Case Name: Adrienne Patout SMITH v. Roy PATOUT
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2007-04-11
Citations: 956 So. 2d 689
Docket Number: No. 2006-950
Parties: Adrienne Patout SMITH v. Roy PATOUT.
Judges: Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, SYLVIA R. COOKS, and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 956
Pages: 689–697

Head Matter:
Adrienne Patout SMITH v. Roy PATOUT.
No. 2006-950.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
April 11, 2007.
Joel Edward Gooch, Allen & Gooch, Lafayette, LA, for Defendant-Appellee, Por-teus Richard Burke.
Julian Louis Gibbens III, Doucet-Speer and Gibbens, P.L.C., Lafayette, LA, for Defendant-Appellant, Roy Patout.
Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, SYLVIA R. COOKS, and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

Opinion:
PICKETT, Judge.
liThe plaintiff-in-reconvention, Roy Pat-out, appeals a judgment of the trial court granting the motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant-in-reconvention, Porteous Burke.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Members of the Patout family, including Adrienne Patout Smith and Roy Patout, inherited land in St. Martin and Iberia parishes. In 1992, the Patouts discovered that the City of New Iberia had been dumping trash on their land since 1970. On January 23, 1992, Roy Patout executed a Power of Attorney in favor of Mrs. Smith, his niece, appointing her as his representative in any legal action against the City of New Iberia. Mrs. Smith pursued this matter on her behalf and on behalf of her mother and siblings. She hired Porteous Burke to represent the interests of all the Patout heirs and to file suit against the City of New Iberia.
In May 2004, the suit was settled. Mr. Burke disbursed the settlement proceeds to Mrs. Smith after deducting his contingency fee and costs of the litigation. Mrs. Smith was then responsible for splitting the proceeds among the rest of her relatives on whose behalf she had acted. After discussions with Mrs. Smith, Mr. Pat-out refused to accept the payment $27,373.00 that she offered him. Mrs. Smith then filed a suit for declaratory judgment, seeking a judicial determination that the payment offered to Mr. Patout was a "fair and just" settlement of his claims as contemplated by the Power of Attorney. Mr. Patout answered the suit and filed a Reconventional Demand against Mrs. Smith and made a third-party demand against Mr. Burke. He alleged that Mrs. Smith acted fraudulently in settling the claims against the City of New Iberia and failed to provide an accounting of the proceeds of the settlement. Mr. 12Patout alleged that Mr. Burke failed to safeguard the proceeds of the settlement, failed to insure proper distribution of the settlement proceeds, failed to provide an accounting of the proceeds of the settlement, and failed to notify Mr. Patout, as his client, of the potential conflict of interest caused by his representation of other landowners similarly situated.
Mrs. Smith and Mr. Burke filed Motions for Summary Judgment, seeking to have Mr. Patout's claims against them dismissed. On February 8, 2006, the court held a hearing on the motions. The trial court denied Mrs. Smith's Motion for Summary Judgment and granted Mr. Burke's Motion for Summary Judgment. The trial court signed a judgment dismissing Mr. Patout's third-party demand against Mr. Burke on February 27, 2006. Mr. Patout now appeals.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
Mr. Patout asserts that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Mr. Burke.
DISCUSSION
Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo, applying the same criteria as the trial court in deciding whether or not summary judgment should be granted. Schroeder v. Bd. of Supervisors, 591 So.2d 342 (La.1991). Concerning the burden of proof in summary judgment procedure, La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(C)(2) provides:
The burden of proof remains with the movant. However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial on the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the movant's burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party's claim, action, or defense, but rather to point out to the court that there is an absence of factual support |afor one or more elements essential to the adverse party's claim, action, or defense. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails to produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to satisfy his evidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact.
In this case, Mr. Patout bears the burden of proof. The movant, Mr. Burke, must only show the absence of factual support for an essential element of Mr. Patout's claim. This claim against Mr. Burke, an attorney, is a legal malpractice claim. "To establish a claim for legal malpractice, a plaintiff must prove: 1) the existence of an attorney-client relationship; 2) negligent representation by the attorney; and 3) loss caused by that negligence." Costello v. Hardy, 03-1146, p. 9 (La.1/21/04), 864 So.2d 129, 138.
