Hans Wede v. Niche Marketing USA, LLC and Rodney C. Whitney, Jr.

Summary

The Louisiana Supreme Court held that a money judgment mistakenly recorded as a conveyance document rather than a mortgage document could not operate as a judicial mortgage against subsequent third-party purchasers. Applying Louisiana Civil Code articles 3338 and 3347, the court concluded that a judicial mortgage must be recorded in the appropriate mortgage records to affect third persons. The court affirmed the court of appeal's judgment in favor of the purchasers.

Holdings

1. A money judgment recorded in the parish's conveyance records rather than the appropriate mortgage records cannot operate as a judicial mortgage against third-party purchasers under the facts of this case.
2. Articles 3338 and 3347 must be read together so that article 3347 governs when the effect of recordation arises, while article 3338 governs where an instrument must be recorded to affect third persons.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a money judgment recorded in the parish's conveyance records rather than its mortgage records creates an enforceable judicial mortgage against third-party purchasers of the affected immovable property.
2. Whether Louisiana Civil Code article 3347, providing that the effect of recordation arises upon filing and is unaffected by subsequent recorder errors or omissions, preserves the judgment's effect against third persons despite its erroneous recordation location.
3. Whether the clerk's erroneous electronic designation was merely an indexing error or instead meant that the judgment was not recorded in the appropriate mortgage records.

Disposition

affirmed