Lee v. Hunt

• Decision Date: 19 December 1979
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 76-0628.
• Citation: 483 F. Supp. 826
• Parties: Frania Tye LEE v. Ray Lee HUNT, Executor of the Estate of H. L. Hunt.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

483 F. Supp. 826

Frania Tye LEE v. Ray Lee HUNT, Executor of the Estate of H. L. Hunt.

Civ. A. No. 76-0628.

United States District Court, W. D. Louisiana, Shreveport Division.

Rulings on Evidence January 10, 1978.

On Validity of the Marriage January 11, 1978.

On Issue of Fraud January 13, 1978.

On Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement December 19, 1979.

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Wallace A. Hunter, Roger M. Fritchie, Durrett, Hardin, Hunter, Dameron & Fritchie, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiff.

Jackson, Walker, Winstead, Cantwell & Miller, Dallas, Tex., Larry E. Donohoe, Jr., Onebanke, Donohoe, Bernard, Torian, Diaz, McNamara & Abell, Lafayette, La., Sidney E. Cook, Cook, Clark, Egan, Yancey & King, Shreveport, La., Thomas A. Rayer, Denechaud & Denechaud, New Orleans, La., for Hugh L. Hunt.

STAGG, District Judge.

MEMORANDUM RULING

This action comes again before the court, this time on the motion of defendant to enforce the settlement agreement against Hugh S. Hunt (Hugh).¹ Although not formerly a party to this litigation, Hugh, the plaintiff's only living son, has from its inception been deeply involved in the lawsuit, if not the moving force behind it. He has now been joined as a party to the motion and is the only person involved in the settlement negotiations who has not executed the final settlement agreement.

I.

The allegations of plaintiff's Complaint, more fully discussed elsewhere,² can be summarized as follows. Mrs. Lee met "Franklin" Hunt in Tampa, Florida and they were married in that city on November 11, 1925. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Shreveport, Louisiana where two children were born to the marriage. In 1930, the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where a third child was born. In May of 1934, Mrs. Lee learned that "Franklin" Hunt was actually H. L. Hunt and that he had been married to Lyda Bunker Hunt for some years prior to 1925. A short time later Mrs. Lee moved to New York where a fourth child was born.

On January 24, 1942, after Mrs. Lee had threatened suit, Hunt paid her a substantial sum in settlement of her claims against him, though without admitting the validity of her claims. It is further alleged that Mr. Hunt promised to acknowledge in his will their purported marriage and the legitimacy of their children, and to bequeath to her and their children properties in settlement of her interest in the community. When Hunt's death revealed that he had not kept his promise, Mrs. Lee filed this action seeking to be recognized as his putative wife and declared owner of one-half of the community property acquired during the relationship. Defendant staunchly denies most of these allegations.

Following protracted pretrial proceedings, the case was tried to a jury beginning on January 9, 1978. On the morning of the sixth day of trial, after plaintiff had rested her case, the parties announced that a compromise had been achieved and an agreement was entered into by the parties and the other members of the Hunt families ("January 16 agreement"). The agreement was dictated by the parties in Chambers and signed in the presence of the Court by all concerned (or by their agents) including Hugh. Hugh was given a copy; he read it in presence of the Court and acknowledged to the court that he understood its terms. It was clearly understood that a more formal document would be executed as soon as it could be prepared. The jury was discharged and a judgment of dismissal was entered accordingly.

Hugh now claims that he did not understand the January 16 agreement to be binding and that, in any event, the more formal document executed by all of the other parties to the earlier agreement does not accurately reflect the dictated agreement. The Court disagrees with Hugh Hunt on both counts and, for reasons set out below he is obligated to execute the Master Settlement Agreement.

Before considering the merits of these contentions, however, there are several procedural objections raised by Hugh that must be addressed.

II.

Following his joinder to this action, Hugh moved to vacate the judgment of dismissal entered following the settlement, thus reopening the entire action, and, alternatively, to dismiss the proceedings against him on the basis of several provisions of Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(b). Hugh has withdrawn the motion to vacate the judgment under Rule 60(b).³ Hugh's motion under Rule 12(b) presents questions of subject matter jurisdiction, venue, personal jurisdiction, service of process, and the sufficiency of the pleadings against him. The questions will be considered in that order.

