Chifici v. Bank of New Orleans

311 So. 2d 484, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3590
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 15, 1975
DocketNo. 6737
StatusPublished

This text of 311 So. 2d 484 (Chifici v. Bank of New Orleans) 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
Chifici v. Bank of New Orleans, 311 So. 2d 484, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3590 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

SCHOTT, Judge.

Defendant has appealed from a judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $2550 for the rent of premises on Odeon Street in the Algiers section of New Orleans. Since May 1, 1960, defendant had leased from plaintiff the subject premises for use as a branch bank. Initially the rent was $350 per month, and after a number of extensions with corresponding in[485]*485creases the rent for the final year of the lease between June 1, 1972, and May 31, 1973, was $550. As the end of the lease approached both parties were aware that defendant was constructing a new branch bank at another location but they both anticipated that the new facility would not be completed before the expiration of the lease so that negotiations were conducted for an extension of the lease on a month to month basis beginning June 1. In response to a letter from plaintiff’s realtor dated May 1, 1973, in which it was proposed that the rent for the premises would be $850 per month starting June 1 and for each additional month of occupancy by defendant, defendant replied on May 7 that it was willing to rent the premises for the month of June only at a rental of $850 in advance, which sum was sent by defendant and accepted by plaintiff.

On June 10 defendant ceased operations at plaintiff’s premises and on July 11 defendant notified plaintiff that his premises had been vacated as of July 10. Shortly after his receipt of this letter plaintiff visited the premises and found that they had been left in a state of disrepair and he immediately took steps to insure that defendant would restore the premises to the condition they were in when the original lease term commenced. After procuring an estimate of $5355 for the work to be done, he passed this on to his attorney, Charles A. Levy, Jr., to transmit to defendant.

On July 13, 1973, Levy by letter to defendant informed it that notwithstanding defendant’s statement that the building had been vacated on July 11 some of the defendant’s equipment still remained in the premises, he submitted to defendant an itemized list of work which defendant was expected to do in the building, and he said the following:

“Demand is also made for rent for July at the rate of $150.00 per month and however long after it takes for the bank to clear the list of repairs to put the building in like condition in which it was received when it was leased to the bank originally on May 31, 1960.
“The rent for the month of July is past due and I would appreciate receiving a check to cover same immediately. Obviously, you must realize that until the repairs are made, the bank still has possession of the premises. If the bank wishes to have Mr. Chifici arrange for the repairs, and estimate the amount of time required to have same done, I will be pleazed to work out a settlement with your authorized representative.”

Levy testified that after dictating the letter to his secretary and after she typed the same she presented it to him for his signature, whereupon he noted that the secretary had made an error in the letter in that the monthly rental should have read $850 rather than $150. On the carbon copy of the letter he changed the figure and instructed the secretary to change the original before the same was mailed to defendant. He signed the letter, but, unfortunately, the secretary failed to make the change.

On July 27 plaintiff, his realtor and two representatives of defendant met at the premises to discuss the work to be done, and although plaintiff stated that it was then agreed by defendant’s representatives that the rent would remain the same as it was in June without any specific reference to the dollar amount, none of the other three parties at this meeting recalled any such conversation. One of the defendant’s representatives testified that he had a copy of Levy’s letter with him at the time and had offered to show it to the realtor in connection with the repairs, but the realtor testified that he had not looked at the letter. The realtor testified that he was always under the impression that the rent would be $850 although no one said anything about it.

Defendant went ahead with its work, and having completed same on September 11 sent a letter to plaintiff requesting a release in connection with the restoration of [486]*486the premises which was signed by plaintiff and by him transmitted to Levy with instructions to collect the rent. At that point, Levy contacted defendant and called for the rent which was sent to him in the amount of $450. According' to Levy, this was the first knowledge that he had of the error in his letter and immediately returned the bank’s check with a demand for $2550. According to the defendant’s representative, the matter was then turned over to defendant’s attorneys which led up to this lawsuit.

The trial judge held that the parties never had a full meeting of the minds as to the amount of the rent for July, August and September. He noted defendant’s argument that it had been willing to pay $850 for the month of June because it was still operating its branch at that time but that once it ceased banking operations it did not countenance the payment of such high rent. Noting that it did not notify plaintiff of its vacating the premises until July 10 the trial court had “little difficulty under such circumstances in fixing the rate of rent for July at the rate that was agreed upon for June.”

The trial court found that the delay in the surrender of the premises was the fault of defendant and that plaintiff was “entitled to the rent his property could bring and was denied the opportunity to rent it to someone else.” The trial judge said further:

“Having agreed to $850. per month in May, having paid $850. per month in June; having been allowed to stay for the month of June and then failing to attempt to return the premises to its owner until July, the rent for July was fixed by the parties at $850.00. If the property in June and July, 1973 brought the rent of $850. per month per agreement, then it is not at all unreasonable to conclude that the rent for the same premises for the two subsequent months of August and September was no different than it was for June and July.
“The bank was not justified in hanging its hat on the erroneous letter stating $150.00 and should have, in good conscience, discussed this matter, if not with Attorney Levy, then at least with realtor Toluto with whom they had discussed the previous rents over the years.”

In this Court defendant contends that plaintiff is bound by his attorney’s commitment that the rent for the three months would be $150 for each. Defendant’s position is that it was under no obligation to make all of the repairs which plaintiff originally demanded be made or even those repairs it eventually agreed to make. It maintains that its acquiescence in making the repairs was based in part on the amount of $150 per month which Levy had committed to it. On the other hand, plaintiff contends that defendant knew or should have known that this was an obvious error in Levy’s letter; that it had kept quiet about the figure in Levy’s letter from the time it received the letter until the restoration of the premises was completed and it then tried to take advantage of plaintiff, who at all times expected defendant to be paying $850 per month. Both sides have addressed themselves to the problem as one of rent and have concerned themselves with what was the reasonable amount of rent to be paid under the circumstances.

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Bluebook (online)
311 So. 2d 484, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chifici-v-bank-of-new-orleans-lactapp-1975.