Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund v. B. G. Carbajal, Inc.

156 So. 416, 180 La. 355
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedAugust 3, 1934
DocketNo. 32813.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 156 So. 416 (Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund v. B. G. Carbajal, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund v. B. G. Carbajal, Inc., 156 So. 416, 180 La. 355 (La. 1934).

Opinion

BRUNOT, Justice.

This is a suit for a deficiency judgment. In the court below there was judgment for the plaintiff, as prayed for in its petition, and the defendant appealed. The defendant, through its authorized agents, borrowed from the plaintiff $350,000, and secured the payment thereof by executing a mortgage upon certain properties, in the First district of the city of New Orleans; said properties being particularly described in the resolution of the board of directors of B. C. Carbajal, Inc., which resolution, with the description of the properties omitted, is as follows:

“Resolved that the President, Mrs. B. J. Carbajal, or the Vice-President, Mr. Nicholas G. Carbajal, and the Secretary-Treasurer, Mrs. H. S. Carbajal, of this Corporation, be, and are hereby, authorized and directed to ef *358 feet a mortgage of Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand ($350,000.00) Dollars, on the following described properties, to wit. * * *
“Resolved, further, that the President or Vice-President and the Secretary-Treasurer be and she or he are hereby authorized and empowered to execute all acts, deeds, and documents necessary or proper in her or his opinion to effect the purposes and objects of the foregoing Resolution.”

The mortgage provides for the payment of the principal sum five years after date, with 6 per cent, per annum interest thereon, payable annually, and for 10 per cent, attorney’s fees, exactly as is stipulated in the note executed by the defendant’s agents, which is identified with the act of mortgage, and which is described therein in the following words and figures, to wit:

“Its certain promissory note for the sum of Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($350,000.00), dated this day, and payable to the order of The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund Five (5) years after date at the Canal Bank and Trust Company of New Orleans, and stipulating to bear interest at the rate of Six (6%) Per Cent, from date until paid — interest payable annually — and which said note, after having been paraphed “Ne Varietur” by the undersigned Notary Public for identification herewith, was delivered to said L. Andre Morgan Secretary-Treasurer of The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, as he does hereby acknowledge.”

The defendant received the full amount of the note and enjoyed all of the benefits flowing therefrom. It is alleged in the petition that the defendant paid the accrued interest on the note annually for three consecutive years after its date, but failed to meet this obligation at the expiration of the fourth year. The defendant being in default, after some fruitless correspondence between the parties, foreclosure proceedings followed.

Counsel for the defendant contend that the record does not disclose that any part of the interest on the note was ever paid. It is true that the interest payments were, not established by direct proof, and there is no notation to that effect on the reverse of the note, but aside from all that the record does show,, including the defendant’s admissions in the agreement to which we will hereinafter refer, it cannot, with reason, be assumed that the plaintiff permitted the defendant to default in its interest payments for three consecutive years, and let it reap a profit thereby to the extent of $63,000, together with accrued interest on each of said payments from its due date.

In the foreclosure proceedings, the mortgaged property was seized, advertised, sold’, and adjudicated fo, the plaintiff for $285,000. The net balance resulting from the sale, together with certain rentals of the property paid to the civil sheriff while the property was under seizure, and a payment of $2,500 made by defendant prior to the seizure, were properly .credited on the total sum' then due the plaintiff, and this suit was instituted to recover the difference between the total sum due less said credits.

All of the debits and credits are accurately stated in paragraphs 7, 8, and 9 of the plaintiff’s petition.

*360 Following the filing of this suit, the defendant pleaded several exceptions. These exceptions were overruled, and, inasmuch as defendant does not urge them in this court, we assume they have been abandoned.

The defendant relies upon two defenses. Both are pleaded in paragraph 10 of its answer to the petition. One is the alleged incapacity of its agents to bind it beyond the express and special power conferred by the resolution of its board of directors, and the other is a denial of any indebtedness to the plaintiff.

The first defense is based upon the fact that the resolution of defendant’s board of directors authorized its agents to negotiate the loan and to execute the mortgage to secure its payment, but it did not authorize them to execute the note which is identified with the mortgage. We repeat here that the defendant received the exact sum stipulated in the act of mortgage, and that it reaped the full benefit therefrom. Moreover, we consider it a matter of much importance that defendant, in a written instrument, the execution of which was authorized by a formal resolution of its board of directors, declares that:

“The said principal indebtedness is represented by a note made and executed by Carbajal, Inc.” etc.

In the case of Gueydan v. T. P. Ranch Co., 156 La. 397, 100 So. 541, 543, this court said:

“It is a familiar principle in law that it is not always necessary to show the authority of an officer of a corporation by a resolution of its board of directors. A corporation may not, any more than an individual, reap the benefits flowing from the acts of its officers and repudiate the obligations arising from the same acts. Berlin v. Cusachs, Ltd., 114 La. 744, 38 So. 539; Gair v. Columbia Rice Co., 124 La. 194, 50 So. 8; Boudreaux v. Feibleman, 105 La. 404, 29 So. 881.”

The conclusion announced in the Gueydan Case is in accord with a long line of authorities which establish its correctness too well to admit of serious debate.

It is an established rule that where the act of an agent of a corporation is ratified' by its board of directors, it becomes the act of the corporation. Poche v. New Orleans Home Inv. Co., Ltd., 52 La. Ann. 1287, 27 So. 797.

In this case, with all the facts before it, the defendant’s agents, in pursuance of a resolution of defendant’s board of directors, in which every detail of the agreement is minutely set forth, executed the following agreement:

“This agreement this day entered into by and between the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Louisiana, herein appearing through Esmond Phelps, its President, hereunto duly authorized by resolution of its Board of Directors, dated January 25th, 1933, a certified copy whereof is hereunto attached (hereinafter for convenience styled ‘Tulane’), party of the first part, B. G. Carbajal, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Louisiana, herein appearing through Nicholas G. Carbajal, its Vice-President, hereunto duly authorized by resolution of its Board, dated Janu *362

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156 So. 416, 180 La. 355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/administrators-of-tulane-educational-fund-v-b-g-carbajal-inc-la-1934.