Brown Brokerage Co. v. Greely Plumbing Co.

135 So. 2d 551, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1473
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 24, 1962
DocketNo. 5266
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 135 So. 2d 551 (Brown Brokerage Co. v. Greely Plumbing Co.) 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
Brown Brokerage Co. v. Greely Plumbing Co., 135 So. 2d 551, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1473 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

REID, Judge.

This case involves the question of whether or not a lien for materials furnished by the defendant, Greely Plumbing Company, Inc. primes a recorded collateral mortgage which was assigned to the plaintiff, Brown Brokerage Company, Inc. The District Court rendered judgment for the defendant. Plaintiff perfected a suspen-sive appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana from this adverse judgment.

Due to the recent change in appellate jurisdiction, this case has been transferred to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit. Briefly stated, the facts which are uncontested on appeal are as follows:

Mr. Lloyd Elmer Reisner, a contractor, purchased a certain lot on Molly Lea Drive in East Baton Rouge Parish on December 5, 1956. At the same time he executed a promissory note which was identified with a collateral mortgage, said note and mortgage being in the principal sum of $17,500.00. The deed and the mortgage were both recorded at 9:30 A.M., December 6, 1956. This collateral mortgage and note were executed for the purpose of obtaining cash advances, materials and labor from Olinde Hardware & Supply Company, Inc. Pursuant to its agreement with Mr. Reisner, certain materials were delivered to Mr. Reisner’s property at approximately 9:30 A.M., December 7, 1956, and from time thereafter until a total of $18,395.16 in cash, materials and labor were advanced or supplied to Mr. Reisner. Several days after this delivery, the defendant supplied its first materials and labor to the construction of Mr. Reis-ner’s home.

Olinde Hardware & Supply Company, Inc. negotiated the collateral mortgage note which it held to its holding company, Brown Brokerage Company, Inc. Mr. Reisner was unable to meet his obligations and on July 31, 1957, the plaintiff herein foreclosed on the collateral mortgage on Reisner’s home. The home was sold to the highest bidder, Brown Brokerage Company, for $1,000.00 on October 23, 1957. The costs of the sheriff’s sale were $123.85 leaving a balance of $876.15 which the sheriff credited to the writ.

All of the liens which stood against the property in question were either can-celled by the sheriff at the time of the public sale, or were subsequently cancelled with the exception of the lien of the defendant herein dated May 6, 1957. The lien is a mixed lien for materials and labor in the sum of $3,716.00, together with interest at 5% per annum from May 1, 1957, until paid and it is recorded in MOB 133 Folio 59 of the mortgage .records of East Baton Rouge Parish.

There was no contract recorded in connection with the construction of the Reis-ner home. Therefore, the statutes which would be controlling in this instance is LSA-R.S. 9:4801, and LSA-R.S. 9:4812, which contain the following pertinent provisions :

LSA-R.S. 9:4801A. “Privilege on immovables for labor and materials; rank
“A. Every contractor, sub-contractor, architect, engineer, master-mechanic, mechanic, artman, truckman, workman, laborer, or furnisher of material, machinery, or fixtures, who performs work or furnishes material for the erection, construction, repair, or improvement of immovable property, or who furnishes material or supplies for use in machines used in or in connection with the erection, construction, repair or improvement of any building, structure or other immovable property, with the consent or at the request of the owner thereof, or his authoritzed agent, or representative, or of any person with whom the owner has contracted for such work, has a privilege for the payment in principal and interest of such work or labor performed, or materials, machinery, or fixtures furnished, and the cost of recording such privileges, upon [553]*553the land and improvements on which the work or labor has been done, or materials, machinery or fixtures furnished, which privilege, if evidenced as herein provided, is superior to all other claims against the land and improvements except taxes and local assessments for public improvements or a bona fide * * * mortgage, provided said mortgage or vendor’s privilege exists and is recorded before the work or labor is begun or any material is furnished. The claim for wages of a laborer, for the work actually performed by him on any building, when properly presented and recorded by him, creates a privilege on the land and improvements, which primes the rights of mortgagees or vendors.
ifc ije sfc
“C. When a mortgage note has been executed by the owner of the immovable for the purpose of securing advances to be made in the future, and the mortgage has been recorded and the note delivered to the lender before any work or labor has begun or material been furnished, or before the recordation of a building contract, the amount of the advances made thereafter shall be deemed secured by the mortgage in precedence to and with priority over any of the claims had under the privileges conferred by Sub-Section A of this Section, except as stated in Sub Section D hereof.”
LSA-R.S. 9:4812. “Failure to record contract; record by claimant; period of privilege; rank
“When the owner, or his authorized agent, undertakes the work of construction, improvements, repair, erection, or reconstruction, for the account of the owner, for which no contract has been entered into, or when a contract has been entered into but has not been recorded, as and when required, then any person furnishing service or material or performing any labor on the said building or other work may" record in the office of the clerk of court of recorder of mortgages in the: parish in which the said work is being done or has been done, a copy of his estimate or an affidavit of his claim or any other writing evidencing same, which .recordation, if done within sixty days after the date of the last delivery of all material upon the said property or the last performance of all services or labor upon the same, by the said furnisher of material or the said laborer, shall create a privilege upon the building or other structure and upon the land upon which it is situated, in favor of any such person who shall have performed service or labor or delivered material in connection with the said work or improvement, as his interest may appear.
* * * * * *
“The said privilege shall be superior to all other claims against the land and improvements except taxes, local assessments for public improvements, a bona fide mortgage, or a bona fide vendor’s privilege, whether arising from a sale or arising from a sale and .resale to and from a regularly organized homestead or building and loan association, if the vendor’s privilege or mortgage exists and has been duly recorded before the work or labor is begun or any material is furnished. The wages of a laborer for work done by him on any building, shall, when properly presented and recorded by him in accordance with the provisions of this Sub-part, create in his favor a privilege on the land and improvements which will prime the right of mortgagees or vendors.” (emphasis ours)

The District Judge made the following cogent observations concerning the pertinent aspects of a leading case in point:

“In the case of Hortman-Salman [Salmen] Co. v. White [168 La. 1067], [554]*554123 So.

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Bluebook (online)
135 So. 2d 551, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-brokerage-co-v-greely-plumbing-co-lactapp-1962.