## Facts

- David Melton and Mildred “Robin” Melton were married under a Louisiana community property regime.
- In 1983, David personally guaranteed his corporation’s indebtedness to Shel-Boze, Inc., a building-materials supplier.
- After the corporation defaulted, Shel-Boze sued David Melton General Contracting Company, Inc. and David individually.
- David did not answer, and on November 28, 1984, Shel-Boze obtained a default judgment against David and the corporation for about $1,219.34 plus attorney’s fees; Mildred was not a party to that judgment.
- On February 13, 1985, Shel-Boze filed a petition to garnish Mildred’s wages from her employer (the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board).
- A writ of fieri facias issued on March 1, 1985; a garnishment judgment was rendered on March 21, 1985 and served on the School Board on March 25, 1985, and wage withholding began.
- Mildred did not receive prior judicial notice of the garnishment before it was served on her employer.
- On May 8, 1985, Mildred filed a petition for separation from David.
- Mildred later obtained a judgment of separation, which terminated the community property regime retroactive to May 8, 1985 (the filing date of the separation petition).
- On the date the separation judgment was signed, Mildred moved to dissolve the garnishment and sought return of seized wages as well as general damages and attorney’s fees for wrongful seizure.
- After learning of the separation, Shel-Boze also moved to dissolve the garnishment; the trial court dissolved the garnishment in early July 1985.
- The trial court ordered Shel-Boze to return wages garnished after May 8, 1985 and awarded Mildred general damages and attorney’s fees for wrongful seizure; Shel-Boze appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Shel-Boze’s garnishment of Mildred Melton’s wages, while the community property regime still existed, was “wrongful” so as to support an award of general damages and attorney’s fees.
2. Whether Mildred was entitled to reimbursement of wages garnished after May 8, 1985, given that the separation judgment terminated the community retroactive to that filing date.

## Decision

- The court reversed the award of general damages and attorney’s fees.
- The court held the garnishment was not wrongful at the time the garnishment judgment was rendered because Mildred’s wages were community property when seized.
- The court affirmed the order requiring reimbursement of wages garnished after May 8, 1985, because the separation judgment terminated the community retroactive to that date, making later wages Mildred’s separate property.
- The judgment was reversed in part and affirmed in part.

## Legal Principles

- Earnings of a spouse during an existing Louisiana community property regime are community property.
- A judgment creditor may seize community property to satisfy an obligation incurred during the existence of the community (and, in any event, a lawful seizure of community wages under a valid garnishment judgment is not a “wrongful garnishment” merely because the wage-earning spouse was not a judgment debtor).
- A judgment of separation terminates the community property regime retroactive to the date the separation petition is filed; earnings after that filing date belong to the earning spouse’s separate estate.
- When a legal change in the marital property regime makes later earnings separate property, wages seized after the retroactive termination date must be returned to the spouse whose separate wages were taken.
- General damages and attorney’s fees for wrongful seizure are not available when the garnishment was legally authorized at the time it issued; fees require a legal basis and are not awarded simply because a spouse later proves part of the seizure reached separate property.

## Conclusion

The Louisiana First Circuit held that Shel-Boze’s garnishment of Mildred Melton’s wages was not wrongful when initiated because her wages were community property at the time the garnishment judgment was rendered, so general damages and attorney’s fees could not stand; however, because the subsequent separation judgment terminated the community retroactive to May 8, 1985, Mildred was entitled to reimbursement of wages garnished after that date, and the trial court’s reimbursement ruling was affirmed while its damages and fee awards were reversed.


Shel-Boze, Inc. v. Melton, 509 So. 2d 106 (1987)