

When reviewing judgments rendered upon motions for summary judgment,

appellate courts conduct a de novo review. Alfred Palma, Inc., v. Crane Servs. Inc.,

03-0614, p. 3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/5/03), 858 So.2d 772, 774.

DISCUSSION

Appellants cite Progressive Bank & Trust Co. v. Guidry, Contractors, Inc., 504

So.2d 997, (La.App. 1 Cir. 1987) in support of their argument that the judicial sale

should be nullified. This reliance is misplaced. The court in Progressive did note

that judicial sales are subject to claims of nullity; however, that case is

distinguishable from the case sub judice. First, the items seized and sold in

Progressive were movable. As such, the public records doctrine was not implicated

as it is in the present matter. Second, the court in Progressive nullified the sale due

to error regarding the object of the contract of sale between the sheriff and the buyer.

No evidence of error between the buyer, Bernard, and the sheriff is present in this

case. Accordingly, Progressive must also be distinguished because it involves a vice

of consent that is not at issue here.

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Appellants also cite Jacobs v. Kansas City S. & G. Ry. Co., 64 So. 150 (La.

1913) as support for annulment of the judicial sale. This argument lacks merit.

Louisiana’s public records doctrine, applied as it exists today, requires a different

1 outcome than the one suggested in dicta by the court in Jacobs. Our supreme court,

2 in Camel v. Waller, 526 So.2d 1086 (La. 1988), noted that the public records doctrine

3 is established by La.Civ.Code art. 1839, as well as La.R.S. 9:2721 and 2756.

4 Louisiana Civil Code Article 1839 provides that:

5 A transfer of immovable property must be made by
6 authentic act or by act under private signature.
7 Nevertheless, an oral transfer is valid between the parties
8 when the property has been actually delivered and the
9 transferor recognizes the transfer when interrogated on oath.

10 An instrument involving immovable property shall
11 have effect against third persons only from the time it is
12 filed for registry in the parish where the property is located.

13 Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2721 provides, in pertinent part, that:

14 No sale, contract, counter letter, lien, mortgage,
15 judgment, surface lease, oil, gas or mineral lease, or other
16 instrument of writing relating to or affecting immovable
17 property shall be binding on or affect third persons or third
18 parties unless and until filed for registry in the office of the
19 parish recorder of the parish where the land or immovable
20 is situated. Neither secret claims or equities nor other
21 matters outside the public records shall be binding on or
22 affect such third parties.

23 Finally, La.R.S. 9:2756 provides that:

24 All sales, contracts and judgments affecting immovable
25 property, which shall not be so recorded, shall be utterly
26 null and void, except between the parties thereto. The
27 recording may be made at any time, but shall only affect
28 third persons from the time of the recording.

29 The recording shall have effect from the time when the

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1 act is deposited in the proper office, and indorsed by the
2 proper officer.

3 These statutes, acting together, compose the public records doctrine. Camel, 526

4 So.2d at 1089.

5 The original judgment rendered in favor of McNeely was properly recorded in

6 1998. At that time, it became effective upon third parties. The was nothing on the

7 face of that instrument suggestive of a defect. In fact, Appellants acknowledge that

8 there was no defect in the form of the original judgment by framing their action for

9 nullity under La.Code Civ.P. art. 2004 entitled “Annulment for vices of substance;

10 peremption of action” not under La.Code Civ.P. art. 2002 entitled “Annulment for

11 vices of form; time for action[.]” While the judgment at issue in this matter was

12 annulled due to a defect in substance, Appellants, as previously noted, rely upon

13 Jacobs as grounds for annulment of the judicial sale. We find, however, that even if

14 Jacobs had involved a defect of substance, it would not carry the day for Appellants

15 in this matter because it would have been effectively overruled by the enactment of

16 La.R.S. 9:2721. Jacobs was decided in 1913, almost forty years before the enactment

17 of La.R.S. 9:2721. Accordingly, at the time Jacobs was rendered, third parties did

18 not enjoy the protection currently afforded by La.R.S. 9:2721 and it is this protection

19 that determines the outcome here.

20 Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2721 unequivocally provides that the original

21 judgment became effective upon Bernard, a third party, when it was recorded and that

22 “neither secret claims or equities nor other matters outside the public records shall be

23 binding on or affect such third parties.” La.R.S. 9:2721. We find that the defect in

24 the substance of that judgment is a “secret claim[,]” “equity[,]” and matter “outside

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1 the public records[.]” Accordingly, pursuant to La.R.S. § 9:2721, Bernard is not

2 bound to return the property due to the defect in the substance of the original

3 judgment. Appellants’ argument lacks merit.

4 CONCLUSION

5 The trial court’s ruling is affirmed. Costs of this appeal are assessed against

6 Appellants.

7 AFFIRMED.

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