Opinion ID: 1891670
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: declinatory exception of subject-matter jurisdiction

Text: Subject-matter jurisdiction is defined by the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure as the legal power and authority of a court to hear and determine a particular class of actions or proceedings, based upon the object of the demand, the amount in dispute, or the value of the right asserted. La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 2. As to the source of the family court's jurisdiction, the Louisiana Constitution provides that [n]otwithstanding any contrary provisions of Section 16 of this Article, juvenile and family courts shall have jurisdiction as provided by law. La. Const. art. V, § 18. The Louisiana Constitution also states that the legislature may provide by law that a family court has jurisdiction of cases involving title to movable and immovable property when those cases relate to the partition of the community property and the settlement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes when such action arises as a result of divorce or annulment of marriage. La. Const. art. V, § 16. Consequently, we will examine those laws enacted by the legislature that grant jurisdiction to the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court. By virtue of La.Rev.Stat. 13:1401, the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court has exclusive jurisdiction over certain domestic matters. In particular, La.Rev. Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2) enumerates the following actions arising out of a marriage or the termination of a marriage: A. There is hereby established the family court for the parish of East Baton Rouge, which shall be a court of record with exclusive jurisdiction in the following proceedings:    (2)(a) All actions between spouses or former spouses for partition of community property and property acquired pursuant to a matrimonial regime. (b) All actions for the termination or modification of a matrimonial regime. (c) All actions for the settlement and enforcement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes or the establishment thereof. (d) All actions between former spouses seeking the enforcement of a judicial or contractual settlement of claims provided in this Subsection. Thus, La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2) clearly empowers the family court to classify, as community or separate, assets belonging to a married or formerly married couple. Thus, the family court has jurisdiction to resolve conflicts that concern classification of such assets. This court has not heretofore explored the scope of the family court's jurisdiction as provided by the provisions of La.Rev. Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2). We will, therefore, examine as possibly persuasive authority the treatment of this jurisdictional issue in previous court of appeal cases. The First Circuit has addressed the jurisdictional scope of the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court from time to time. First, in Ransome v. Ransome , the First Circuit determined that the family court was the court of proper jurisdiction under La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2)(d), over an action between former spouses seeking enforcement of a contractual settlement of claims. 99-1291, p. 5 (La.App.1 Cir. 1/21/00), 791 So.2d 120, 123. [5] In Ransome, the plaintiff filed a petition against her former husband to recover damages for breach of a community property partition agreement, and for enforcement of an agreement entitling her to community assets. Id. at 3, 791 So.2d at 121. The First Circuit found that the Legislature specifically granted the family court jurisdiction over all actions for partition of community property between spouses or former spouses, termination or modification of matrimonial regimes, settlement and enforcement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes, and the enforcement of these enumerated claims between former spouses. [6] Id. at 5, 791 So.2d at 122. More significantly, however, the First Circuit explained in that case: Although our decision is dictated by the legislation, our holding gives deference to the intent of the legislature which obviously has been to expand the jurisdiction of the Family Court to provide one forum to resolve disputes between spouses or former spouses which involve issues related to their marriage. Id. at 5-6, 791 So.2d at 123. Citing La. Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2)(d), the First Circuit concluded that the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court had exclusive jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claims despite the fact the claim is titled as an action for breach of contract, specific performance, and damages. Id. Then, in Gerald v. Gerald, just five months later, the First Circuit concluded that the Nineteenth Judicial District Court did not have subject-matter jurisdiction over a former wife's community property partition claim involving a community interest in the monthly State retirement benefit then being paid to her former husband. 