Case Name: TeleRECOVERY OF LOUISIANA, INC. v. Craig A. MAJOR
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1999-05-18
Citations: 734 So. 2d 947
Docket Number: Nos. 98 CA 1191, 98 CA 1192
Parties: TeleRECOVERY OF LOUISIANA, INC. v. Craig A. MAJOR.
Judges: Before: FOIL, KUHN, and WEIMER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 734
Pages: 947–953

Head Matter:
TeleRECOVERY OF LOUISIANA, INC. v. Craig A. MAJOR.
Nos. 98 CA 1191, 98 CA 1192.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
May 18, 1999.
Rehearing Denied June 29, 1999.
Brian E. Seven, Stanley C. Kottemann, Jr., Metairie, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant TeleRecovery of Louisiana, Inc.
Kathryn Wyble, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee Craig A. Major.
Before: FOIL, KUHN, and WEIMER, JJ.

Opinion:
IpKUHN, j.
This is an appeal from the granting of defendant's motion for a summary judgment dismissing this consolidated action. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Plaintiff/appellant, TeleRecovery of Louisiana, Inc. ("TeleRecovery"), filed two lawsuits, as assignee for collection, to recover amounts due on six documents signed by the defendant/appellee, Craig A. Major. The first action, entitled "Petition on NSF Check," was filed by TeleRecov-ery on August 27,1996, in the 19th Judicial District Court to recover from defendant $30,000.00, represented by three instruments payable to the Belle of Baton Rouge. Plaintiff alleged in its petition that defendant issued three checks, two on December 26, 1995 and one on December 26, 1996, each in the amount of $10,000.00, drawn on Guaranty Bank and Trust, and personally signed by defendant. Plaintiff further alleged that payment of the checks was refused by the drawee bank, which returned the instruments marked NSF, and that despite amicable demand defendant has failed to pay the amounts due. Copies of the three instruments were attached to the petition.
The second lawsuit, also entitled "Petition on NSF Check," was filed on September 24, 1996, in the 12th Judicial District Court to recover from the defendant $35,-000.00, represented by three instruments made payable to the Grand Casino of Avo-yelles. Plaintiff alleged that defendant issued three checks on December 28, 1995, in the amount of $5,000.00, $15,000.00 and $15,000.00, also drawn on Guaranty Bank and Trust, and personally signed by the defendant. Plaintiff further alleged that payment of the checks was refused by the drawee bank, which returned the instruments marked NSF, and that despite amicable demand, defendant has failed to pay the amounts due.
lain both lawsuits TeleRecovery prays for twice the amount of the checks, penalties for writing NSF checks, attorney's fees, interest and costs. Defendant objected to each lawsuit by filing a dilatory exception of improper venue. The exceptions were granted and both lawsuits were transferred to the 18th Judicial District Court.
On June 26, 1997, defendant answered each lawsuit generally denying the allegations and further answering urged (1) that plaintiff had no cause of action to collect the gambling debts; (2) that the obligations are null; and (3) that the documents attached to the petition did not constitute "checks." ' The two cases were consolidated on June 26, 1997.
Defendant then moved for summary judgment in the consolidated cases alleging that plaintiffs demands were legally unenforceable. Defendant maintained that the markers he executed were uncollecta-ble gambling debts under La. C.C. arts. 2983 and 2984. In support of his motion, defendant filed and signed an affidavit which states:
1. I am the defendant in the above captioned action.
2. On December 28, 1995, I obtained the sum of Thirty-Five Thousand and No/100 ($35,000) Dollars in the form of chips from Grand Casino Avoyelles, which was solely used in gambling, and all such funds were lost to Grand Casino Avoyelles on that day'.
3. On December 26, 1995, I obtained the sum of Thirty Thousand and No/100 ($30,000) Dollars in the form of chips from the Belle of Baton Rouge, which was solely used in gambling, and all such funds were lost to Belle of Baton Rouge on that day.
On September 8, 1997, without issuing reasons, the trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiffs claims. Plaintiff appeals.
LAW AND ANALYSIS Summary Judgment
A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used to avoid a full-scale trial where there is no genuine factual dispute. Sanders v. Ashland Oil, Inc., 96-1751, p. 5 (La.App. 1st Cir.6/20/97), 696 So.2d 1031, 1034, writ denied, 97-1911 (La.10/31/97), 4703 So.2d 29. It should only be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that, the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La. C.C.P. art. 966.
Previously, our cases held that summary judgments were not favored and were to be used cautiously and sparingly. Any doubt was to be resolved against granting the motion and in favor of a trial on the merits. However, in 1996, the legislature amended La. C.C.P. art. 966 to overrule the presumption in favor of trial on the merits. Summary judgments are now favored, and the documents submitted by both parties are to be equally scrutinized. Berzas v. OXY USA Inc., 29,835, pp. 4-5 (La.App.2d Cir.9/24/97), 699 So.2d 1149, 1152; Hayes v. Autin, 96-287, p. 6 (La.App. 3d Cir.12/26/96), 685 So.2d 691, 694, writ denied, 97-0281 (La.3/14/97), 690 So.2d 41.
