Opinion ID: 1822313
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Transaction or Compromise v. Extrajudicial Partition

Text: Louisiana Civil Code articles 3078 and 814 are indeed, seemingly at odds. La. Civ.Code art. 814 allows an extrajudicial partition to be attacked for lesion, but La. Civ.Code art. 3078 disallows lesionary challenges of a transaction or compromise. Oftentimes, however, as is the case here, extrajudical partitions have qualities of a transaction or compromise and the question becomes which codal article applies. We find that the case of Williamson v. Amilton, 13 La. Ann. 387, 388 (1858) provides a well-reasoned analysis for resolving the conflict. Williamson involved facts strikingly similar to those presently before the court. In Williamson, a husband and wife, after divorce, entered into a voluntary partition of the community property. The wife subsequently filed a claim for rescission of the petition on the basis of lesion. The husband opposed the wife's claim, contending that the voluntary partition was a transaction or compromise which was not assailable for lesion. The law at that time, like now, disallowed an attack on a transaction or compromise on the basis of lesion, but allowed lesionary attacks on certain partitions. [5] The Williamson court recognized the apparent conflict in the law, but reconciled the provisions in holding that a partition, even when it takes upon itself the aspect and qualities of a compromise, may be attacked for lesion beyond one-fourth; but the partition once made, if disputes grow out of it, and the parties compromise on those disputes, this compromise is unassailable for lesion. We find that the Williamson rationale, made under laws similar to those in the civil code today, applies to the situation currently before us. The rationale is in accordance with concepts of fundamental equity and fairness which form the basis for the lesion remedy. The law of lesion serves to ensure that one party does not benefit to the detriment of another and ensures that manipulation and deception do not become routine elements of property division. Parties who enter into extrajudicial partitions do so without benefit of prior court approval, and hence, the law provides protection in the event that one party receives less by more than one-fourth of the fair market value of the portion he should have received. See La. Civ.Code art. 814. Here, the parties entered into a community property partition agreement which, by its very nature, had some aspects or qualities of a transaction or compromise. The parties distributed the assets and debts of the community through mutual consent, agreeing on which assets would be assigned to which spouse and who would be responsible for certain community debts. But, as stated in Williamson, the fact that the partition agreement has some aspects and qualities of a transaction or compromise does not make the agreement unassailable for lesion. Here, the agreement was an extrajudicial partition, and La. Civ.Code art. 814 allows Anne to attack the partition for lesion. The lower courts erred in finding otherwise. Robert, however, is not contending that lesion is unavailable because the partition agreement is a transaction or compromise. In fact, Robert's counsel conceded at oral argument that the agreement was an extrajudicial partition. It is Robert's position that Anne's claim for lesion should be dismissed, not because it arises out of a transaction or compromise, but because Anne failed to produce factual support for that claim in response to Robert's motion for summary judgment.