Sonnier v. Conner

• Decision Date: 03 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. 43,811-CA.,43,811-CA.
• Citation: 998 So.2d 344
• Parties: Lovenda Janice Allen SONNIER, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Andrea Sonnier CONNER, Thomas Sonnier and Diamond McCattle Company LLC, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

998 So.2d 344

Lovenda Janice Allen SONNIER, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Andrea Sonnier CONNER, Thomas Sonnier and Diamond McCattle Company LLC, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 43,811-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

December 3, 2008.

Rehearing Denied January 8, 2009.

Marshall L. Sanson, for Appellant.

W. Alan Pesnell, Richard Woolbert, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before GASKINS, CARAWAY and LOLLEY, JJ.

CARAWAY, J.

This case was instituted by plaintiff thirteen years after her immovable property was transferred by recorded cash sale deeds to certain family members in 1993. Plaintiff alleges that the 1993 sales were simulations, that she has remained in possession of the property, and that her ownership, which was intended to be unaffected by the sales, should be recognized. Prior to institution of the suit, those family members who acquired the property had died, and their children, who are defendants, executed a mineral lease on the property and transferred the property to a family limited liability company, prompting plaintiff's suit. Following a motion for summary judgment by the defendants and their limited liability company, a co-defendant, the trial court dismissed plaintiff's claims. Finding that revised Civil Code Articles 1848 and 2480 allow for evidence of the alleged simulated sales which creates unresolved issues of material fact, we reverse the motion for summary judgment insofar as it dismissed plaintiff's claims against the children of the deceased vendees of the 1993 sales. We affirm the trial court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims against the limited liability company on the peremptory ground of no cause of action.

Facts and Procedural History

In this case the plaintiff, Lovenda Allen Sonnier (hereinafter "Plaintiff"), claims that through a sequence of simulated cash sale deeds in the late 1980s and early 1990s, title to certain tracts of land in Jackson Parish was placed in the names of defendants' parents, Rennie A. Sonnier and Gloria Sonnier (hereinafter the "Sonniers"). Mr. Sonnier was Plaintiff's brother-in-law. The Sonniers later died with record title held in their names. In her petition and affidavit filed in opposition to the summary judgment, which was ultimately rendered against her by the trial court, Plaintiff asserts that she "has always been in possession of both parcels of property" comprising the disputed land.

The disputed property consists of a large tract and two smaller tracts in separate sections in Jackson Parish. The larger tract contains 75 acres, and the two smaller tracts contain about a half-acre and two acres. The tracts will be collectively referred to as "the Property."

Plaintiff alleged that she executed two cash sale deeds in 1988 to her niece, Sharon Allen McEachern, wife of Jerry Turner McEachern (hereinafter the "McEacherns"). One deed conveyed the 75-acre tract and a copy of that deed was filed in the record in connection with the motion for summary judgment.¹ That deed, which was recorded in 1988, reveals a cash consideration of $15,000. Another deed to the McEacherns, alleged to be a cash sale, was executed later in 1988 and pertained to the other smaller tracts. No copy of that deed is in the record of this proceeding.

Five years later, the McEacherns conveyed the Property to the Sonniers. Again two deeds were utilized, one for the 75-acre tract and another for the smaller tracts. The deed for the 75-acres was executed as an authentic act on April 30, 1993, for a cash consideration of $15,000, and recorded in Jackson Parish on May 28, 1993. The record contains no copy of the deed for the smaller tracts. The allegations from Plaintiff and the McEacherns (after their intervention in this action) are that the 1993 deeds were simulated sales to the Sonniers.

Gloria Sonnier died on October 5, 1994, and her succession was opened in Calcasieu Parish. Her husband Rennie, and their two children Thomas and Andrea signed the detailed descriptive list filed in the succession proceeding, showing only her community property interest in a single tract in Calcasieu Parish as "all items" of immovable property comprising her succession. A judgment of possession for her succession was rendered in 1995, and the Property was not described in the judgment.

Rennie Sonnier died on May 30, 2003, survived by Thomas Sonnier and Andrea Conner (hereinafter "Defendants"). The detailed descriptive list for his succession described only immovable property situated in Calcasieu Parish. The Judgment of Possession rendered on April 24, 2004, recognized his two children as his sole heirs.