99-1328, p. 1 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/23/00), 762 So.2d 1241, 1242. While the parties had earlier signed a community property settlement agreement partitioning the community of acquets and gains, there had been no apportionment of their interests in the retirement plan. Id. Five years after signing the community property settlement agreement, the plaintiff learned that her former husband had retired, and she initiated a proceeding seeking a judgment awarding her the full amount of her interest in the retirement plan. Id. The First Circuit found that the Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish by virtue of La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401 has exclusive jurisdiction over actions whether between spouses or `former spouses,' for partition of community property and property acquired pursuant to a matrimonial regime. Id. at 3, 762 So.2d at 1243. The First Circuit concluded that since this matter involves an action between former spouses seeking partition of community property, the Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish is the court of proper jurisdiction, rather than the district court. Id. Following Gerald and Ransome, which favor a broad interpretation of the family court's subject-matter jurisdiction, the First Circuit interpreted the scope of La. Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2) in Carpenter v. Carpenter to exclude those cases that do not involve a partition of community property or arise from a matrimonial regime. 00-0096 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/28/01), 797 So.2d 712. In Carpenter, prior to the parties' divorce, a judgment was rendered against the defendant husband, who while in control of assets belonging to his mother's succession had made unauthorized deposits into the parties' community-owned patio furniture business bank account. Carpenter at 2, 797 So.2d at 714. Shortly thereafter, the parties divorced and partitioned their property, but they did not include in the community property settlement the husband's debt to his mother's succession. Id. at 2-3, 797 So.2d at 714. Almost seven years after the termination of the community, the succession obtained a judgment declaring the succession's claim to be a debt of the former community and to be a joint and solidary obligation of the formerly married couple. Id. The plaintiff wife paid the full amount owed under the judgment, and then instituted an action against her former husband in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, seeking reimbursement. Id. at 3, 797 So.2d at 714. The defendant argued that since this was a claim for reimbursement for her payment of a community debt, it fell within the family court's exclusive jurisdiction over all actions for the settlement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes. Id. Finding that the issues to be resolved concerned co-debtor obligations and not the classification of community acquets and gains, the First Circuit found that the claims did not constitute actions for claim settlements arising from matrimonial regimes within the meaning of La.Rev.Stat. 13:1401(A)(2). Carpenter at 5, 797 So.2d at 716. In doing so, it also distinguished Carpenter from Gerald and Ransome when it stated: Both the Ransome and Gerald cases dealt with issues incidental to the parties' marriage. The parties were trying to settle issues between themselves relating to their marriage. Such is not the case here. This matter does not pertain to the classification of property or the determination of responsibility of debts as between the parties. In the case sub judice there is a third party (the succession) seeking satisfaction of a judgment from solidary obligors. One of the obligors paid the obligation in full and is now seeking contribution from the other obligor. The issues to be resolved are not between the former spouses, as such, but as co-debtors obligated to the succession. Carpenter at 5, 797 So.2d at 715-716. Thus, the Gerald case, which involved a contest over community-owned retirement plan proceeds, clearly indicates that cases involving the classification of property as community or separate, like the instant case, fall within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court, while the Carpenter case indicates that claims involving spouses, who are respectively obligated as co-debtors to a third-party creditor, do not fall within the jurisdiction of the family court. We find the analysis of the First Circuit's three cases ( Gerald, Ransome, and Carpenter ) helpful in deciding the present exceptions of a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction raised by Mr. Spinosa and the Trust. With this in mind, we assess La. Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2) as we apply this statute to the facts in the present case.
