STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT DOCKET NUMBER 2023 CA 0642 DANECO, L. L.C. VERSUS JUST GATORS, INC.

Judgment Rendered; 

## JAN 2 3 2024



# I ON APPEAL FROM THE



### THIRTY-SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, DIVISION C

IN AND FOR THE PARISH OF TERREBONNE

STATE OF LOUISIANA DOCKET NUMBER 193702 HONORABLE JUAN W. PICKETf, JUDGE PRESIDING

Sye J. Broussard Houma, Louisiana

Stanwood R. Dual April A. Trahan 

### Harley M. Papa Houma, Louisiana 

### Attorney for Defendant - Appellant Just Gators, Inc.
Attorneys for Plaintiff - Appellee Daneco, LLC

BEFORE: THERIOT, PENZATO, AND GREENE, 33.GREENE, ). 

### This is an appeal of a judgment of eviction regarding portions of a commercia lease. After review, we remand with instructions. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On September 28, 2018, Daneco, LLC ( Daneco) entered into several agreements pursuant to a Master Business Agreement with Just Gators, Inc (Just Gators) and LaGarto Properties. One of the agreements provided that Daneco would lease its alligator farm to Just Gators. The lease provided for a $ 

### 40,000.00 monthly lease payment from Just Gators to Daneco, with a six-year term and a right to renew for an additional six years. 

### The commercial lease included "Grow - Up Buildings," a food storage structure, a freezer 

### building, a cold storage incubator, two "Polaris Buggies," one "John Deere Buggy," four forklifts, and a Ford flatbed truck. 

### Overtime the relationship between Daneco and Just Gators deteriorated, and on May 11, 

### 2022, Daneco sent a notice to vacate any and all unleased property to Just Gators. 

### On May 24, 2022, Daneco filed a petition to evictJust Gatorsfrom the "unleased property," 

### which was defined as " property owned by [Daneco], including, but not limited to, heater sheds, pumps, buildings, etc."' 

### JustGatorsfiled an answer, raising affirmative defenses and exceptions, and made a reconventional demand. Just Gators asserted that 

### it had the right to occupy the property pursuant to the lease. In its reconventionai demand, Just Gators asserted the eviction claim was fraudulent and lacked merit. Just 

### Gators asked that the petition be dismissed at Daneco's costs, and that it be awarded 

### expenses, attorneyfees, and all other general and equitable relief. The matterwas heard
on October 11, 2022. 

### Thereafter, the trial court granted Daneco's petition to evict, but did not identify the property thatJust Gators was evicted from. The judgment provides:



### When afterconsidering the pleadings,the arguments ofcounsel, and 

### the evidence adduced during [Daneco's] Petition to Evict,the Court renders judgment as follows:


## 1 The petition noted that a separate ruleto evictJust Gators from the leased property was pending in Division C, Docket No. 192404.

2IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that [Daneco's] Petition



### to Evict is hereby GRANTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that [ Just Gators] shall bearthe costs associated with this Eviction. Thejudgmentwas signed on March 5, 2023. Just Gators filed a suspensive appeal from thatjudgment. A valid judgment must be precise, definite, and certain. 

### Laird v. St.Tammany Parish Safe Harbor,2002-0045 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/20/02), 836 So.2d 364, 365. A final 

### appealable judgment must contain decretal language and must name the parry in favor of whom the ruling is ordered, the parry against whom the ruling is ordered, and the relief that is granted or denied. 

### Advanced Leveling & Concrete Solutions v. The Lathan Co., Inc., 2017- 1250 ( 

### La. App. 1 Cir. 12/20/ 18), 268 So.3d 1044, 1046 ( en banc). These determinations should be evident from the language of the judgment without reference to other documents in the record. Laird, 836 So.2d at 366. 

### Thejudgment granted Daneco's petition foreviction from the property, butdid not specify the property that Just Gators was evicted from. A lack of proper language in a 

### judgment that is otherwise a final judgment does not divest the appellate court of jurisdiction. 

### Instead, the final judgment shall be corrected to include proper decretal 

### language by an amendment in accordance with La. C.C.P. art. 1951. See La, C.C. P. art. 1918, Comments - 2021, Comment (a). Therefore, we remand this matterto the trial court 

### to correct the deficiency in the judgment. See Hill International Inc. v. ]

### TS Realty Corp., 2021-0157 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/30/21), 342 So.3d 322, 327-328. DECREE 

### Accordingly,this matteris remanded forthe limited purpose of instructing the trial court to sign an amended final judgment that is precise, definite, and certain and contains proper decretal language. See La. C.C.P. arts. 1918(A), 1951, and 2088(A)( 12). The 

### record herein shall be supplemented with the amended judgment no laterthan forty-five days following the issuance ofthis opinion.

REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

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