Dartez v. Meaux

44 So. 2d 147, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 415
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 31, 1950
DocketNo. 3179
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 44 So. 2d 147 (Dartez v. Meaux) 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
Dartez v. Meaux, 44 So. 2d 147, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 415 (La. Ct. App. 1950).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

This is a suit, brought by the plaintiff as the owner and lessor of a certain parcel <~f ground and improvements located in the Town of Kaplan, Louisiana, against his lessee, the defendant herein, for the rent of said premises for the year 1938 at the rate of $50 per month, subject to a credit of $15.12, or a total sum of $584.88. (The credit should be $16.12) Plaintiff claims a lessor’s lien and privilege upon all the furniture and property in the leased premises and prayed for and obtained a writ of provisional seizure under which the same was seized by the sheriff. Although this writ was issued on December 4, 1948, under a verbal agreement entered into by the attorney for plaintiff, the defendant and the Sheriff, the defendant was permitted to operate his saloon until Tuesday, December 7, 1948.

On the 9th day of December defendant obtained an order- permitting him to furnish bond, which he did, and obtained a release of the property. Defendant in his answer denied that he was indebted to the plaintiff in any amount whatever and further alleged that during the latter part of December 1947 he had purchased the contents of a saloon from the plaintiff for $4,000 cash which he had paid to the plaintiff. He admitted haying entered into the lease with the plaintiff for $50 per month but alleged that during the month of February 1948 the plaintiff was in need of funds and had requested defendant to pay the entire amount of rent for that year in advance, and that there was also due at that time to the plaintiff an indebtedness by the defendant which he acknowledged to be $400, and that defendant, therefore, executed his check for $1,000 in order to pay the rental and indebtedness and by the payment of these amounts he had discharged his obligation of rental toward the plaintiff for the entire period of the lease.

Defendant then assumed the position of plaintiff in reconvention and alleged that the plaintiff was indebted unto him in the amount of $960.95 for money advanced in the sum of $150 and for goods and merchandise purchased from the defendant in [148]*148the sum of $60.95, and tliat due to the illegal issuance of the provisional seizure he had suffered damages in the amount of $750 for loss of earnings, embarrassment and humiliation. . . ,

The case was duly tried and-resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff for $583.88 as prayed for from which the defendant has appealed.

The record discloses that on' the '23rd day of December, 1947, plaintiff and defendant executed an act of sale in which the plaintiff sold, transferred'and delivered unto defendant “all of the furniture, equipment, accessories, stock, merchandise and other movable effects belonging to and forming a part of the business known as ‘Dartez Bar’ located on State Highway No. 43 in the town of Kaplan, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana,” before Mr. Marcus A. Brous-sard, attorney-at-law and Notary Public in the Town of Labadieville,' for a cash consideration of $4,000, the vendor accepting the receipt thereof and’giving full acquittance therefor. This sale was dated January 1/1948 and was not placed of record until the 2nd day of January, 1948. More than likely this was done in order that the business might be carried on under the same license until January 1, 1948, as the defendant did take possession of and operate the business on the 24th day of December, 1947, and there is in the record an agreement dated the 23rd day of December, 1947 by which the plaintiff presumably employed the defendant “to manage, supervise, conduct and run as he may deem fit or proper” his business known as “Dartez Bar”, and as compensation the defendant was to be given all the profits accruing from the business during the term of his employment which was to "expire on January 1, 1948.

At the time of the execution of the sale of December 23, 1947 the evidence discloses that the defendant had a check of Joe Dore’s" for $3,000 but was unable to cash it on that day as it was on an out-of-town bank. The defendant, therefore, caused to be drawn in the notary’s office on the typewriter one check for $3,000 which is in evidence and made payáble to cash and signed by himself. The defendant further drew another check f.or $1,000 which was held by Mr. Broussard and which defendant admitted having given “to prove that he was going to Buy the property.” It is admitted that this check was worthless and was merely given as evidence of good faith •by the defendant. This check was later destroyed by Mr. Broussard upon instructions from .the plaintiff. Plaintiff testified that he told Mr. Broussard to destroy this check after he had received a $1,000 check dated February 21, 1948 which was good. While Mr. Broussard is not definite as to the time the plaintiff told him to destroy the check, he estimated it at several weeks or. about three weeks after the sale on December 23, 1947. In view of his indefiniteness as to the time, we believe the plaintiff’s statement to be correct.

It is further shown by the' record that the next day the local bank found that the check for $3,000 was good and the defendant had this deposited to his account and cashed the $3,000 check' which had been written on the typewriter in Mr. Brous-sard’s office. The defendant’s wife and the plaintiff’s wife were the ones who went to the bank and cashed this check, and the money was brought back to the saloon where it was paid to the plaintiff. Defendant and his wife testified that $1,000 more in cash was paid to the plaintiff by the defendant at the same time; that this $1,000 in cash represented the proceeds of the sale of rice by the defendant to Lloyd Simon. The plaintiff and his wife deny that the defendant paid any amount other than the $3,000 at that time, and, on the contrary, testified that a check for $1,000 dated February 21, 1948 and signed by the defendant, Ellic Meaux, was given to them in order to complete the payment of the $4,000 due as a consideration for the purchase of the contents of the saloon. The defendant contends that the check dated February 21, 1948 for $1,000 was given to the plaintiff and represented $600 rent for the year 1948 in advance and $400 which he claimed the plaintiff said he owed him. Thus, in order to reach a correct decision in this case it is necessary that the Court decide whether the $1,000 check was given [149]*149to complete the consideration for 'the sale or as an advance for one year’s rent plus indebtedness due by the defendant to the plaintiff.

Counsel for defendant strenuously objected to any testimony to vary, or contradict the terms of the act of sale. No attack is being made upon the sale nor does plaintiff seek to change the amount of the consideration as stated therein, but merely to show that the consideration of $4,000 was not paid on the date set forth in the deed.

The objection was referred to the •merits by the trial court and in his excellent written reasons for judgment he overruled the objection and correctly considered the testimony and we adopt his reasons for so ruling, which are as follows:

“It is a well recognized doctrine in this-state that the real and true consideration for a sale may always be shown where a consideration is expressed, even though the consideration may be different from that expressed in the deed.”
“This was very clearly stated in Wainwright v. Gilham, (La.App.) 188 So. 434-436, wherein the court said:
“ 'Plaintiff argues that the rule of evidence invoked by defendant is inapplicable to the facts of this case for two reasons,viz.:
“ T.

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Bluebook (online)
44 So. 2d 147, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dartez-v-meaux-lactapp-1950.