Boudreaux v. Jeff

• Decision Date: 17 September 2004
• Docket Number: No. 2003 CA 1932.,2003 CA 1932.
• Citation: 884 So.2d 665
• Parties: Arthur P. BOUDREAUX, II v. Mark JEFF, Dion John Authement, Rhonda Tabora, and Elizabeth Hays.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

884 So.2d 665

Arthur P. BOUDREAUX, II v. Mark JEFF, Dion John Authement, Rhonda Tabora, and Elizabeth Hays.

No. .

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 17, 2004.

Rehearing Denied November 9, 2004.

Eddie N. Pullaro, Houma, for Plaintiff-Appellee Arthur P. Boudreaux, II.

Brent J. Rhodes, Houma, for Defendant-Appellant Dion John Authement.

Before: CARTER, C.J., PARRO, and GUIDRY, JJ.

PARRO, J.

Dion John Authement appeals a judgment finding him solidarily liable with Mark Jeff for the payment of $45,000, plus interest and costs, to Arthur P. Boudreaux, II, based on a finding that Authement and Jeff conspired to defraud Boudreaux of that amount in connection with a sale of real property. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Boudreaux had inherited from his father two pieces of real property on either side of Grand Caillou Highway 57 in Terrebonne Parish. The property on the east side of the highway had a house on it; the property on the west side of the highway was known as the "batture property," because it was bounded on the west by Bayou Grand Caillou. Boudreaux's sister, Becky, had inherited from their father the property adjacent to and south of her brother's lots on both sides of the highway. Becky was married to Authement at the time, and she transferred an undivided interest to him in order for this property to be co-owned. When they divorced, the community property settlement included a transfer of full ownership of Becky's batture property to Authement.¹ Therefore, in March 2001, when the events leading to this litigation occurred, Authement owned the batture property to the south of Boudreaux's batture property and had a small business there; he was interested in buying Boudreaux's batture property. However, due to the strained family relationships after his divorce from Becky, Authement doubted that Boudreaux would sell it to him.

Enter Mark Jeff. Jeff was acquainted with Authement and Boudreaux, and in early 2001, he learned that Authement was interested in Boudreaux's batture property. In short order, Jeff became the "middle man" to buy the property from Boudreaux and then sell it to Authement.² Jeff learned that Boudreaux's property was in foreclosure and that he was willing to sell it to him.³ On March 12, 2001, Boudreaux signed a letter to a law firm in Monroe, Louisiana, which was handling the foreclosure of his property, and gave the letter to Jeff; it authorized Jeff "to pay off my home mortgage of $34,000. To releave [sic] me of that debt." Jeff and Authement made two trips to the foreclosing attorneys' offices in Monroe to find out the exact mortgage balance and try to pay it. At some point, Jeff contacted Elizabeth Hays, a notary public who worked in a Houma law office, to prepare the sale documents.

The documents in the record include the following: (1) a bill of sale dated March 26, 2001, transferring ownership of all of Boudreaux's property to Jeff for a purchase price of $39,498.53,⁴ which was signed by Boudreaux, Jeff, and two witnesses, was notarized by Hays, and was recorded in the parish conveyance records on March 30, 2001; (2) a second bill of sale for the same property dated March 27, 2001, transferring ownership of all the property from Jeff to Authement for the amount of $39,498.53, which was signed by Jeff, Authement, and two witnesses, was notarized by Hays, and was recorded in the parish conveyance records on April 2, 2001; (3) an unrecorded bill of sale from Jeff to Authement dated March 27, 2001, which had a sale price for the same property of $84,498.53, had the signatures of Jeff, Authement, and two witnesses, and had the signature and notary seal of Hays;⁵ and (4) a demand promissory note from Jeff to Boudreaux in the amount of $45,000, dated March 30, 2001, which was signed by them and two witnesses and was notarized by Hays. The record also has a copy of a cashier's check drawn by Authement on March 29, 2001, payable to the Monroe law firm in the amount of $39,486.88. A deposit slip shows this amount was re-deposited in Authement's account on March 30th. There is also a copy of a wire transfer showing Boudreaux's mortgage balance was paid off from Authement's account on March 30, 2001, and a receipt showing Authement bought homeowner's insurance on April 2, 2001. The record also contains documentary evidence that Authement paid to or on behalf of Jeff various sums of money after these transactions took place—$450 on April 4th, $400 on April 28th, $200 on May 12th, and $200 on June 15th.

