Bedsole v. Lee

78 So. 2d 434
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 28, 1955
Docket3932
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 78 So. 2d 434 (Bedsole v. Lee) 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
Bedsole v. Lee, 78 So. 2d 434 (La. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

78 So.2d 434 (1955)

Travis F. BEDSOLE
v.
J. W. LEE.

No. 3932.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

January 28, 1955.
Rehearing Denied March 28, 1955.

*435 Gordon B. Golsan, Jr., Mansfield, for appellant.

Broyles & Funderburk, Leesville, for appellee.

ELLIS, Judge.

Plaintiff has alleged that the defendant was indebted unto him in the full sum of $1927.02 for cash advances, materials, and supplies furnished in the total amount of $2429.66 which was subject to a credit of $501.64 "all as is shown by the itemized statement of the account attached hereto and filed herewith."

Plaintiff further alleged "That for the balance of this account due because of the sale by petitioner to the defendant, J. W. Lee, of the Poland Power Saw on November 7, 1952, petitioner has and claims and vendor's lien and privilege * * *".

He further alleged "That for the 1950 Ford truck, or rather the balance of this account due on account of its purchase from petitioner * * *" and in the next article with reference to this truck he alleged "* * * the said J. W. Lee, defendant herein, executed in favor of petitioner a chattel mortgage covering the truck as sold to him by petitioner herein and a paraphed note evidencing the obligation, and at the same time, as further security to petitioner, executed another chattel mortgage and note, covering another truck owned by the said J. W. Lee, defendant herein."

The notes and mortgages are attached to and filed with the petition. Plaintiff alleged that by virtue of the two mortgages and of the vendor's lien covering the power saw he has and claims a lien and privilege against the two trucks described and the power saw. Plaintiff then made the additional necessary allegation upon which to secure the sequestration of the two trucks and the power saw.

Defendant filed a motion to dissolve the writ which was overruled with reservation to claim damages on the merits. Defendant also filed before answering exceptions of vagueness and prematurity, both of which were overruled. There is also in the record on behalf of the defendant an exception of no right or cause of action, however there is nothing to show that it was ever officially filed and the minutes do not reflect that this exception was either filed or considered.

After trial judgment was rendered rejecting the plaintiff's demands and dissolving the writs of sequestration and decreeing the title to the 1950 Ford truck allegedly purchased by the defendant from the plaintiff to be in the plaintiff, and for that reason cancelling the two chattel mortgages and notes. Judgment was further rendered in favor of the defendant for $242.98 and in the further amount of $250 damages as attorney fees and in all other respects defendant's reconventional demand was rejected.

From this judgment the plaintiff has appealed and the defendant has answered asking that the judgment be amended by awarding damages for the wrongful issuance of the sequestration and asking that the attorney fees awarded be increased, and otherewise asking the affirmance of the judgment.

The defendant is not re-urging any of its exceptions and it is not necessary therefore *436 that they be considered. The Lower Court in its written reasons aptly stated that it "became convinced during the trial of the case, when trying to determine what testimony was admissible, under the pleadings, that the exception of vagueness should have been maintained." When we take into consideration the entire record, that is, all the pleadings and attached documents and the testimony that was admitted or should have been admitted, the original vagueness becomes insignificant and the record is sufficient for a proper decision of the issues.

Plaintiff's suit is not for advances and materials and supplies furnished alone but from reading the petition and the attached documents which consists of two chattel mortgages, two notes and an itemized statement, plaintiff's demand is for the purchase price of a 1950 Ford truck upon which a chattel mortgage was given by the defendant to the plaintiff in the sum of $1,700 with interest and insurance in the amount of $136, or $1,836, and for $75 advanced by plaintiff to defendant for repairs on the motor, and $160 for money given to the defendant to buy tires for the truck, and for $50 given to the defendant for repairs on the motor of one of the two trucks, in the sum of $50 given to the defendant to buy license for the 1950 Ford truck purchased by him from the plaintiff, and for the sum of $200 being the purchase price of a power saw bought by the defendant from the plaintiff, and $38.66 furnished to the defendant to pay for repairs on the saw and a loan of $20 made by the plaintiff to the defendant.

Plaintiff was given a chattel mortgage against a 1949 truck which the defendant owned on the date of the purchase of the 1950 Ford truck from the plaintiff in the amount of $650 as additional security.

The main defense in this suit is that there was no valid contract of sale insofar as the 1950 Ford truck was concerned for at least three reasons; viz.:

"1. There was no definite agreement (no meeting of the minds.)

2. The price was not certain.

3. The sale contained a potestative condition."

Defendant cites Article 2439 which defines a sale, as follows:

"The contract of sale is an agreement by which one gives a thing for a price in current money, and the other gives the price in order to have the thing itself.
"Three circumstances concur to the perfection of the contract, to wit: The thing sold, the price and the consent."

Counsel for defendant argues that, under the testimony, the plaintiff never intended to sell defendant the vehicle because he retained the title certificate and failed to effect a transfer of the record ownership in accordance with LSA-R.S. 32:701 et seq. It is counsel's argument that this fact should be considered as evidence of the intention of the parties. Counsel for defendant has cited and taken cognizance of the recent decision of the Orleans Court of Appeal in the case of Transportation Equipment Company Inc., v. Dabdoub, La. App., 69 So.2d 640, 643, which held in part that failure to issue a title certificate and otherwise comply with the certificate of title law, supra, does not invalidate a sale of a motor vehicle where such sale has the necessary ingredients prescribed by the LSA-Civil Code, Article 2456, "but simply causes the title to be imperfect."

The facts with regard to the sale of the 1950 truck by plaintiff to defendant show that the defendant went with the plaintiff's assistant manager or superintendent to Mansfield, Louisiana where the plaintiff delivered him the 1950 Ford truck. The testimony conclusively shows that the plaintiff and defendant agreed upon the price of $1,700 and the defendant admits signing the chattel mortgage and the note which is in the amount of $1,836 and which is explained by Mr. Enloe, the superintendent, to consist of $1,700, the purchase price of the truck, and $136 which was interest and insurance and was included in the note and chattel mortgage.

*437 It is true that the plaintiff at that time held no certificate of title but when they obtained it counsel for plaintiff filled in the transfer and conveyance form on the back of the certificate to the defendant showing the consideration as $1,836. Much is made of the fact that the title certificate was not issued until January 5, 1953 and the conveyance on the back is dated October 23, 1952.

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Bluebook (online)
78 So. 2d 434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bedsole-v-lee-lactapp-1955.