First, Mr. Spinosa argues that the family court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's claim that he breached a corporate fiduciary duty and over her claim that he is obligated under the single business enterprise theory because the jurisdictional statute for the family court, La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(2), limits the court's subject-matter jurisdiction to four distinct actions, and that claims for breach of corporate fiduciary duty or any other action based on a single business enterprise theory are not included. He alleges that Mrs. Spinosa's breach of fiduciary duty and single business enterprise claims do not relate to their marriage. Because Mrs. Spinosa is seeking to settle and/or enforce her rights to community assets, the family court concluded that it had subject-matter jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's claims that Mr. Spinosa operated the community enterprise as a single business enterprise and her allegations that he breached his duty owed to her. The family court judge found that Mrs. Spinosa's claims all arise from the matrimonial regime because all of her claims are based on her position that Mr. Spinosa's actions have deprived her of her rights in community property. We agree with the family court. Mrs. Spinosa's claims are issues incidental to her former marriage because Mrs. Spinosa alleges the family real estate business was operated during the marriage, and that the community enterprise had never been partitioned, regardless of whether the 1990 matrimonial agreement is determined to be null. As the family court astutely points out in the reasons for judgment, this case is different from Carpenter because regardless of whether the community terminated on January 10, 1990 (when the judgment and agreement were executed) or on January 10, 2000 (the date Candy Spinosa filed a Petition for Divorce), the parties have never amicably or judicially partitioned their community property. Certainly, the family court has subject-matter jurisdiction to determine whether Mrs. Spinosa is correct in her argument that the assets acquired through this single business enterprise are community property. La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401 provides that the family court has exclusive jurisdiction over community property classifications and the partitioning of community and separate property. Next, Mr. Spinosa argues that the East Baton Rouge Family Court has no subject-matter jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's action to annul the 1990 judgment because that judgment was issued by the Nineteenth Judicial District Court. He argues that none of the provisions of La. Rev.Stat. § 13:1401 grant the family court subject-matter jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's nullity action because hers is an action based on fraud or ill practices under La.Code of Civ. Proc. art. 2004, not an action relating to their former marriage. Further, Mr. Spinosa points out that under La. Code of Civ. Proc. art. 2006, an action to annul a judgment for vices of substance must be brought in the trial court, even though the judgment sought to be annulled may have been affirmed on appeal, or even rendered by the appellate court. [7] The language of La.Code of Civ. Proc. art.2006 relied upon by Mr. Spinosa has been interpreted to mean that the nullity action must be brought in the same judicial district court which rendered the judgment sought to be annulled, albeit one of the district court's other divisions. Piper v. Olinde Hardware & Supply Co., Inc., 288 So.2d 626, 629 (La.1974). In Piper, the judgment sought to be annulled by the plaintiff was rendered by a division of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, and the plaintiff sought to annul the judgment in a different division of the same court. Id. The defendant argued that only the division of the district court that rendered the judgment has jurisdiction to declare the judgment null. Id. This court overruled the defendant's exception, finding that the attacking party need only bring the nullity action in the same district court, not the same division of the district court that rendered the judgment. Id. Thus, the Piper court's holding regarding a court's subject matter jurisdiction over nullity actions focused on the trial court's having jurisdiction rather than on which particular division of a district court had the authority to enter the judgment. We find that the family court has subject-matter jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's nullity action despite the fact that the 1990 judgment validating the matrimonial agreement was rendered by the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, a Baton Rouge court, which in 1990 but not in 2001, had jurisdiction over matrimonial regimes. Subsequent to the 1990 district court judgment, the law divested the Nineteenth Judicial District Court of subject-matter jurisdiction over matrimonial agreements and actions to partition community property, and gave that jurisdiction to the Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish. [8] La. Const. art. 5 §§ 16, 18; La.Rev.Stat. 13:1410. Today, the family court continues to possess exclusive jurisdiction over such matters. La. Const. art. § 16(A)(3). The facts of this case are distinguishable from Piper. In Piper, the district court continued to be the court with jurisdiction over the subject matter of the judgment challenged in the nullity action. In contrast, however, the 19th Judicial District Court in the year 2001, when this case was filed, no longer had jurisdiction over the subject-matter of this nullity action of the plaintiff's, in as much as jurisdiction over community property matter by then lay in the family court. Mrs. Spinosa has filed a petition for partition of community property. As a basis for her claim that certain properties held in the Spinosa Class Trust are, in fact, community property, she alleges that the 1990 judgment was obtained through fraud or ill practices. She is therefore asking the family court to examine the matrimonial agreement, the evidence she presents to establish the circumstances under which the matrimonial agreement was executed, and the documents, such as financial statements that were presented to account for the community's net worth, in order to allow the court to properly classify the property as either community, separate, or neither (the later if the property has properly been placed in the Spinosa Class Trust). Admittedly, Mrs. Spinosa's claims are somewhat more complicated than those involved in the typical community property partition; however, her claims, at least at this juncture in the litigation, only require the family court to determine whether certain properties are community, which is the fundamental question that the family court must first decide when the merits trial is held. Therefore, we conclude that Mrs. Spinosa has properly filed the nullity action in the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court, today's counterpart to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court regarding community property matters.
