Borne v9

98 So. 2d 906, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 944
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 2, 1957
DocketNo. 20920
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 98 So. 2d 906 (Borne v9) 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
Borne v9, 98 So. 2d 906, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 944 (La. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

REGAN, Judge.

Plaintiffs, Jules Roux and Ruth Borne Roux, who were judicially separated on December 19, 1952, jointly instituted this suit against the defendant, Jersey Insurance Company, endeavoring to recover, by virtue of the provisions of a fire insurance policy issued to Jules Roux, the sum of $750, representing the insured value of Ruth Roux’s clothing and other personal effects which were destroyed by fire on December 20, 1952, while in her residence in Dublin Street in the City of New Orleans, where she was residing separate and apart from her husband, who lived in the former matrimonial domicile in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Defendant pleaded the exceptions of no cause or right of action, which in the final analysis were maintained insofar as Ruth Roux was concerned and overruled as to Jules Roux. Defendant then answered and admitted the issuance of the policy and that it had been furnished proof of loss, but denied that the fire loss incurred by Ruth Roux was covered by the terms of the policy issued to Jules Roux.

The lower court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant dismissing Jules Roux’s action as of non-suit, and then in explanation thereof asserted that the court was “of the opinion that plaintiff has made out a good case for recovery herein except for the fact that the record is absolutely bare of any proof of the value of the property at the time of the loss.”

From that judgment only plaintiff Jules Roux has appealed; therefore, Ruth Roux’s legal problems are not before us. Defendant has answered the appeal and requested that we amend the lower court’s judgment so that plaintiff’s cause be dismissed in its entirety and as thus amended the judgment be affirmed.

The substantial facts appear to be relatively undisputed. Jules and Ruth Roux had lived together in 839 Convention Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, until September 1952, when she left that address to establish a separate residence in Slidell, Louisiana. In the first week of November 1952, she left Slidell and came to New Orleans, where she established her home in 1921 Dublin Street.

On October 29, 1952, Jules Roux instituted suit in the district court of Baton Rouge requesting a judicial separation from his wife. When this suit was filed, Ruth Roux had been living separate and apart from her husband for approximately five weeks, and she had in her possession all of her clothing and other personal effects which she had removed and taken with her from the matrimonial domicile in Baton Rouge with her husband’s consent, prior to the rendition of the judgment of separation.

[908]*908On December 19, 1952, the district court in Baton Rouge rendered and signed its judgment decreeing a separation from bed and board of Jules and Ruth Roux.

The following morning, or on December 20, 1952, a fire occurred in Ruth Roux’s Dublin Street residence in New Orleans and destroyed all of her clothes and other personal effects, which now form the subject matter of this litigation.

Ten days thereafter, or on December 31, 1952, Jules and Ruth Roux executed an instrument entitled “Partition and Settlement of Community Between Jules Roux and Mrs. Ruth T. Roux.” The pertinent part thereof reads as follows :

.“ * * * Mrs. Ruth T. Roux does hereby take and the said Jules Roux does hereby transfer and convey to the said Mrs. Ruth T. Roux all of his undivided part of and all of his right, title, interest and claim to the following described property, to-wit:
“All of the movable property belonging to the said community which is now in the possession of the said Mrs. Ruth T. Roux.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Ht ‡
“The said appearers did further declare that for and in consideration of the above the said Jules Roux does hereby take and the said Mrs. Ruth T. Roux does hereby convey unto the said Jules Roux all of her undivided part of and all of her right, title, interest and claim to the following described property, to-wit:
“1. All of the movable property of said community which is now in the possession of the said Jules Roux;
“2. All other property of the said community, movable and immovable, which is not hereinabove taken by the said Mrs. Ruth T. Roux.”

At the time of the fire in the residence located in Dublin Street there was in effect a standard fire policy which had been issued by defendant on November 7, 1951, in the face amount of $7,500, insuring Roux against loss by fire of household and personal effects owned by him and contained in the Baton Rouge premises designated in the policy as 839 Convention Street. The policy included an indorsement which reads in part as follows:

“Contents Coverage Clause: When the insurance under this policy covers household and personal property (or contents), such insurance shall only cover all household and personal property usual or incidental to the occupancy of the premises as a dwelling * ■*
“The insured may apply up to ten per cent (10%) of the amount specified for the household and personal property item to property described therein and insured thereby * * * belonging to the Insured or any member o.f the family of, and residing with, the Insured, while elsewhere than on the described premises * * * ”.

Plaintiff has conceded that recovery herein is sought only under the provisions of the foregoing clause, and therefore defendant’s exposure in conformity therewith is limited to the sum of $750.

The only question posed for our consideration is whether the clothing and other personal effects of Ruth Roux which were destroyed by fire in her residence after the rendition of a judicial decree of separation between her and her husband were covered by the terms of the fire insurance policy issued to him.

In conformity with the contract of insurance, defendant is liable to the plaintiff for a proven amount of loss, not to exceed $750, only in the event of damage or destruction by fire of property described in and insured by the provisions of the policy and belonging to either himself or any member of his family who was residing with him. Hence, (a) if the property did not belong to plaintiff at the-time of its destruction by fire, but [909]*909on the other hand (b) it belonged at that time exclusively to Mrs. Roux who was neither a member of his family nor residing with him, these factors would relieve defendant from liability herein.

Although the clothing and personal effects of Mrs. Roux may have been considered as community property before she and plaintiff were judicially separated, there appears to he little doubt that they ceased to be community property on December 19, 1952, the date the judgment of separation was signed and one day prior to their loss by fire. It is fundamental that a judicial separation carries with it not only a separation of property, but a dissolution of the community of acquets and gains.1 At the precise moment that the community is dissolved, the spouses become co-owners in in-división and retain their separate vested interests in the property until a partition is effected, unless, of course, a partition is made contemporaneously with the'community’s dissolution or unless some other provision of law plainly excludes the property from this co-ownership by the spouses.2

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 So. 2d 906, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 944, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/borne-v9-lactapp-1957.