Johnson v. Henry, 206 So. 3d 916

Paula Johnson (plaintiff) had her Social Security number taken by coworker Penny Henry, who used it to buy a Gateway computer without Johnson’s knowledge.
Citibank sued Johnson on the purchased-account when payments stopped; Johnson learned of the fraud after being served.
Criminal charges against Penny Henry resulted in a pretrial intervention payment of $3,000 in restitution to Johnson and additional voluntary payments for attorney fees.
Johnson (and husband) filed a civil tort suit; trial court found an intentional tort and awarded Johnson $7,500 in general and special damages and one-third of the judgment as attorney fees; Mr. Johnson’s claims were dismissed.
The Henrys appealed, raising challenges to the damages amount/offset for restitution, Mr. Henry’s liability, and the award of attorney fees.
The appellate court affirmed the damages and Mr. Henry’s liability but reversed the award of attorney fees and split appeal costs equally.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
1) Amount of damages for mental anguish	Johnson: $7,500 is supported by humiliation, lost wages, credit complications, and attorney expenses	Henrys: $7,500 excessive given facts and prior restitution	Affirmed — no abuse of discretion in $7,500 award
2) Credit for $3,000 restitution paid in criminal case	Johnson: restitution did not cover general damages like mental anguish; civil award proper	Henrys: restitution should offset civil damages or render additional award excessive	Trial court not required to offset; restitution covers pecuniary loss only; affirmed
3) Mr. Henry’s liability for wife's intentional tort	Johnson: obligation benefitted the family/community, so spouse liable	Henrys: Mr. Henry should not be responsible for spouse’s intentional wrong	Affirmed — community-obligation presumption applies because family benefited
4) Award of attorney fees to Johnson	Johnson: Article 1958 supports fees for fraud	Henrys: no contract/rescission; tort claim, so fees improper	Reversed — Article 1958 applies to contractual rescission fraud only; attorney fees not available in tort here

Sims v. Selvage, 499 So.2d 325 (La. App. 1st Cir.) (standard for reviewing lump-sum general and special damages)
Reck v. Stevens, 373 So.2d 498 (La.) (abuse-of-discretion standard for damage awards)
Bryan v. City of New Orleans, 737 So.2d 696 (La.) (presumption and review principles for lump-sum awards)
National Food Stores of La., Inc. v. Chustz, 385 So.2d 374 (La. App. 1st Cir.) (criminal restitution may be credited but offset not mandatory)
Travelers Ins. Co. v. Chalona, 293 So.2d 498 (La. App. 4th Cir.) (similar treatment of restitution and civil offset)
Nassif v. Sunrise Homes, Inc., 739 So.2d 183 (La.) (attorney fees are available only by contract or statute)
Coates v. Anco Insulations, Inc., 786 So.2d 749 (La. App. 4th Cir.) (Article 1958 applies to rescission-for-fraud claims, not all fraud)
Delahoussaye v. Bd. of Sup’rs of Community & Technical Colleges, 906 So.2d 646 (La. App. 1st Cir.) (written reasons do not control over signed judgment)