Advertiser, Division of Independent Inc. v. Tubbs

208 So. 2d 340
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 25, 1968
Docket2141
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 208 So. 2d 340 (Advertiser, Division of Independent Inc. v. Tubbs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Advertiser, Division of Independent Inc. v. Tubbs, 208 So. 2d 340 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

208 So.2d 340 (1967)

The ADVERTISER, DIVISION OF the INDEPENDENT INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellees,
v.
Charles B. TUBBS et al., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2141.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 29, 1967.
Rehearing Denied December 28, 1967.
On Rehearing January 18, 1968.
Writ Refused February 2, 1968.
Writ Granted March 25, 1968.

*341 Dragon & Kellner, by Robert A. Dragon, Jr., Lafayette, for defendant-appellant.

William E. Logan, Jr., Lafayette, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before FRUGE, SAVOY and HOOD, JJ.

FRUGE, Judge.

The plaintiff, the Advertiser, Division of the Independent, Inc., [hereinafter called the Advertiser] brought this suit upon an alleged contract between it and the defendants, Southwest Rambler Sales and Service, Inc., and Charles B. Tubbs, President of Southwest Rambler, for the contract price of certain daily advertisements made by the defendant company in the Lafayette newspaper, The Daily Advertiser.

The trial court granted judgment in favor of The Advertiser for the full amount sought, that is, Seventeen Hundred Ninetythree and 22/100 ($1793.22) Dollars, but refused to grant judgment against Mr. Tubbs personally. From this judgment the defendant Southwest Rambler perfected this appeal, and the plaintiff answered the appeal, asking this court to also hold Mr. Tubbs personally liable under the contract.

The defendants presented no defense to this suit other than the contention that no binding contract between them and The Advertiser was ever effected.

The contract in question was executed in the name of Southwest Rambler on July 3, 1965, covering a period of one year after that date. This was apparently a renewal contract of one executed a year earlier bearing essentially the same terms.

*342 At the bottom of the contract there are blanks provided for three signatures. One blank is intended as the place for the officer of a corporation to sign in behalf of that corporation. Under that, there is a blank provided for the signature of a party where that party is an individual. Then on the left there is a space for the signature of the agent for The Advertiser to signify acceptance of the contract by plaintiff. The contract was signed only by Mr. Tubbs in the space provided for the signature of the officer of Southwest Rambler signing in behalf of that corporation. The space provided for the signature of the agent of The Advertiser accepting the contract was never filled by plaintiff. It is on this basis that defendants contend that no binding contract was entered into, since this instrument was never formally "accepted" by plaintiff.

The defendants contend that where the parties contemplate entering into a written contract, no such contract ever takes effect until the writing is completed and signed by all parties thereto. The defendant further argues that since The Advertiser never signed the contract signifying acceptance thereof, this contract was never perfected; and thereby no suit can be maintained upon this incompleted instrument.

In support of this argument the defendant cites the case of Ferre Canal Co. v. Burgin, 106 La. 309, 30 So. 863 (1901); Roy O. Martin Lumber Co. et al. v. St. Denis Securities Co., 225 La. 51, 72 So.2d 257 (1954); Loyola U. Radio-WWL-TV v. Lakeside Rambler Sales, Inc., 199 So.2d 49, La.App. 4 Cir. (1967).

In the Loyola U. Radio-WWL-TV case, supra, the Court found that the proof was insufficient to sustain a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff where the plaintiff sued under an alleged contract and presented no proof of the validity or existence of that contract in obtaining the judgment. That case is clearly inapplicable here, since in the instant case the contract is in evidence and there is other proof supporting its existence.

In the Roy O. Martin Lumber Co. case, supra, the alleged contract consisted of letters written between the parties, the tenor of which clearly indicated that no final agreement was intended until the parties should meet and draw up a formal contract. The court held that these letters did not constitute the final and binding agreement of the parties, and as such, could not support a claim for damages for breach of contract. Likewise, we find this case inappropriate to the instant facts.

In Ferre Canal Co. v. Burgin, supra, the plaintiff sought to collect sums allegedly due it under a written contract which the defendant refused to sign. The court there said:

"Under these circumstances, we conclude that the execution of the written contract was a condition precedent to the existence of the contract. `It is elementary in our law that, where the negotiations contemplated and provided that there shall be a contract in writing, neither party is bound until the writing is perfected and signed.'" (30 So. 864)

It is important to note that in the Ferre Canal Co. case, as well as those cases cited in that opinion, it was the defendant who failed to sign the written contract. Since in the instant case the defendant did sign the contract sued upon by the plaintiff, we do not find this latter case controlling of the issues presented here.

The appellant's contention that the contract is not binding upon him, although he had signed it, is based upon the quoted language—"where the negotiations contemplate and provide that there shall be a contract in writing, neither party is bound until the writing is perfected and signed." (Emphasis added.) The ancestry of this dictum precedes the revision of the Louisiana *343 Civil Code in 1825.[1] Before that revision, there were no provisions (now Articles 1797-1818) stating that a contract may be accepted by implication—that is, through acts, silence or even inaction. Thus, the above quoted language is no longer a sound and completely valid statement of the law in view of Articles 1797, 1811, 1816, and 1817 of the present Civil Code.[2]

The plaintiff, on the other hand, argues that the contract was fully effective and binding upon both parties since the plaintiff evidenced its acceptance through its actions, in that it performed under the provisions of that contract for several months. Plaintiff relies chiefly upon Articles 1804 and 1811 of the Civil Code. Article 1804 states:

"The acceptance needs [need] not be made by the same act, or in point of time, immediately after the proposition; if made at any time before the person who offers or promises has changed his mind, or may reasonably be presumed to have done so, it is sufficient."

Article 1811 provides:

"The proposition as well as the assent to a contract may be express or implied:
"Express when evinced by words, either written or spoken;
"Implied, when it is manifested by actions, even by silence or by inaction, in cases in which they can from circumstances be supposed to mean, or by legal presumption are directed to be considered as evidence of an assent."

In addition, Article 1816 provides in part:

"Actions without words, either written or spoken, are presumptive evidence of a contract, when they are done under circumstances that naturally imply a consent to such contract. * * *"

These provisions have been applied to contracts which were reduced to writing. See Dobbins v. Hodges, 208 La. 143, 23 So. 2d 26 (1945); Shreveport Traction Co. v. Mulhaupt, 122 La. 667, 48 So.

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208 So. 2d 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/advertiser-division-of-independent-inc-v-tubbs-lactapp-1968.