In 1997, by Act No. 483, the legislature again amended La. C.C.P. art. 966 to incorporate the federal summary judgment analysis. Hayes, 96-287, p. 7, 685 So.2d at 694. Under the amended version of La. C.C.P. art. 966, the initial burden continues to remain with the mover to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists. If the moving party points out that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the adverse party's claim, action or defense, then the nonmoving party must produce factual support sufficient to satisfy his evidentiary burden at trial. La. C.C.P. art. 966(C)(2). If the nonmoving party fails to do so, there is no genuine issue of material fact and summary judgment should be granted. La. C.C.P. arts. 966 and 967; Berzas, 29,-835 at pp. 7-8, 699 So.2d at 1153-1154.
Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the trial court's determination of whether it is appropriate. Sanders, 96-1751 at p. 7, 696 So.2d at 1085.
| BCivil Code articles 2983 and 2984
Louisiana Civil Code article 2983 provides as follows:
The -law grants no action for the payment of what has been won at gaming or by a bet, except for games tending to promote skill in the use of arms, such as the exercise of the gun and foot, horse and chariot racing.
And as to such games, the judge may reject the demand, when the sum appears to him excessive.
Louisiana Civil Code article 2984 provides as follows:
In all cases in which the law refuses an action to the winner, it also refuses to suffer the loser to reclaim what he has voluntarily paid, unless there has been, on the part of the winner, fraud, deceit, or swindling.
Analysis
In the present case, the initial burden of proving entitlement to summary judgment was with defendant. In support of his motion, defendant attached his affidavit which in essence was prepared to prove that the debts are unenforceable for want of lawful consideration. Although the record contains no written reasons for judgment, the trial court must have agreed with the defendant that, as a matter of law, La. C.C. arts. 2983 and 2984 prohibit TeleRecovery's action. Defendant asserts that the trial court was correct to dismiss plaintiffs claims as the language of the articles is clear and unambiguous. Thus, defendant maintains articles 2983 and 2984 apply to gaming, including the casinos wherein he became indebted, and as such, prohibit the collection of gaming debts.
In its appeal, plaintiff avers that the trial court incorrectly applied the law because La. C.C. arts. 2983 and 2984 apply only to unauthorized forms of gambling. Thus, according to the plaintiff, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment when the debts sued upon were incurred by the defendant during the course of legal and licensed | (¡casino gaming operations in Louisiana. Because we find that defendant did not incur a gaming debt, we pretermit any discussion of whether Civil Code articles 2983 and 2984 apply.
A contract is an agreement by two or more parties whereby obligations are created, modified, or extinguished. La. C.C. art. 1906. An obligation cannot exist without a lawful cause. La. C.C. art. 1966. The cause of an obligation is unlawful when the enforcement of the obligation would produce a result prohibited by law or which is against public policy. La. C.C. art. 1968.
The law presumes that persons in their business transactions do not intend to violate the law or to make contracts for the enforcement of which the law refuses a remedy, and thus, when one party charges that the contract is illegal, the burden of proof is imposed upon him to establish the contention. A Better Place, Inc. v. Giani Inv. Co., 445 So.2d 728, 732 (La.1984). The agreement of the contracting parties will not be decreed illegal where a reasonable construction supports its validity. Tipton v. Loker, 230 So.2d 125, 127 (La.App. 1st Cir.1969).
In the case sub judice, defendant asked for and was given by the casinos a transfer of value in the form of chips. He signed the instruments given by the two casinos to acquire chips. The fact that the casinos gave defendant a sum of money in the equivalent of chips, does not render the markers given for the chips void for want of consideration. Defendant did not have to gamble with the chips. He could have walked out of the casinos with them or he could have converted them to cash and then walked out. Defendant incurred a debt for the chips received.
|7Pefendant decided to acquire some chips and, of his own volition, chose to participate in gaming activities. Thus, after defendant acquired the chips from each of the respective casinos, he freely chose to use the chips in gaming and lost. Whether his subsequent use of the chips to engage in gaming activities would be considered legal or illegal gaming under La. C.C. arts. 2983 and 2984 is of no moment, since the underlying obligations, i.e., the exchange of the checks for the chips, are the obligations plaintiff seeks to enforce.
Accordingly, we' find that the trial court erred in finding, as a matter of law, that the debts sued upon in these consolidated cases are non-actionable.
CONCLUSION
Based on these reasons, the trial court's judgment granting the motion for summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Craig A. Major, and dismissing the claims of plaintiff, TeleRecovery of Louisiana, Inc., is reversed. The matter is remanded for further proceedings. All costs of this appeal are assessed against the defendant.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
WEIMER, J., concurs and assigns reasons.
. Although plaintiff alleges in its petition that one of the checks was dated December 26, 1996, a review of the copies of the instru-merits in the record indicate that they were all dated December 26, 1995.
. La. R.S. 14:90 expressly exempts from the crime of gambling the intentional conducting of gaming activities upon a riverboat as defined and authorized in R.S. 4:501 through R.S. 4:562, now R.S. 27:41-113.