The memorandum accompanying Hugh's motion to dismiss offers little enlightenment concerning the basis for his claim that this court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of the motion to enforce the settlement agreement. He appears to rely on the fact that he was not a party to the litigation that was settled. While this may be offered as a defense on the merits to the action to enforce the settlement, it has nothing to do with the subject matter jurisdiction of this Court. It is clear beyond cavil that a court may entertain an action to enforce a settlement of litigation pending before it.⁴Pearson v. Ecological Science Corp., 522 F.2d 171 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied sub nom. Skydell v. Ecological Science Corp., 425 U.S. 912, 96 S.Ct. 1508, 47 L.Ed.2d 762 (1976); Massachusetts Casualty Insurance Co. v. Forman, 469 F.2d 259 (5th Cir. 1972); Cia Anon Venezolana de Navegacion v. Harris, 374 F.2d 33 (5th Cir. 1967).

Hugh objects to venue on the ground that venue was held proper in the main action only because defendant waived its objection, an act which cannot be imputed to Hugh. See Lee v. Hunt, 431 F.Supp. 371, 379 (W.D.La.1977). This argument fails on two counts. First, judicial economy and the policy favoring settlement as an end to litigation require that settlement agreements be enforced in the same court in which the litigation was pending. Aro Corporation v. Allied Witan Co., 531 F.2d 1368, 1371 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 862, 97 S.Ct. 165, 50 L.Ed.2d 140 (1976); D. H. Overmyer Co. v. Loflin, 440 F.2d 1213 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 851, 92 S.Ct. 87, 30 L.Ed.2d 90 (1971). Second, an action to enforce a settlement agreement is analogous to an action for breach of contract. Kaspar Wire Work, Inc. v. Leco Engineering and Machine, Inc., 575 F.2d 530, 538 (5th Cir. 1978); Florida Education Association, Inc. v. Atkinson, 481 F.2d 662, 663 (5th Cir. 1973). The subject and merit of the original litigation are no longer material, the cause of action for enforcement arises out of Hugh's signing and repudiation of the agreement in this district. Thus, not only is venue proper in this district, this may be the only court in which the matter might have been brought.⁵

The memorandum in support of the motion to dismiss is also silent regarding the related questions of personal jurisdiction and insufficiency of service of process. The motion itself simply states that Hugh has not transacted any business or had other contacts with this state sufficient to support invocation of the long-arm statute. This is clearly not so. The negotiation and execution of a settlement agreement constitutes transaction of business and, when that agreement is the subject of a lawsuit, justifies resort to the long-arm statute. Meetings & Expositions, Inc. v. Tandy Corporation, 490 F.2d 714, 717 (2d Cir. 1974). Further, joinder of non-parties involved in the settlement process is a permissible alternative to an independent action. Wood v. Virginia Hauling Co., 528 F.2d 423 (4th Cir. 1975); Meetings & Expositions, Inc. v. Tandy Corporation, supra.

Accordingly, the motion to dismiss must be denied. The challenge to the sufficiency of the pleadings under Rule 12(b)(6) will be referred to the merits, to which we must now turn.

III.

The settlement in this case is a creature of the unusual family setting in which it was born. The agreement appears at once generous and exacting, reflecting, perhaps, the powerful incentives for compromise on both sides of the table. Contrary to the normal inference offered by a settlement at this stage of the proceedings, Mrs. Lee was not negotiating from a legal position of strength. A series of evidentiary rulings issued during the trial had greatly restricted the scope of her claim and proof.

On the second day of trial, the Court ruled that Mrs. Lee could not introduce parol evidence to prove that the 1942 settlement with H. L. Hunt was not intended to encompass her claim of community property.⁶ The following day the Court ruled that the civil effects of the alleged putative marriage ended in 1934 when Mrs. Lee admittedly discovered the pre-existing impediment to her marriage, namely, H. L. Hunt's marriage to Lyda Bunker Hunt. Thus, the 1942 settlement was not voided by the contractual incapacity between husband and wife. By the same token, her claim of community property was restricted to the period from 1925 to 1934.⁷ Finally, on the fourth day of trial, the Court ruled that the jury would not be allowed to consider the claim that H. L. Hunt promised to acknowledge their marriage in his will and to treat her children equally with the children of his first marriage, because she was unable to produce the corroborating witness required by the Louisiana Dead Man's Statute.⁸

Mrs. Lee's remaining response to the Estate's defense of compromise and transaction was to attempt to void the 1942 agreement on grounds of fraudulent inducement—that H. L. Hunt misrepresented, or failed to disclose, the value of the community property.⁹ Beyond the difficulty of proof, this tactic faced a serious objection of prescription due to the passage of nearly thirty-four years between execution of the agreement and the filing of this suit. While none of the rulings impaired Mrs. Lee's chances of establishing the putative marriage,¹⁰ she was aware of the...