Bornes v. Vernon

64 So. 2d 18, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 579
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 19, 1953
DocketNo. 3650
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 64 So. 2d 18 (Bornes v. Vernon) 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
Bornes v. Vernon, 64 So. 2d 18, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 579 (La. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

This is a proceeding in which relator is seeking a judgment commanding Norman P. Vernon, Clerk of Court and Ex Officio Recorder of Mortgages for the Parish of Tangipahoa, to file and record a partial release and erase and cancel a mortgage in accordance therewith.

Mrs. Rosa Wright had mortgaged a tract of land to the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans as shown by records in Amortization Book 10, Folio 437, of the records of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, and thereafter, on September 14, 1951 she sold to Charles Alton Bornes a lot 100 feet front by 330 feet in depth between parallel lines [19]*19and which said lot was included in the tract of land previously mortgaged to the Federal Land Bank. On the 8th day of October, 1951 the Federal Land Bank through its Vice President by private act duly acknowledged before Harold Moses, a Notary Public for the Parish of Orleans, executed an alleged partial release of the mortgage insofar as the lot sold to Charles Alton Bornes was concerned.

The defendant clerk and ex officio recorded of mortgages refused to honor the purported partial release by cancelling and erasing the mortgage in favor of the Federal Land Bank insofar as the property of Charles Alton Bornes was concerned. As a result the present mandamus proceeding by rule was instituted, to which the defendant recorded filed an exception of non-joinder on the ground that the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans should have been made a party to the proceeding. This exception was sustained by judgment of the District Court and an appeal was duly taken.

On the day that this case was argued and submitted to this Court, counsel for the defendant recorder filed an exception of no right or cause of action and' in argument abandoned the exception of nonjoinder and it will, therefore, not be considered.

The exception of no cause of action is based upon the insufficiency of the alleged partial release of the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans in that it fails to show or to state that the note identified with the act of mortgage was produced by the holder and paraphed by the notary for identification with the partial release. In other words, the clerk and recorder contends that neither he nor his bondsman would be protected should he accept the release which contains no statement or certificate by a notary public showing that the note in question had been produced by the holder thereof and paraphed for identification with the partial release. It is readily admitted by the Federal Land Bank that no paraph was made on the note and it is vigorously asserted that none was necessary.

The law controlling the question presented is contained in Articles 3371 through 3385, inclusive, of the LSA-Civil Code, and the jurisprudence thereunder. It might be well in the beginning to remember that in the Parish of Orleans the various notaries public are the custodians of all original acts executed by them, whereas in the so-called country parishes, or parishes outside of Orleans, the clerks of court, who are also the ex officio recorders of mortgages, are the custodians of all original notarial acts. See Darts La.Gen.St. 6328:7, page 669, LSA-R.S. 35:329.

The basis of the erasure of mortgages, partial or in full, is set forth in Article 3371 of the LSA-Civil Code as follows:

“Inscriptions of mortgages and privileges are erased by the consent of the parties interested and having capacity for that purpose; this consent to be evidenced by a release, or by a receipt given on the records of the court rendering the judgment on which the mortgage is founded.”

The full and complete cancellation of a mortgage outside the Parish of Orleans can only be obtained by bringing the original notes to the clerk and ex officio recorder of mortgages, or if the notes are lost such proof must be furnished. However, we are dealing with an alleged partial release.

Under the remaining articles dealing with the erasure of mortgages, the consent of the parties interested and having capacity for that purpose is to be evidenced by a release which, if it is a partial release, may be done by the production of the notes before the clerk and ex officio recorder by the proper parties where the notes can be paraphed and identified with the act of partial release as shown on the mortgage record, or a partial release could be executed before a notary public or by private act duly acknowledged.

The release in question is fatally defective on its face and fully justified the clerk and recorder in refusing, to accept it as a valid partial release. It states in part: “Know all men by these presents that whereas the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans is the present owner of a certain promissory mortgage note * * [20]*20(Emphasis added.) No where in this act of partial release does the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans state that it is the present holder of the note in question. One may be the owner and not the holder of the note. For example, the mortgagee and owner- of the note may have it pledged. One of the parties vitally interested and having capacity to consent to a partial release of a mortgage is the holder of the note. It has been consistently held under Articles 3371 and 3372 of the LSA-Civil Code that a mortgage or lien can be can-celled only with the consent of the holder of the mortgage or mortgage note or notes, or by virtue of a judgment rendered against him ordering the cancellation. Zimmer v. Fryer, 190 La. 814, 183 So. 166; People’s Homestead & Savings Ass’n v. Worley, 191 La. 453, 185 So. 880.

Article 3371 means that the holder of the note is one of the parties vitally necessary and interested and with the capacity to authorize the erasure or partial erasure of the mortgage. It is also clear that all the articles dealing with the erasure of .mortgages, partial or in full, intended that the release which was evidence of the consent of the parties interested and capable of authorizing the partial cancellation of a mortgage should be effective against the interested parties, viz., the holder of the note at the time of the execution of the partial release or any future holder of the note, and the only way in which this could be accomplished would be by the holder producing the note and having the notary public paraph the note for identification with the act of partial release and for the act of partial release to state that the holder of the note had produced same and it had been paraphed and identified with the partial release. When this is done, the clerk and ex officio recorder of mortgages and his surety are fully protected, and if the statement of the notary and the act of release is false, liability would fall on the notary and his surety and not upon the -clerk and ex officio recorder of mortgages or his surety. If the mortgage note contains no paraph or identification with the act of partial releasee, that is, does not show on its face that the mortgage has been released in part, the holder without notice would not be bound.

While the precise question apparently has not been passed upon, there are several cases throwing light upon the subject. In Glaser v. Hickey, 183 La. 710, 164 So. 635, 636, the .Supreme Court in dealing with a somewhat similar proceeding stated:

“We may be pardoned for noting here that the cancellation of a mortgage without the presentation of the notes identified with the act of mortgage, or proper proof of the loss or destruction thereof, would not be possible, under the laws of this state, in any parish except the parish of Orleans.

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Bluebook (online)
64 So. 2d 18, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bornes-v-vernon-lactapp-1953.