Mr. Patout relies heavily on the case of In re Hoffman, 03-2499 (La.9/9/04), 883 So.2d 425. In that attorney discipline matter, an attorney represented one of three siblings who contested an uncle's will. When the attorneys for the estate indicated they would prefer to negotiate with all the decedent's nieces and nephews, the client convinced his brother and sister to sign an affidavit authorizing the attorney to negotiate and settle their claims on their behalf. The attorney never communicated with the brother and sister. When the claims against the estate were settled, the brother and sister objected to the disbursement of the funds. The attorney explained that he was disbursing the funds as directed by their brother.
The supreme court found that the attorney had failed to fully explain the potential conflict caused by his representation of all three siblings and had failed to obtain consent in making an aggregate settlement of multiple clients' claims. The primary difference is, in the matter before us, Mr. Patout signed a mandate allowing Mrs. Smith to settle his claims and distribute the proceeds, whereas in Hoffman, 883 So.2d 425, the non-client siblings signed an affidavit authorizing the attorney to settle their claims and distribute the proceeds. Furthermore, while the case does discuss an |4issue of attorney misconduct which bears some resemblance to the one before this court, it does not resolve the issue of civil tort liability.
There is an attorney-client relationship. While Mr. Burke was retained only by Mrs. Smith, he was retained by her to represent the interests of all of the Patout heirs whom Mrs. Smith represented. Mr. Burke signed several documents as the attorney for Mr. Patout. Mr. Burke claims that since there was no privity of contract between him and Mr. Patout, there cannot be an attorney-client relationship. Clearly, though, Mr. Burke agreed to represent the interests of Mr. Patout in this matter, and he owed a fiduciary duty to him.
Having determined that an attorney-client relationship existed, we must determine whether there is sufficient evidence to determine if Mr. Burke committed negligence in his representation of Mr. Patout. We find no evidence to support Mr. Patout's contention that Mr. Burke failed to safeguard the proceeds of the settlement or to insure proper distribution of the proceeds of the settlement. In fact, the mandate signed by Mr. Patout in favor of Mrs. Smith clearly authorizes Mrs. Smith to distribute the proceeds of the settlement. We also cannot find any evi dence to support the claim that Mr. Burke had a duty to notify Mr. Burke of any potential conflicts of interest. Thus, we only have left to determine if Mr. Burke was negligent in failing to provide an accounting to Mr. Patout.
We find Rule 1.15(d) of the Louisiana State Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct instructive in determining if Mr. Burke had a duty to provide an accounting to Mr. Patout. This rule states:
Upon receiving funds or other property in which a client or third person has an interest, a lawyer shall promptly notify the client or third person. For purposes of this rule, the third person's interest shall be one of which the lawyer has actual knowledge, and shall be limited to a | ¡statutory lien or privilege, a final judgment addressing disposition of those funds or property, or a written agreement by the client or the lawyer on behalf of the client guaranteeing payment out of those funds or property. Except as stated in this rule or otherwise permitted by law or by agreement with the client, a lawyer shall promptly deliver to the client or third person any funds or other property that the client or third person is entitled to receive and, upon request by the client or third person, shall promptly render a full accounting regarding such property.
By the terms of this rule, Mr. Burke had a professional duty to render an accounting to Mr. Patout upon request. This would be true even if Mr. Patout was not a client, as he would then be a third party about whom Mr. Burke had actual knowledge and who had a written agreement with Mrs. Smith guaranteeing payment out of the proceeds of the settlement. Ip any event, there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Mr. Patout was informed of the amount of the settlement. Mr. Patout alleges in an affidavit that he has not been informed, of the amount of the settlement by either Mr. Burke or Mrs. Smith, though Mrs. Smith claims in an affidavit that he has been informed. The Rules of Professional Conduct have the force and effect of substantive law. Succession of Wallace, 574 So.2d 348 (La.1991). Thus, summary judgment is inappropriate in this ease. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed. This matter is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. Costs of this appeal are taxed against Mr. Burke.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
COOKS, J., concurs in part and dissents in part and assigns reasons.