Arkansas Fuel Oil Corporation v. Maggio

141 So. 2d 516
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 7, 1962
Docket453
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 141 So. 2d 516 (Arkansas Fuel Oil Corporation v. Maggio) 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
Arkansas Fuel Oil Corporation v. Maggio, 141 So. 2d 516 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

141 So.2d 516 (1962)

ARKANSAS FUEL OIL CORPORATION
v.
Mrs. Rosaria Anna PUCCIO, Widow of Andrew MAGGIO, et al.

No. 453.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

May 7, 1962.
Rehearings Denied June 4, 1962.

H. C. Walker, Jr., Joseph W. Milner, Shreveport, Monroe & Lemann, and Walter J. Suthon, III, New Orleans, for plaintiff and appellant.

Herman & Herman and Nicholas Masters, New Orleans, for Mrs. Rosaria Anna Puccio, widow of Andrew Maggio, et al., defendants and appellees.

Alvin J. Liska, City Atty., and Posey R. Bowers, Asst. City Atty., for City of New Orleans, defendant and appellee.

Before McBRIDE, REGAN and YARRUT, JJ.

McBRIDE, Judge.

In 1938 the late Andrew Maggio owned three adjoining unimproved lots of ground in New Orleans, each measuring 25 feet front on Magazine Street, by a depth of 110 feet to a private alley; on September 12, 1938, he leased to a corporation then known as Arkansas Fuel Oil Co. that portion of said three lots measuring 75 feet front on Magazine Street, by a depth of 50 feet, the lease providing:

"Lessee shall have the privilege of purchasing * * * at any time during the term of this lease, or any extension thereof."

On November 28, 1958 (during an extension of the lease), plaintiff (whose corporate name had been changed to Arkansas Fuel Oil Corporation) gave formal notice to the heirs of Andrew Maggio, who had *517 been sent and placed into possession of the lessor's estate, that it desired to exercise its option of purchasing the property for $10,000, the amount stipulated as the purchase price, and plaintiff subsequently formally tendered that sum, without avail, to the Maggio heirs who steadfastly refuse to sell the property in accordance with the agreement. This suit ensued. Plaintiff seeks to compel said defendants to specifically perform their obligation of selling the property to it. Impleaded as defendants are the heirs of Andrew Maggio, who answered the suit alleging that the option to purchase is void and unenforceable, as it contemplates the performance of an act which is unlawful and prohibited by the laws of the State of Louisiana, the Ordinances of the City of New Orleans, and the regulations of the City Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of New Orleans, which laws, ordinances and regulations are:

"Act No. 305 of 1926 (Dart's Statutes, Sec. 5770); Ordinance City of New Orleans No. 11,302, C.C.S. Act 300 of 1946.
"Charter of the City of New Orleans, approved May 1, 1954 (Art. 5, Chapter 5, Secs. 5-501 through 5-508, and particularly Sec. 5-502, Sub-Sec. 2, Sec. 5-504, Sub-Sec. 4; Ordinance, City of New Orleans—No. 18,565, C.C.S. of 1953; and,
"Regulations of City Planning and Zoning Commission of City of New Orleans, adopted February 2, 1950;".

Said defendants further allege that their compliance with the option to purchase would entail the subdivision of existing lots and would create interior lots having no frontage upon a dedicated street; that they applied to the Planning and Zoning Commission of New Orleans for permission to make the resubdivision, which request has been denied, and that to comply with plaintiff's demands would be a violation of the law which would subject them to criminal prosecution, and that the sale would be null and void.

Subsequently, by supplemental petition, plaintiff impleaded the City of New Orleans as a defendant and prayed that it have judgment decreeing that the transfer of the property to plaintiff "is free of any restrictions insofar as subdivision approval or resubdivision approval on the part of the City of New Orleans is concerned."

The City of New Orleans answered averring that the option to purchase is void and unenforceable for the same reasons as set forth in the answer of the Maggio heirs. Then follows the citation of certain acts, ordinances, and regulations, also the Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans, upon which the City relies. The City also alleged that the Maggio heirs had submitted a formal application to the City Planning Commission of the City of New Orleans for a resubdivision of the land involved which was formally denied.

After a trial of the case on its merits, the trial judge held for the defendants and dismissed the suit, stating in his reasons for judgment:

"The individual defendants refused to convey title, and have urged that they are unable to do so because they would be in violation of the ordinances of the City of New Orleans, and the laws of the State of Louisiana, and the regulations of the City Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of New Orleans. In order to comply with the option to purchase, it would be necessary to subdivide an existing lot which would create an interior lot having no frontage upon a dedicated street. The individual defendants have submitted a request to the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of New Orleans for such resubdivision, which request has been denied on March 5, 1958; and if the defendants complied with the demands of the plaintiff it would be in violation of law and would subject them to criminal prosecution under such statutes and ordinances. * * *"

*518 Plaintiff appealed.

The lease provides:

"In the event privilege to purchase is exercised within its terms, the Lessor agrees to furnish an abstract of title prepared by a competent abstractor and to submit the same for examination by the attorneys of the Lessee, whose opinion of the title shall be final; * * *."

The Maggio heirs tendered an exception of no cause or right of action in the trial court which was overruled but which is renewed before us. The exception is based on their contention that even if the option or privilege to purchase could have legally ripened into an executory contract by an exercise of the option by plaintiff, it still would not meet the requirements of an enforceable obligation because the above-quoted language regarding title approval amounts to a potestative condition which would render the option null and void under the provisions of LSA-C.C. art. 2035.

The carrying out by plaintiff of its obligation to purchase the property after having given notification that it intended to exercise the option was not dependent on the exercise of its sole will. In Whited & Wheless, Limited v. Calhoun, 122 La. 100, 47 So. 415, it was contended that an agreement was null because the plaintiff did not bind himself absolutely to take the property, but left it within his power to withdraw from the agreement if title was not "satisfactory." It was held that the provisions of LSA-C.C. art. 2034 with reference to potestative conditions did not render the obligation null and void. The Court said:

"* * * It could be made by Calhoun to comply with those obligations, even though the title was not `satisfactory' to it, if in point of law it was one which it should legally have been satisfied with. * * *"

In Girault v. Feucht, 117 La. 276, 41 So. 572, it was held that a provision that the sale should not take place if "titles to the property should be rejected" was not a potestative condition. In that case the Court said:

"Plaintiff replies that the potestative condition to which article 2034 has reference is the one `which makes the obligation depend solely on the exercise of the obligor's will' (Civ.Code, art.

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Bluebook (online)
141 So. 2d 516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arkansas-fuel-oil-corporation-v-maggio-lactapp-1962.