THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge.
The intervenors, Patrick Daniel and D. Patrick Daniel, LLC (Daniel), appeal the trial court's granting of the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the defendants, Bob Broussard, Bob Broussard APLC, and Continental Casualty Company (collectively, "Broussard"), in this action for legal malpractice and tortious interference with contract. Finding no error on the part of the trial court, we affirm.
We must decide whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Broussard and in dismissing all claims.
Daniel and Broussard are attorneys who at different times represented Larry Tolliver in Tolliver's personal injury suit against U-Haul Company of Texas.
In August, 2011, during Broussard's representation of the U-Haul matter, the lawsuit settled for $75,000.00. The settlement was finalized in October, 2011. The amount was insufficient to cover Broussard's litigation expenses and was a fraction of the third party financing that Daniel had arranged during his representation of the matter. In November, 2011, Daniel amended his intervention to add Broussard as a defendant and to assert claims against him for legal malpractice and interference with contract.
Daniel filed suit against Broussard and his malpractice insurer in state court in Lafayette in February, 2012.
Broussard filed a writ application with this court, and the trial court stayed discovery pending our ruling. In January 2013, in Patrick Daniel v. Bob Broussard, et al, Writ No. 12-974, a five-judge panel of this court granted Broussard's writ application in part, finding that Daniel had no right of action against Broussard for negligent representation, which was essentially a malpractice claim that only Tolliver could raise.
Five months after this court's ruling that Daniel did not have a right of action against Broussard for malpractice, Daniel, as Tolliver's attorney again, filed a third superseding petition in Daniel's own suit, attempting to join Tolliver as an additional malpractice plaintiff. Because Daniel still had a pending claim in federal court against Tolliver for litigation expenses in the U-Haul suit, the trial court found that Daniel had a conflict of interest, disqualified Daniel as Tolliver's attorney, and found the joinder of Tolliver improper. The trial court struck the third superseding petition that attempted to add Tolliver as a plaintiff and instructed Tolliver to file a separate suit.
On December 6, 2013, Tolliver, as a pro se plaintiff, filed a petition for damages against Broussard and his malpractice insurer in Lafayette Parish. The suit was improperly captioned "Patrick Daniel v. Bob Broussard, Esquire, et al;" and it was filed with Daniel's suit number, 2012-0981E, typed in the caption. The suit was assigned to Division B. The docket number was hand-corrected to read 2013-6250B, though it is not clear from the record whether or when the caption was corrected. This suit is the subject of the current appeal.
After service of the Tolliver petition, Broussard filed exceptions of peremption and res judicata, a motion for summary judgment, and a motion for Article 863 sanctions. The hearing on Broussard's motions was set for March 10, 2014. On February 27, Jennifer Rodriguez filed a motion to enroll as Tolliver's attorney
On April 7, Rodriguez fax-filed on Tolliver's behalf a twenty-eight-page "consolidated" pleading entitled, "Opposition To Defendant's Exceptions Of Peremption And Res Judicata, Motion For Sanctions, Motion For Summary Judgment And Motion For 967 Continuance, Compel, Sanctions And Disqualify Counsel." It was accompanied by a Motion For Leave and Order. The exhibits ostensibly attached to the opposition were not received by the trial court until April 16, 2014, which was two days after the hearing on April 14, 2014.
Broussard did not receive all of the exhibits until April 8. He objected to the opposition as untimely because it was not filed at least eight days before the hearing as required by the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, the Rules for Louisiana District Courts, and the interpreting jurisprudence. He asserted that the opposition documents should not be considered at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment.
On April 8, 2014, Daniel filed a petition for intervention in Tolliver's suit and adopted Tolliver's opposition to Broussard's motion for summary judgment. At the hearing on April 14, 2014, the trial judge briefly reviewed the procedural status of the case and announced the exceptions and motions filed by the defendant and scheduled to be heard that day. He then stated:
After Tolliver's attorney, Ms. Rodriguez, received clarification on the court's ruling, Broussard's attorney introduced exhibits and argued the motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. Ms. Rodriguez did not proffer the opposition or the exhibits that the trial court had stricken from the hearing. Daniel spoke as intervenor, attempting to argue assertions from the opposition, including charges against Broussard's attorney, James Gibson. Mr. Gibson responded briefly, and the trial court announced that summary judgment was granted "regarding all claims filed."
Ms. Rodriguez filed a motion to withdraw her representation of Tolliver in open court at the end of the hearing. Tolliver did not appeal. Daniel alone, as intervenor, appeals the trial court's judgment granting Broussard's motion for summary judgment on peremption and res judicata.
When an appellate court reviews a district court judgment on a motion for summary judgment, it applies the de novo standard of review, "using the same criteria that govern the trial court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate." Gray v. American Nat. Property & Cas. Co., 07-1670, p. 6 (La. 2/26/08), 977 So.2d 839, 844 (quoting Supreme Serv. & Specialty Co., Inc. v. Sonny Greer, 06-1827, p. 4 (La. 5/22/07), 958 So.2d 634, 638). The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, and affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of
In addition to reiterating Daniel's malpractice claims, Tolliver's suit alleged that Broussard solicited Tolliver's business, resulting in Tolliver's firing Daniel; and that Broussard interfered with Daniel's contract with Tolliver. Broussard's motion for summary judgment asserted that Tolliver's malpractice claim against Broussard was perempted under La.R.S. 9:5605
As indicated in the factual section above, the trial court found that the opposition filed by Tolliver's attorney, and adopted by Daniel as intervenor, was untimely. The trial court then declined to hear oral argument on the opposition and ultimately denied Tolliver's request for leave to file it. Thus, neither the opposition nor its attached exhibits were considered by the trial court in the summary judgment hearing. While Tolliver did not appeal the trial court's judgment, Daniel did file an appeal. Daniel asserts that the trial court erred in refusing to consider the opposition. We disagree.