The next recorded instrument affecting the Property detailed in the petition occurred when Defendants executed an oil, gas and mineral lease in favor of Devon Energy Production Company, LLC. The lease was recorded on August 5, 2004. The following day, Defendants petitioned the Calcasieu Parish District Court to amend each of their parent's succession proceedings, alleging the following:

Since entry of the [Judgment of Possession], petitioners have discovered two (2) pieces of immovable property in which the decedent held an interest inadvertently omitted from the Sworn Detailed Descriptive List of Assets and Liabilities filed herein, . . . .

As a result of this action, amended judgments of possession recognizing Thomas James Sonnier and Andrea Sonnier Conner as owners of an undivided one-half interest each in the Property were rendered on August 6, 2004.

Plaintiff's petition next alleged Defendants' disposition of the Property in August 2004, as follows:

7.

Andrea Sonnier Conner and Thomas James Sonnier executed an Act of Exchange with Diamond McCattle Company, L.L.C., a Louisiana Limited Liability Company, whose mailing address is 2168 West Lincoln Road, Lake Charles, Louisiana 70605, Manager, Andrea Sonnier Conner. The Act of Exchange filed August 30, 2004, Book 362, Page 41 under DR # 358356, shows both properties were given to Diamond McCattle Company, L.L.C., in exchange for Thomas James Sonnier receiving a 50% interest in Diamond McCattle Company LLC and Andrea Sonnier Conner receiving a 50% interest in Diamond McCattle Company LLC.

Other than this allegation, there is no other evidence pertaining to Diamond McCattle Company, L.L.C. (hereinafter "the LLC"), also a defendant in this action. Defendants and the LLC (hereinafter "Appellees") argue that the LLC is now the owner of the Property, and protected in its purchase of the Property under the public records doctrine.

The final instruments of title purportedly affecting the Property were two cash sale deeds recorded in 2005. The deeds were allegedly executed twelve years earlier, on April 30, 1993, by the Sonniers as vendors, in favor of the Plaintiff. One deed allegedly reconveyed the smaller tracts to Plaintiff, but no copy of this deed is filed in the record by the parties. The other deed, which is filed in evidence, reconveyed the 75-acre tract for a cash consideration of $15,000. This number was typed onto the deed.

This deed for the 75-acre tract (hereinafter the "Blank Deed") was the subject of two affidavits Appellees filed in support of their motion for summary judgment, executed by Jared T. Conner and Tara Guillory Vance. These individuals signed as witnesses on the instrument, and testified that they signed the Blank Deed at the Sonniers' home without the Plaintiff being present. When they witnessed the Blank Deed, no purchaser's name or execution date was filled in on the printed deed form. The witnesses averred that no notary was present. Neither one of the affidavits addressed whether the Sonniers in fact signed the Blank Deed at that time along with the witnesses. The actual date when the witnesses signed the Blank Deed is also unreported.

The copy of the Blank Deed filed in evidence after its recordation reveals that the missing information identified by the witnesses was written in the blanks on the printed form. The recorded instrument contains the signatures of the Sonniers and a notary. In the blank for the vendee on the printed form, the name of the Plaintiff is handwritten and likewise, the date "April 30, 1993," is handwritten on the instrument. Comparing the Blank Deed and the prior deed from the McEacherns to the Sonniers, the signatures of the notary before whom both acts were passed appear to be from one and the same person, and both instruments are described as being executed in his (or her) office in Winn Parish.

On November 29, 2006, Plaintiff sued Defendants and the LLC, asserting the occurrence of the simulated sales. Plaintiff sought recognition of her ownership of the Property and an accounting for the monies received by Defendants under the Devon Energy oil and gas lease.

Defendants and the LLC reconvened, asserting ownership of the Property. They also prayed for cancellation of the Blank Deed.

On September 4, 2007, the Defendants and the LLC moved for summary judgment, urging the following:

Movers show that, as a matter of law, [Plaintiff] cannot allege an absolute simulation among the parties in this litigation. Additionally, because the allegations are all related to claims of absolute simulation, [Plaintiff] is barred from introducing any parol evidence on these matters whatsoever based on the death of Rennie, and based on the substantive law of simulations.

The motion for summary judgment included Rennie and Gloria Sonnier's succession proceedings, Defendants' discovery requests, and affidavits from the witnesses to the Blank Deed.

Plaintiff opposed the summary judgment motion. Her affidavit declared that the deeds in question were simulations, and that she maintained possession of the Property. The hearing on the motion for summary judgment was set for argument on October 30, 2007.

Before the hearing could be held, the McEacherns filed a Petition for Intervention into the suit on October 22, 2007. The trial court signed the order allowing the intervention the next...