Case Name: SESSIONS, FISHMAN, ROSENSON, BOISFONTAINE, & NATHAN v. Sherdeane Kinney TADDONIO
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1986-06-05
Citations: 490 So. 2d 526
Docket Number: No. CA-4459
Parties: SESSIONS, FISHMAN, ROSENSON, BOISFONTAINE, & NATHAN v. Sherdeane Kinney TADDONIO.
Judges: Before REDMANN, C.J., and WILLIAMS and ARMSTRONG, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 490
Pages: 526–530

Head Matter:
SESSIONS, FISHMAN, ROSENSON, BOISFONTAINE, & NATHAN v. Sherdeane Kinney TADDONIO.
No. CA-4459.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
June 5, 1986.
Camilo K. Salas, III, Sessions, Fishman, Rosenson, Boisfontaine & Nathan, for plaintiff-appellant.
Before REDMANN, C.J., and WILLIAMS and ARMSTRONG, JJ.

Opinion:
WILLIAMS, Judge.
This is an appeal from a decision of the trial court dismissing defendant Sessions, Fishman, Rosenson, Boisfontaine, Nathan & Winn ["Sessions"] suit to recover attorneys' fees from defendant Sherdeane Kinney-Taddonio.
Sessions represented Kinney-Taddonio in her protracted separation and divorce proceedings. As a result, plaintiff alleges that there is a $5,131.66 balance in attorneys' fees and expenses due it from defendant. After attempting amicable demand upon defendant, plaintiff filed this suit. Defendant filed a general denial in her answer, and did not make herself available for discovery prior to trial. At trial, she asserted that Robert Lowe, an attorney with Sessions, indicated to her in May of 1983, that the fees had been paid. The trial court, finding the defendant to be creditable, dismissed plaintiff's action.
On appeal, Sessions asserts several errors in the court below: (1) not allowing Sessions to present its claim as a suit on open account; (2) the court's acceptance of defendant's assertion that her obligation to pay Sessions was extinguished by settlement, on the grounds that it was not set forth as an affirmative defense; (3) the court's refusal to allow testimony concerning attorneys' fees which are recoverable on open account; (4) the court's refusal to conclude that defendant should not have been charged for fees incurred by an associate of the firm, because she did not claim as a defense that he was not entitled to them and that she expressly or impliedly agreed to her representation by this associate at times; and (5) the court's ultimate conclusion that the defendant did not owe fees to plaintiff.
The factual determination in this case concerns the settlement of the partition of the community, which occurred in May of 1983. Plaintiff testified that Lowe informed her "Sherdeane, we are settling this case today. I'm not walking out of here unless my fees have been covered." (Tr at 64-65) At this time, after the agreement had been entered into, plaintiff signed over $6,000.00 of a check (which had been paid to her by her husband in compromise of an outstanding balance of past due child support) to Sessions. She argues that on the basis of Lowe's statement to her that the case would not be settled unless the fees had been covered and her turning over of $6,000.00, she believed that no more legal fees were due and owing to the firm. The trial court found that Mrs. Taddonio was creditable and that she was reasonable in relying upon this assertion by Lowe to indicate that all fees had been paid in full.
Plaintiff asserts, however, that defendant is prevented from claiming that her debt to it is extinguished because she failed to raise it as an affirmative defense. La.C. Civ.Pr. art 1005. Article 1005 requires that the answer set forth affirmative defenses. These defenses are required to be specifically pleaded so as to give a plaintiff fair notice of the defense and to avoid surprise. Jackson v. Maloney Trucking and Storage, Inc., 442 So.2d 849, 852 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983); Louisiana National Bank of Baton Rouge v. Heindel, 365 So.2d 37 (La. App. 4th Cir.1978). This article is liberally construed, although a mere general denial cannot suffice to prove an affirmative defense over objection at trial. Bank of Coushatta v. Evans, 313 So.2d 644, 646 (La.App. 2d Cir.1975).
In paragraph five of her answer, defendant stated:
"In further answering the allegation of plaintiffs' petition, defendant avers that part payment of the indebtedness has been made and the petitioners open account claim does not accurately reflect the amount actually due from defendant, if any amount is due at all."
The trial court made a determination that the preceeding provision was sufficient to meet the requirements of article 1005.
In Georgia Pacific Corporation v. Ardenwood-Melrose, Inc., 348 So.2d 748 (La. App. 1st Cir.1977), defendants claimed in their answer that they had "paid plaintiff all the money to which plaintiff is entitled and no further cause of action exists on behalf of plantiff against defendants". Id. at 750. The court held that this statement was not fair notice that defendants were going to raise an affirmative defense concerning a credit on the amount owed.
In this case, defendant's denial is insufficient and the trial court improperly allowed her to testify about any possible extinguishment of the obligation. Because defendant presented no other defenses, and plaintiff presented more than a preponderance of evidence of the amount of work done on defendant's behalf which defendant did not dispute, the trial court should have ruled in plaintiff's behalf as to the fees incurred for work done by Lowe and his associate Terry Hauver. At this point, we reject defendant's assertion that she never intended to pay for Hauver's work. After discussion with defendant, plaintiff agreed she would not be billed for Hau-ver's time only when he appeared in court along with Lowe; otherwise, Hauver's time was billed to plaintiff. Plaintiff contended somewhat nebulously that she considered Lowe to be her attorney and that she never agreed to pay for Hauver's time. Her testimony on this issue is unclear, and she never complained prior to trial about being billed for Hauver's time. We cannot agree with the trial court that she should be allowed the benefit of Hauver's work without having to pay for it.
We also must address the issue of open account. Attorneys' fees are recoverable from a defendant on a suit on open account if that person fails to pay an open account within 15 days after receipt of written demand. La.R.S. 9:2781. For purposes of the statute, an open account is any account for which a part or all of the balance is past due, whether it reflects one or more transactions and whether, at the time of contracting, the parties expected future transactions. Currently, the definition of open account includes legal services. La.R.S. 9:2781. Prior to a 1983 amendment, however, a single transaction did not constitute an open account for purposes of an award for attorney's fees. The amendment has been deemed substantive and has not been applied retroactively. Almerico v. Katsanis, 458 So.2d 158 (La.App. 5th Cir.1984); Commercial Credit Claims Service, Inc. v. Richardson, 454 So.2d 177 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984). Because plaintiff's services were provided prior to the amendment, in order to recover attorneys' fees, plaintiff must prove that its representation of defendant was not a single transaction, but rather a series of transactions. Because the award of attorney's fees is a drastic remedy, the statutory procedures and requirements must be complied with strictly. Chaney Oil Company of Vicksburg v. Beard, 446 So.2d 849 (La. App.2d Cir.1984). Defendant testified that she hired Sessions to represent her in her separation and divorce proceedings. Sessions introduced no evidence pertaining to the nature of its relationship with defendant. We cannot hold that plaintiff carried its burden in proving that its representation was a series of transactions, as required by the statute in effect at the time.
For the foregoing reasons, the ruling of the trial court is reversed insofar as it denies plaintiff recovery of $5,131.66 for its expenses and the work Lowe and Hauver did on defendant's behalf. Plaintiff is not entitled, however, to recover attorneys' fees and costs provided by La.R.S. 9:2781.
REVERSED.
REDMANN, C.J., concurs with reasons.