Citadel Security, Inc. v. Blue D Corp.

467 So. 2d 118, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9230
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 10, 1985
DocketNo. 84-330
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 467 So. 2d 118 (Citadel Security, Inc. v. Blue D Corp.) 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
Citadel Security, Inc. v. Blue D Corp., 467 So. 2d 118, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9230 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

YELVERTON, Judge.

From a summary judgment dismissing its third party action against the Sheriff of Iberia Parish for damages for wrongful seizure of movable property, Citadel Security, Inc., the seizing creditor, appeals. We affirm the summary judgment and the dismissal of the third party action.

Citadel, a guard service business, sued Blue D Corporation for $33,007. The suit, filed April 20, 1982, was amended on April 29 to ask for a writ of attachment, based on amended allegations that Blue D was about to or had already converted its property, including a white two-story helipad marked “TRANSCO”, into money, with the intent to put it out of the reach of its creditors. That same day, a writ of attachment was issued and the Sheriff of Iberia Parish seized the helipad. The very next day, April 30, Citadel itself moved to dissolve the writ of attachment, and it was dissolved. On that same day, April 30, Transco Exploration Company intervened in the suit claiming ownership of the helipad. Later, Transco amended its intervention to add a demand against Citadel for damages and attorney’s fees as a consequence of the wrongful issuance of the writ of attachment.

Citadel then answered Transco’s intervention and filed a third party demand against the sheriff of Iberia Parish, alleging that the sheriff was responsible for the wrongful seizure. It was in response to this third party demand that the sheriff [119]*119filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted, and which is the subject of this appeal.

A motion for summary judgment should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, together with the affidavits show no genuine issue as to material fact, and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966. Whitney v. Mallet, 442 So.2d 1361 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1983), writ denied 445 So.2d 437 (La.1984).

In support of his motion for summary judgment the sheriff filed an affidavit by Deputy Sheriff Ricky Huval, and a copy of the writ of attachment, and the sheriffs return.

The affidavit reveals that on April 29, 1982, Deputy Sheriff Huval proceeded to the fabrication yard of Blue D Corporation at the Port of Iberia and located the property described in the writ. The property was located on a barge tied to Blue D’s dock, which was part of its fabrication yard. The writ of attachment describes the following property to be seized: “ONE TWO-STORY HEELPAD [sic], WHITE IN COLOR WITH A ROUND ORANGE CIRCLE ON TOP WITH THE WORD IN BLOCK ‘TRANSCO’.” The return shows that the property described above was seized by Deputy Huval.

Opposing the motion for summary judgment, Citadel filed the deposition of Gary Wood. He said he was the construction supervisor of Transco Exploration Company on April 29, 1982. His responsibility that day was to insure that the helipad got loaded onto the barge. The barge was leased by Transco. The helipad was owned by Transco. Blue D did the actual moving of the structure. When he was informed that the structure had been seized the structure was on the barge. When he first saw the deputy the structure had not been loaded onto the barge. He later informed the deputy that Transco owned the structure.

In the case of Crow v. Manning, 45 La.Ann. 1221, 14 So. 122 (1893), the court was confronted with a similar problem. Mrs. Mower initially brought an action against T.M. Martin for an indebtedness of $600 and caused property to be sequestered. She made the usual allegation for a writ of sequestration and described the property she desired to have sequestered. The sheriff sequestered the property. On defendant’s motion the writ was dissolved for the reason that she had no privilege that would sustain a sequestration. The property sequestered was claimed at the time by a partnership of which T.M. Martin was a member. The partnership was dissolved and the three partners who succeeded to the rights of the partnership brought suit against several defendants, including the sheriff who executed the writ. The trial court found the defendants liable in solido for wrongful sequestration. Reversing, the Supreme Court found the sheriff free from liability saying:

“It is sought to hold the sheriff responsible. He was ordered to sequester certain property. It is described with particularity. It was not left to him to sequester the property of the defendant, with some discretion to determine whether or not certain property belonged to the defendant or to a third person. By a court of competent jurisdiction he was commanded to sequester property described and referred to in the order. In Brainard v. Head, 15 La.Ann. [489], 490, this court held: ‘A sheriff has no legal right to question either the facts or the law of any decrees, order, or judgment rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction. His duty is to obey and execute the lawful mandates of the court, and in the discharge of this duty he is justified and protected by the law, and as a consequence cannot be held liable to damages.’ The duty was as pronounced in the case at bar. Those who were instrumental in obtaining an illegal order may be held in damages, but not the executive officer, who only obeyed the mandate of the court.”

Under the law a sheriff has a mandatory duty to execute all “writs, man[120]*120dates, orders, and judgments directed to him by the district courts_” LSA-C. C.P. art. 321. A sheriff cannot be held liable in performing these duties where he complies with the terms of the writ. Crow v. Manning, supra; Miles v. Kilgore, 191 So. 556 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1939). A Sheriff can only be responsible for illegal acts. Pembrook v. Goldman, 176 So. 888 (Orl. La.App.1937).

Appellant contends that it is still a dispute of fact whether the helipad was in Blue D’s fabrication yard or aboard Tran-sco’s barge when it was seized. It argues that if it was already on the barge when seized, the sheriff disregarded the writ of attachment and acted illegally. We disagree.

Citadel asked that the writ of attachment be issued. Its petition claimed that Blue D was about to or had already converted the structure into money by transferring it to a creditor with the intent to place it out of the reach of its other creditors, including Citadel. The writ was issued ordering the sheriff to seize this very helipad, which was identified in the writ of the same language used in the petition.

The sheriff upon entering Blue D’s fabrication yard was under a duty to seize this structure wherever it was located. Merely because the helipad had been moved to a barge docked at the fabrication yard, did not prevent the sheriff from legally seizing it under the writ of attachment. The same would be true if it had been put on a railroad car, or a truck located at the fabrication yard.

Appellant also argues that the sheriff is liable for the wrongful seizure of the property because the property had been transferred to a third party (Transco) and the sheriff was put on notice of this fact, and that therefore the granting of the summary judgment was improper.

A sheriff, who seizes property pursuant to a writ directed against property of the alleged debtor, which property of the alleged debtor, which property is later claimed by a third person, can be held liable

in solido with the seizing creditor for the damages resulting from the illegal seizure. Connell v. David Bernhardt Paint Co., 163 La. 586, 112 So. 495 (1927).

However, La.R.S.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Wong v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office
522 So. 2d 1134 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
Dixie Federal Sav. and Loan Ass'n v. Pitre
498 So. 2d 112 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
467 So. 2d 118, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citadel-security-inc-v-blue-d-corp-lactapp-1985.