The parties disagree about virtually every aspect of the factual circumstances surrounding this transaction and its documentation. Boudreaux said he went to the law office to meet with Hays, whom Jeff had identified as his attorney, but Jeff did not show up, and Boudreaux was reluctant to sign any documents without him there. Boudreaux claimed Hays advised him the $39,498.53 document was just "to clear the title" on his property and get the mortgage paid off so he could sell it "with no strings attached." He interpreted the phrase, "[t]he parties dispense with the Certificate of Mortgages" in that document as verifying what she had told him. Although the date on the document is March 26th, Boudreaux said he probably signed the $39,498.53 bill of sale on the 30th. He also said that before he signed it, Jeff showed him a cashier's check to prove he had the funds to pay off the mortgage, but had his thumb over the remitter's (Authement's) name.⁶ Boudreaux said he and Jeff returned on Monday, April 2, to complete the transaction, at which time Jeff signed the $45,000 promissory note to him for the balance.⁷ Boudreaux said Hays told him he had to wait three days before he could collect on the promissory note, and he accepted that explanation of why he did not get the funds immediately. Boudreaux also testified that Hays prepared—and he and Jeff signed—a bill of sale showing the full purchase price of the property he sold to Jeff was $84,498.53. Boudreaux did not recall when they signed this document, and he believed it must have been "shredded" at Hays' office, because it did not show up during the litigation. Boudreaux summarized the situation as follows:

I signed the paper for 84,000 something. Where that paper went, I don't know. Okay? I was told that the $84,000 shows the sale of the house. After the mortgage is cleared for $39,000, they'll subtract that 39,000 from the 84 plus and that gives me the 45. The promissory note was for the 45,000.

Jeff's version of events is as follows. After discussing the Boudreaux property with Authement, Jeff agreed to be his "middle man" to buy both pieces for him. Jeff told Boudreaux he was interested in buying the house for his mother, when in fact he intended to sell it and the batture property to Authement. Jeff claimed Boudreaux told him the price for all the property was the mortgage payoff, plus $45,000 in equity for his home. Jeff said he went back across the street and gave this information to Authement. Eventually, Boudreaux gave him a letter to allow him to pay off the mortgage, and he and Authement made two trips to Monroe to try to accomplish this. At some point, Authement told Jeff, "get the house any way [you] can get it and `f____Artie."' Authement said he was not going to pay Boudreaux the $45,000. But Authement also told Jeff he was going to mortgage the property and pay Jeff the $45,000—at which point Jeff said he intended to pay it to Boudreaux. Jeff said every time he met with Authement before and after the sale, "on a daily basis," he would ask him for money and Authement would give him several hundred dollars.⁸ Jeff made the arrangements with Hays, who worked at his attorney's office, to perform the acts of sale. When he had Authement's cashier's check for the payoff balance, he showed it to Boudreaux and took him to Hays' office. Jeff said Hays had prepared four documents—two bills of sale showing the sale amount as $39,498.53, and two bills of sale in the amount of $84,498.53, the full price. She explained the one with the lower amount was just for the mortgage payoff. He and Boudreaux executed the two sale documents with different amounts showing the property transfer from Boudreaux to Jeff. When Jeff and Authement later executed the two sale documents with different amounts showing the property transfer from Jeff to Authement, Jeff took the document showing the $84,498.53 sale price to be sure he could collect from Authement. Jeff said Hays "shredded" the bill of sale he and Boudreaux had signed showing the higher price, and he did not want the corresponding document between him and Authement to meet the same fate.⁹ Several days later, he and Boudreaux went back to Hays and executed the $45,000 promissory note for the balance.

Authement testified that he wanted to buy only the batture property from Jeff, but they had never agreed on the price for which Jeff would sell it to him. Jeff did all the talking with Boudreaux, and Authement never knew what their deal was. However, Authement said he saw the letter Jeff had from Boudreaux about paying off the mortgage, and believed that meant Boudreaux was agreeing to sell Jeff the property for the mortgage payoff, which "amazed" him. Authement said when he went to the law office to execute the sale of just the batture property, he understood that a sale of all of the property had already taken place between Boudreaux and Jeff. In fact, he said he was sitting in the reception area of the law firm while their transaction took place, and could overhear their discussion of the price as being the mortgage balance. Authement said he only agreed to buy the entire property when Jeff told him, right before the sale to him, that Jeff could not come up with the money for the property.¹⁰ Authement said that on one of their trips to Monroe, he got a cashier's check from his bank for the mortgage payoff and attempted to satisfy Boudreaux's debt on the...