AEGEAN PROPERTY GROUP, * NO. 2024-CA-0466 LLC * VERSUS COURT OF APPEAL * CHARLES ANTHONY FOURTH CIRCUIT SUMLER, WMC MORTGAGE * CO., AND CAPITAL ONE, N.A. STATE OF LOUISIANA *******

APPEAL FROM CIVIL DISTRICT COURT, ORLEANS PARISH NO. 2022-02354, DIVISION “N-8” Honorable Ethel Simms Julien, Judge ****** Judge Monique G. Morial ****** (Court composed of Judge Paula A. Brown, Judge Tiffany Gautier Chase, Judge Monique G. Morial)

Shermin S. Khan THE KHAN LAW FIRM 2714 Canal St. Ste. 300 New Orleans, LA 70119

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

Scott Joseph Sonnier ATTORNEY AT LAW Poydras Street Suite 1620 New Orleans, LA 70130

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE

MOTION TO DISMISS GRANTED IN PART, DENIED IN PART; MAY 10, 2024 DEFAULT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED FEBRUARY 3, 2025 Appellant, Kendal Sumler, appeals the default judgment rendered in favor of MGM Appellee, Aegean Property Group, L.L.C., and against defendants Capital One, PAB N.A. and WMC Mortgage Company that confirmed a tax sale and transferred a TGC 99% ownership interest in property to Aegean. Appellant further seeks review of a subsequent summary judgment granted in favor of Aegean confirming and quieting title to the same property at issue. Appellee Aegean has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. For the reasons discussed below, we grant the motion to dismiss as to the summary judgment, finding this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider that judgment. We consider only the assignments of error on appeal related to the default judgment rendered against defendants Capital One and WMC. Upon review of the record on appeal, we affirm the default judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On March 18, 2022, Aegean filed a “Petition to Quiet Title and for Partition” against defendants Charles Anthony Sumler, WMC, and Capital One, seeking to confirm a tax sale that transferred to Aegean a 99% ownership interest to the property title at 3046-48 Upperline Street in New Orleans. Aegean attached to its petition a May 9, 2018 tax sale certificate stating that “all the formalities of the law hav[e] been complied with[,]” and transferring a “tax sale title to 99% of the whole of the property…” to Aegean.

The record reflects that Capital One and WMC were properly served with the petition but filed no responsive pleadings. The record further reflects that defendant Mr. Charles Sumler—the record owner of the Upperline property at the time of the tax sale—filed no responsive pleadings to the petition. However, Mr. Kendal Sumler, the son and the independent administrator of Mr. Charles Sumler’s estate, intervened in the lawsuit to demonstrate that Mr. Charles Sumler had in fact been deceased at the time of the tax sale and the filing of the petition to quiet tax sale.

On February 8, 2024, Aegean filed a “Motion for Summary Judgment and Default,” seeking to have a judgment issued in its favor confirming the tax sale and quieting an undivided 99% title interest in the Upperline property. Aegean sought summary judgment against Mr. Sumler and a default judgment against Capital One and WMC Mortgage. Mr. Sumler filed an opposition to the motion for summary judgment, contending that summary judgment is not proper in this case because he

never received notice of the petition as required under La. R.S. 47:2266.1 Neither Capital One nor WMC filed any responsive pleadings.

On May 10, 2024, the trial court conducted a hearing on the motion for summary judgment and default. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge granted the default judgment and issued a written judgment on the same date. The trial judge however took the motion for summary judgment under advisement. On July 2, 2024, the trial judge issued a judgment granting summary judgment in favor of Aegean and against Mr. Sumler, confirming and quieting Aegean’s title as the

B. In all cases when tax titles have been quieted by prescription of five years under the provisions of Article VII, Section 25 of the Louisiana Constitution, the purchaser, donee, or his heirs or assigns may, either obtain a judgment of the court confirming the title by suit in the manner and form in Subsection A of this Section, except that the delay for answer shall be ten days instead of six months, provided that the failure to bring suit shall in no manner affect such prescriptive titles.

