Bissell v. Erwin's Heirs

13 La. 143
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 15, 1839
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 13 La. 143 (Bissell v. Erwin's Heirs) 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
Bissell v. Erwin's Heirs, 13 La. 143 (La. 1839).

Opinion

Rost, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This case was already once before this court, and the facts are fully stated in the report of the decision, 10 Louisiana Reports, 524. In that decision, the court held, that the contract under which the plaintiffs claimed, bearing date the 13th May, 1827, was a sale, and that the agreement subsequently signed by Wright, was not repugnant to, or inconsistent with it. The court then being of opinion that justice had not been done between the parties, according to the evidence, remanded the case for a new trial. It was tried in the District Court, and judgment having been rendered in favor of the plaintiffs for only a small part of their claim, they have appealed.

Our attention is first drawn to three bills of exception taken during the trial.

1st. To the admission of the amended answer of the defendants, on the ground that it changed the nature of his defence.

2nd. To the refusal to permit the plaintiffs to amend their petition, and to allege and prove a title from Erwin to Wright, similar in form to that of 1827, but bearing date in 1824.

3rd. To the refusal to receive evidence of the increased value of the property at the time of the eviction.

I. The amended answer of the defendants was properly admitted : they had proceeded in the former trial, under the belief that the contract of 1827 was a lease, and not a sale : . this court decided that they were in error, and the district judge violated no law in suffering them to shape their defence in accordance with the principles settled by that decision. [148]*148As long as the defendants believed the contract to be a lease, they could not claim the payment of the price.

The plaintiff may amend his petition, so as to embrace an act of sale anterior in date to the one sued on; provided it does not change the title, but only furnishes additional evidence of it.

II. The act of sale of 1824, together with that of 1827, and Wright’s memorandum in 1828, appear to us to be evidence of one and the same contract, modified in its execution by each of these acts, but, from the beginning, a sale to Wright of the property from which the plaintiffs have been evicted. That act does not change the nature of the plaintiffs’ title ; it furnishes additional evidence of it, if it was not superseded by that of 1827, and we think it ought to have been admitted by the District Court.

III. The District Court erred in rejecting the evidence offered by the plaintiffs, to prove the increase in value of the property at the time of the eviction. In doing so, it assumed that no part of that increase could be taken into consideration, in assessing damages on a warranty. This is an error into which many members of the bar have fallen, and it arises from some inaccuracies in the printing of the opinion of this court, in the case of Morris vs. Abat et al., 9 Louisiana Reports, 522.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sanson Four Rentals, LLC v. Faulk
803 So. 2d 1048 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
Martin v. Wilkie
24 So. 2d 888 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 La. 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bissell-v-erwins-heirs-la-1839.