La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B)(1) provides that the affidavits and memorandum opposing a motion for summary judgment "shall be served pursuant to Article 1313 within the time limits provided in District Court Rule 9.9." La.Code Civ.P. art. 1313 provides for service by mail, delivery, or electronic means. Under La.Dist.Ct.R. 9.9(c), "[a] party who opposes an exception or motion shall concurrently furnish the trial judge and serve on all other parties an opposition memorandum at least eight calendar days before the scheduled hearing[;]" and, it "shall be served on all other parties so that it is received by the other parties at least eight calendar days before the hearing, unless the court sets a shorter time."
Buggage v. Volks Constructors, 06-175 (La.5/5/06), 928 So.2d 536 held that the trial court's decision not to consider late-filed opposition documents was not an abuse of discretion, given that the time limitation for serving such documents is mandatory. While use of the language shall in the above provisions implies a mandatory obligation to timely file, following Buggage courts have overwhelmingly found that the trial court's decision to strike untimely filed oppositions is discretionary. Smith v. Rapides Healthcare System, L.L.C., 13-1172 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/5/14), 134 So.3d 122.
A survey of the cases indicates that the trial court does not abuse its discretion in choosing to follow the mandatory eight-day limit; nor is there abuse in choosing to allow late-filed opposition materials if there is no prejudice to the mover. Id. (citing Mahoney v. E. Carroll Parish Police Jury, 47,494 (La.App. 2 Cir. 9/26/12), 105 So.3d 144, writ denied, 12-2684 (La.2/8/13), 108 So.3d 88). Here, because the opposition documents were late, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in striking the documents. We find no merit in Daniels' arguments on this issue.
Daniel's petition of intervention, filed on April 8 prior to the hearing on April 14, reiterates the previously filed petitions and interventions asserting malpractice against Broussard. In fact, almost all of Daniel's allegations pertain to Broussard's representation of Tolliver and Broussard's interactions and transactions with Tolliver before, during, and after settlement. He also includes naked assertions of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. These claims all arise "from an engagement to provide legal services," and "whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise," they belong to Tolliver alone under La.R.S. 9:5605. See Patrick Daniel v. Bob Broussard, et al., Writ No. 12-974.
The Scheffler court went further to find that public policy dictates against recognizing a fiduciary duty among co-counsel to protect one another's interest in prospective fees. This is because of the potential conflict with each attorney's undivided duty of loyalty to his client, which is paramount. The duty is to pursue the case based upon the client's best interest, even if it means foregoing a potential contingency fee. Scheffler, 950 So.2d at 649 (citing Mazon v. Krafchick, 158 Wn.2d 440, 144 P.3d 1168 (2006), which adopted a bright line rule that no duties exist between co-counsel that would allow recovery for lost or reduced prospective fees). Thus, the Scheffler court found that allowing an amendment to the petition would not remove the legal impediments to the attorney's pursuit of an action based on allegations of breach of fiduciary duty.
This is particularly true in this case involving two attorneys who were not co-counsel. Rather, this case involves intervention by Daniel, an attorney who, by Tolliver's own affidavit, caused him damages during Daniel's prior representation of the U-Haul matter, causing Tolliver to fire Daniel for cause. Broussard, as Tolliver's new attorney, was put in the position of defending Tolliver's interests against Daniel's intervention and filing a reconventional demand on behalf of Tolliver against Daniel. Accordingly, pursuant to La.Code Civ.P. art. 927(B),
Daniel's petition alleges solicitation and intentional interference with Daniel's contract with Tolliver. As to the intentional interference with contract claim,
In 9 to 5 Fashions, Inc. v. Spurney, 538 So.2d 228, 234 (La.1989), the Louisiana Supreme Court announced an end to Louisiana's absolute bar to an action based on tortious interference with a contract. However, the court was very specific in recognizing "only a corporate officer's duty to refrain from intentional and unjustified interference with the contractual relation between his employer and a third person." Id. at 234. The court then set forth five elements:
Id.
Daniel's petition has not pled, and cannot amend to plead, any facts to support any of the above elements because Broussard is not a corporate official whose employer has a contract with Daniel. Thus, Daniel's intervention does not state a cause of action under the 9 to 5 Fashions, Inc. criteria.
Accordingly, we find no error by the trial court in dismissing all claims filed by Tolliver and Daniel.
Based upon the foregoing, we affirm the trial court's granting of the motion for summary judgment. Pursuant to La.Code Civ.P. art. 927(B), we raise and grant on our own motions the peremptory exceptions of no cause of action and the peremptory exception of no right of action. All costs of this appeal are assessed to Patrick Daniel and D. Patrick Daniel, LLC.