C. The petitioner may file a notice of lis pendens with the recorder of mortgages of the parish in which the property is located. A transfer, mortgage, lien, privilege, or other encumbrance filed after the filing of the notice of lis pendens shall not affect the property. The recorder of mortgages or the recorder of conveyances shall cancel, erase, terminate, or release the acts upon request of the petitioner.

owner of a 99% interest in the Upperline property and ordering a partition of the property.2

LAW AND ANALYSIS On appeal, Mr. Sumler challenges (1) the May 10, 2024 default judgment rendered against Capital One and WMC Mortgage and (2) the July 2, 2024 summary judgment granted in favor of Aegean. Aegean filed in this Court a motion to dismiss Mr. Sumler’s appeal. We will first address the motion to dismiss and then turn to the assignments of error properly on appeal.

Motion to Dismiss Aegean filed a motion to dismiss this appeal. First, as to the July 2, 2024 summary judgment, Aegean contends that Appellant failed to file a motion for appeal as to that judgment and, thus, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider any assignment of error related to that judgment. Second, as to the May 10, 2024 default judgment, Aegean contends that Mr. Sumler lacks standing to appeal the default judgment, as he is not a party to that judgment rendered only against Capital One and WMC.

First, as to the July 2, 2024 summary judgment, we find that this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider that judgment on appeal. Although Mr. Sumler filed a motion for appeal as to the May 10, 2024 default judgment, which the trial court granted, there is no signed motion or order of appeal related to the July 2, 2024

summary judgment. This Court’s jurisdiction attaches upon the signing of an Order of appeal. See La C.C.P. art. 2088; see also Matthews v. Phillips 66 Co., 24- 0227 (La. App. 4 Cir. 11/13/24), p. 7, ---- So.3d----, , 2024 WL 4763306 at *3 (quoting Garco, Inc. v. Rob’s Cleaning & Powerwash, Inc., 08-1249, pp. 3-4, (La. App. 4 Cir. 4/22/09), 12 So.3d 386, 388). Accordingly, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of any assignments of error related to the July 2, 2024 summary judgment.3 Therefore, we grant Aegean’s motion to dismiss in part as it relates to the July 2, 2024 judgment.

However, as to the May 10, 2024 default judgment, we deny the motion to dismiss and find that Mr. Sumler has standing to appeal that judgment. La. C.C.P. art. 2086 provides that “[a] person who could have intervened in the trial court may appeal, whether or not any other appeal has been taken.” Further, any party or person who could have intervened in the trial court and who is aggrieved by a trial court judgment has the right to appeal that judgment unless he has acquiesced therein, or is otherwise deprived of that remedy by law. Elysian, Inc. v. Neal Auction Co., Inc., 20-0674, 0675, p. 11 (La. App. 4 Cir. 7/21/21), 325 So.3d 1075, 1084 (citing La. C.C.P. arts. 2085 and 2086). A party appealing under La. C.C.P. art. 2086 must have an interest in the outcome of the litigation but need not have the judgment rendered directly against him in order to appeal that judgment. Id; see

also Metairie III v. Poche Const., Inc., 10-0353, p. 9 (La. App. 4 Cir. 9/29/10), 49 So.3d 446, 452. We find that Mr. Kendal Sumler—who the trial court permitted to intervene in the trial court proceedings and has been appointed as the independent administrator of his father’s estate—has a justiciable interest in this action to quiet title to the property owned by his father, Charles Sumler, prior to the underlying tax sale at issue.4 We therefore deny Aegean’s motion to dismiss the appeal as it relates to the May 10, 2024 default judgment. Having found that Mr. Sumler has standing to appeal, we now turn to consider his appeal of the default judgment.

For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s ruling granting the default judgment.

