Pan Am World Services, Inc. v. Abdell, CA-8567

• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)
• Citation: 522 So.2d 1177
• Docket Number: No. CA-8567,CA-8567
• Parties: PAN AM WORLD SERVICES, INC. v. Edward A. ABDELL. 522 So.2d 1177
• Decision Date: 10 March 1988

Page 1177

522 So.2d 1177 PAN AM WORLD SERVICES, INC.
v.
Edward A. ABDELL. No. CA-8567. 522 So.2d 1177 Court of Appeal of Louisiana,
Fourth Circuit. March 10, 1988.

Page 1178

W. Clay McGehee, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellee.

Louis H. Schultz, Metairie, for defendant-appellant.

Before GARRISON, LOBRANO and WILLIAMS, JJ.

GARRISON, Judge.

This is an appeal from a January 26, 1987 judgment of the Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans, making a foreign judgment executory under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act as enacted in Louisiana at R.S. 13:4241 et seq. The specific foreign judgment sought to be made executory is an "Agreed ¹ Judgment" issued by the Circuit Court of Hancock County, Mississippi in Case No. 9232 Pan Am World Services, Inc. v. Edward A. Abdell. The "Agreed Judgment" dated January 15, 1986 was signed first by Circuit Court Judge G. Ruble Griffin and then by Pan Am World Services, Inc. through its counsel and finally by Edward A. Abdell, unrepresented. The judgment grants damages in the amount of $11,374.57 from Abdell as a result of a contract for services and labor to be supplied to Pan Am in conjunction with a contract to be performed at the National Space Technology Laboratories in Hancock County, Mississippi.

From the Civil District Court judgment, defendant Edward Abdell appeals. On appeal and apparently for the first time represented by counsel, defendant makes a two-fold argument:

1. The Agreed Judgment rendered by the Mississippi Court is an absolute nullity because it was obtained by fraud and ill practices against a defendant who was never served with process and who had not entered a general appearance;

AND

2. Inasmuch as the foreign judgment is an absolute nullity, the Orleans Parish judgment making the Mississippi judgment executory is also an absolute nullity and should therefore be reversed.

In the instant case counsel for defendant argues that he signed two documents a "Waiver of Process, Entry of Appearance and Joinder in Prayer" and an "Agreed Judgment" under duress resulting from the trickery and threats of plaintiff and that defendant was never served with the petition in the Hancock County suit. Defendant seeks to have this Court declare the Mississippi "Agreed Judgment" an absolute nullity. This we cannot do as it is beyond the jursidiction of this Court.

C.C.P.Art. 2006 provides that an action to annul "... must be brought in the trial court...." Although the article does not...