Byles v. Bank of Coushatta

184 So. 3d 789, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2379, 2015 WL 7566293
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 25, 2015
DocketNo. 50,120-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 184 So. 3d 789 (Byles v. Bank of Coushatta) 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
Byles v. Bank of Coushatta, 184 So. 3d 789, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2379, 2015 WL 7566293 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

WILLIAMS, J.

_JjThe defendant, Bank of Coushatta, appeals a judgment awarding the amount of $171,822.52 to the plaintiffs, Clauriste Byles and Judith Byles, for payment of a certificate of deposit. The trial court denied the defendant’s exception of prescription, For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

In the Summer of 2010, while looking in a box containing various important documents, Clauriste Byles found an original certificate of deposit, No. 03-78852 (“the CD”), in the amount of $93,780.24, issued to Clauriste Byles and Judith Byles (“Byles”) by the Bank of Coushatta (“the Bank”). Typed on the face of the CD is an issue date of “November 26, 1981” and a maturity date of “May 26, 1984.” The CD provides for interest of 9.5% annually and is payable after six months upon presentar tion and surrender to the bank. The CD would be automatically renewed for another six-month period if not redeemed at the maturity date. The CD further provides that the Bank “reserves the right not to renew this certificate at the expiration of any term by mailing to the payee ... a notice of the Bank’s election not to renew this certificate.” On November 19, 2010, Byles presented the CD to the Bank for payment. The Bank declined to pay based on its records indicating that in July 1985, the CD had been redeemed by rolling over the funds into another certificate of deposit, No. 02-61231.

In April 2011, the plaintiffs, Clauriste Byles and Judith Byles, filed a petition for payment of the CD against the defendant, Bank of Coushatta. The Bank’s exception of prescription was denied and the Bank filed a writ application. This court denied the Bank’s request for supervisory review. Byles v. Bank of Coushatta, 49,326 (La.App.2d Cir.5/14/14). At trial, Byles testi-[791]*791fled that his wife, Judith, had purchased the CD, but that she was unable to testify because she had suffered a .stroke six years earlier. The Bank was able to produce. microfilm copies of its records from that time period. On- the Bank’s copy of the original CD, the typed dates are scratched out and the dates “December 2, 1983” and “June 2, 1984,” are written on the document. The parties presented testimony by experts who had reviewed the Bank’s records. The evidence shows that after June 1987, the Bank paid no more interest to the Byles for any certificate of deposit.

Subsequently, the trial court issued a written ruling finding that the Bank failed to satisfy its burden of proving payment of the CD presented by Byles. The court awarded plaintiffs the face amount .of the CD, $93,780.24, plus interest of $78,042,28 for the 10-year period after June 1987. The court reasoned that any additional interest would allow unjust enrichment to plaintiffs, who never informed the Bank of the lack of interest payments. The trial court rendered judgment awarding plaintiffs the amount of $171,822.52. The Bank appeals the judgment. Plaintiffs answer the appeal seeking interest for the period from the date the CD was issued until paid,

DISCUSSION

The Bank contends the trial court erred in denying its exception of prescription. The Bank argues that the plaintiffs’ claim for payment of the non-negotiable instrument has prescribed because they did not file their action within five years from June 1985, the date another CD was issued.

The prescriptive period for actions on non-negotiable instruments is |sfive years. This prescription begins to run from -the date-- payment is exigible. LSA-C.C. art. 3498. The term “exigible” is defined as a debt that is liquidated and demandable or a matured claim. Gulf Refining v. Glassell, 186 La. 190, 171 So. 846 (1936). Under Louisiana jurisprudence, payment becomes exigible and prescription begins to run from the date of demand. Miller v. Bank of New Orleans, 426 So.2d 1382 (La.App. 4 Cir.1983). The trial court’s factual findings are subject to the manifest error standard of review and will not be set aside unless clearly wrong. Ryan v. Zurich American Ins. Co., 2007-2312 (La.7/1/08), 988 So.2d 214.

In the present case, the CD provides that unless redeemed, the CD “will automatically be renewed for another period as originally issued at the rate in effect on renewal, date and will continue to be renewed automatically for like periods- if it is not so redeemed by payee at any maturity.” The Bank contends in its brief that payment on the CD became exigible on the maturity date of December 2, 1985, citing Baker v. First American National Bank, 111 F.Supp.2d 799 (W.D.La.2000). However, unlike the'CD in this case, the instrument in Baker did not automatically renew if not redeemed. Here, the CD specifically provides that if the customer did not redeem the CD. at the maturity date, then the CD renewed for another six month term until redeemed. Thus, the Bank has not shown that the Byles were required to redeem the CD at a particular maturity date. In addition, the courts have stated that prescription begins to run on the date of demand for instruments like the CD at issue. Since the Byles made a demand for payment in November 2010, their April 2011. petition was timely filed within the fiyejyear prescriptive period of Article 3498.. This assignment lacks merit.

Claim for Payment of the CD

The Bank contends the trial court erred in finding that the Bank failed to prove [792]*792that the CD had been paid. The Bank argues that Byles was previously paid because the documentary evidence shows that the CD was redeemed by the issuance of another CD,

A party who demands performance of an obligation must prove the existence of the obligation. A party who asserts that an obligation has been extinguished must prove the facts or acts giving rise to the extinguishment. LSA-C.C. art. 1831. Once the plaintiff meets the initial burden of establishing the existence of an obligation, the burden shifts to the defendant to come forth with sufficient evidence to rebut or cast doubt upon the plaintiffs claim. Louisiana Safety Ass’n of Timbermen Self Insurers Fund v. Malone Lumber Inc., 34,646 (La.App.2d Cir.6/20/01), 793 So.2d 218. As stated above, the trial court’s factual findings are subject to the manifest error standard of review. Ryan, supra.

In the present case, the plaintiffs’ expert, John Woody, testified that based on the bank records he reviewed he could not determine whether the CD was paid or not. Woody stated that he was unable to follow a document trail showing what happened with each CD and he did not know how many CDs had been issued to Byles. Woody testified that he did calculations showing the possibility that funds from CD 03-72001 (“CD1”) were rolled into CD 02-61231' (“CD3”) and that CD 03-73852 (“CD2”) was forgotten. Woody acknowledged that the amounts did not match exactly, but were U“very close.” Woody explained that he used a chart of interest rates for certificates of deposit for the relevant time period and added those amounts to the balance of CD1 at each renewal date, resulting in an ending balance that was quite close to the starting balance of CD3. Woody stated that he had never seen the type of unilateral change that was done on the Bank’s copy of CD2 and that such a change should have been initialed by the customer. Woody testified that the transaction tickets produced by the Bank would be part of the bank records that would show that the CD had been redeemed to purchase another CD.

The Bank’s experts, Graham Thompson and Joseph Hines, discussed the documentation produced by the Bank.

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184 So. 3d 789, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2379, 2015 WL 7566293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/byles-v-bank-of-coushatta-lactapp-2015.