Default Judgment Mr. Sumler has appealed the July 2, 2024 default judgment rendered against Capital One and WMC Mortgage. The procedural requirements for a plaintiff to obtain a default judgment are contained in La. C.C.P. art. 1702.5 If a defendant in the principal or incidental demand fails to answer or file other pleadings within the time prescribed by law or by the court, and the plaintiff establishes a prima facie case by competent and admissible evidence that is admitted on the record, a default Aegean relies on Mooring Fin. Corp. 401(K)Profit Sharing Plan v. Mitchell, 08-1250, p. 8 (La. App. 4 Cir. 6/10/09), 15 So.3d 311, 318, to support its argument that Mr. Sumler lacks standing to appeal in this case. Mooring, in a 2-1 decision, held that a party who “at no time…filed any responsive pleadings” prior to the confirmation of a default judgment did not have standing to later seek to annul that judgment on appeal pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 2003 (“A defendant who voluntarily acquiesced in the judgment, or who was present in the parish at the time of its execution and did not attempt to enjoin its enforcement, may not annul the judgment on any grounds enumerated in La. C.C.P. art. 2002.”). Id. This case is clearly distinguishable as Mr. Sumler intervened and filed responsive pleadings, including an exception of insufficiency of service of process as to the petition to quiet title, in the trial court challenging Aegean’s action to quiet title prior to the May 10, 2024 default judgment rendered.

judgment in favor of the plaintiff may be rendered. La. C.C.P. art. 1702(A). “In reviewing default judgments, the appellate court is restricted to determining the sufficiency of the evidence offered in support of the judgment.” Arias v. Stolthaven New Orleans, L.L.C., 08-1111, p. 5 (La. 5/5/09), 9 So.3d 815, 818. “This determination is a factual one governed by the manifest error standard of review.” Id. We, therefore, review the default judgment “to determine whether the trial court’s ‘finding of fact . . . is clearly wrong in light of the record reviewed in its entirety.’” Sarasota, CCM, Inc. v. Supreme Quality Transp., LLC, 23-0658 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/6/24), 385 So.3d 307, 311 (quoting Payphone Connection Plus, Inc. v. Wagners Chef, LLC, 19-0181 (La. App. 4 Cir. 7/31/19), 276 So.3d 589, 594) (other citations omitted).

In this case, Aegean filed its “Petition to Quiet Tax Title and for Partition” against Capital One and WMC Mortgage on March 18, 2022. Aegean attached to its petition a copy of the May 9, 2018 tax sale certificate stating that “all the formalities of the law hav[e] been complied with[,]” and transferring a “tax sale title to 99% of the whole of the property” to Aegean. The record reflects that Capital One and WMC Mortgage both received service of the petition on April 6, 2022. Neither party filed an Answer or any other responsive pleadings.

On February 8, 2024, Aegean moved for a default judgment against Capital One and WMC. The matter proceeded to a hearing on May 10, 2024. At the hearing, Aegean’s counsel offered and introduced into evidence a certified copy of the May 9, 2018 tax sale certificate. La. R.S. 47:2155 provides that “[a] certified

copy of the tax sale certificate is prima facie evidence of the regularity of all matters regarding the tax sale and the validity of the tax sale.”

This Court recently stated that “if the tax sale purchaser presents a certified copy of the tax sale certificate, then the burden shifts . . . to ‘prov[e] any defects in the tax adjudication proceedings.’” Lepree v. Dorsey, 22-0853, (La. App. 4 Cir. 8/11/23), 370 So.3d 1191, 1201 (quoting NAR Sols., Inc. v. Kuhn, 22-00425 (La. 12/9/22), 354 So.3d 1176, 1178). Neither Capital One nor WMC Mortgage appeared at the hearing or submitted any evidence to challenge the validity of the 2018 tax sale certificate. Accordingly, we find no manifest error in the trial court’s granting of a default judgment against Capital One and WMC Mortgage in this case.

Decree The July 2, 2024 default judgment is affirmed.

MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL GRANTED IN PART, DENIED IN PART; MAY 10, 2024 JUDGMENT AFFIRMED