The Trust argues that the family court's jurisdiction does not extend to claims against third parties, such as the Trust, here. The Trust argues that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Spinosa own the property held in trust and any claim brought against the trust must be brought in district court, not family court. The family court disagreed. That court concluded that Mrs. Spinosa's addition of the Trust as a defendant did not destroy the court's jurisdiction. In reaching this decision, it again relied on La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401(A)(2)(c), finding that the provisions of the statutory grant of special jurisdiction are not limited to actions between spouses or former spouses, but extend to all actions within its purview, including Mrs. Spinosa's petition to partition community property, some of which is allegedly held by the Trust. The family court surmised that because Mrs. Spinosa sought recognition of her community property interest in assets held by the Trust (allegedly because her former husband improperly placed them there), then the action against the Trust arises from settlement and enforcement of the matrimonial regime, and is, thus, within its jurisdiction. Like the plaintiff in Gerald, Mrs. Spinosa is seeking to have recognized her alleged interest in any community property held by the Trust and to enforce her alleged claim to an undivided one-half interest in the trust and/or much of its assets. She is merely seeking to have certain community property allegedly taken by her former husband and improperly deposited in the trust, properly classified as community property. This determination is one that is well within the statutory grant of special subject-matter jurisdiction granted to the family court. Mrs. Spinosa's petition seeks a partition of community property. Inherent in this partition is the family court's classification of the property and its ability to enforce and settle claims with regard to a matrimonial regime. The Louisiana Civil Code defines a matrimonial regime as a system of principles and rules governing the ownership and management of the property of married persons as between themselves and toward third persons. La. Civ.Code art. 2325. Because Mrs. Spinosa alleges that Mr. Spinosa used the Trust to divert community assets over which he maintained exclusive control, Mrs. Spinosa is asserting a claim that specifically affects the matrimonial regime. Under Ransome and Gerald, this is clearly a dispute between former spouses which involved issues related to their marriage. Ransome, 791 So.2d at 123. While the Trust argues strenuously that the family court does not have jurisdiction over an action between a former spouse and a third party, this argument fails to recognize the specific language of La.Rev. Stat. § 13:1401(2)(c), granting the family court exclusive jurisdiction over all actions for the settlement and enforcement of claims arising from matrimonial regimes or the establishment thereof. Unlike subsections 2(a) and 2(d) of La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401, the jurisdiction established by subsection 2(c) over actions for the settlement and enforcement of claims is not limited to actions between spouses or former spouses. Further support for our conclusion that the Legislature intended to expand the original and special jurisdiction of the family court to cover claims like those asserted against the Trust is found in the fact that the 1999 Louisiana Legislature repealed La. Rev.Stat. § 13:1415, which following 1997 had granted the family court jurisdiction over matrimonial agreements. That provision was coincidentally repealed and incorporated in the 1999 enacted La.Rev. Stat. § 13:1401, which had previously been limited to all actions between spouses or former spouses for the settlement and claims arising from a matrimonial regime or the establishment thereof. (Emphasis added). This specific inclusion of the language between spouses and former spouses in only two of the four enumerations of jurisdiction set forth in the current version of La.Rev.Stat. § 13:1401, coupled with the exclusion of that very same language in the other two, including subsection (2)(c), evidence the Legislature's intent to include concurrent claims against litigants other than former spouses, such as Mrs. Spinosa's claim against the Trust. Thus, we conclude that the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court has jurisdiction over Mrs. Spinosa's effort to determine whether the trust contains assets that are actually community funds improperly diverted by Mr. Spinosa. If it is found that the property she claims is not community, then the family court will no longer have before it claims against the Trust. Following this classification, if the family court concludes that some or all of the assets in the Trust are in fact community property, what will follow in terms of ancillary procedural or substantive remedies will be for the family court to decide.