Hoddinott v. Hoddinott, 217 So. 3d 540

Parties divorced on September 3, 2014; on the same date they entered a consent judgment resolving claims of physical violence/domestic abuse.
On August 7, 2015, Jo Schernbeck Hoddinott (plaintiff) filed a new lawsuit alleging various torts against Regnald Kenning Hoddinott III (defendant).
Defendant filed exceptions of no cause of action and res judicata; the district court denied no cause of action but granted res judicata and dismissed the petition with prejudice on July 25, 2016.
On appeal, the central dispute was whether the district court properly applied res judicata given the record before it.
Defendant conceded the consent judgment was not formally introduced into evidence at the res judicata hearing but asked the court to take judicial notice of copies in the record.
The appellate court vacated the dismissal and remanded because the defendant failed to introduce the full prior-suit record into evidence at the hearing, preventing a proper res judicata determination.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the district court properly sustained exception of res judicata	The new tort claims were not barred; res judicata not established on the record	Prior consent judgment and related divorce judgment bar the later tort suit; court may take judicial notice of copies in the record	Vacated and remanded: res judicata cannot be resolved because defendant failed to introduce the underlying judgment/record into evidence at the hearing
Whether the court may consider documents attached to memoranda or judicially notice another court’s file	Plaintiff argued evidence must be properly introduced; attachments are not proof	Defendant asked appellate court to consider copies and take judicial notice of prior judgment	Court held attachments to memoranda are not evidence and appellate courts may not judicially notice another court’s suit record; prior record must be introduced at trial
Burden of proof for res judicata on exception	Plaintiff relied on absence of proof by defendant	Defendant bears burden to prove elements of res judicata by preponderance	Confirmed: defendant must prove elements and introduce full prior-suit record into evidence
Proper appellate review standard when record is incomplete	Plaintiff urged reversal because evidence was not in record	Defendant argued appellate review could consider copies in record	Court held appellate courts cannot review evidence not in the appellate record and must remand for evidentiary hearing

Porter v. Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, 72 So.3d 946 (La. App. 4th Cir.) (standard for reviewing res judicata exception)
Sewell v. Argonaut Southwest Ins. Co., 362 So.2d 758 (La. 1978) (court must examine entire prior-suit record to determine if relief in second suit was actually adjudicated)
Union Planters Bank v. Commercial Capitol Holding Corp., 907 So.2d 129 (La. App. 1st Cir.) (limitations on taking judicial notice of other court’s suit records)
Brielle’s Florist & Gifts, Inc. v. Trans Tech, Inc., 74 So.3d 833 (La. App. 3d Cir.) (failure to introduce entire prior record can prevent meeting res judicata burden)
Denoux v. Vessel Mgmt. Servs., Inc., 983 So.2d 84 (La.) (documents attached to memoranda are not evidence; appellate courts cannot consider evidence not in record)
Louisiana Business College v. Crump, 474 So.2d 1366 (La. App. 2d Cir.) (no provision for taking judicial notice of suit records from another court)