Dauzat v. Bordelon

145 So. 2d 41, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2378
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 24, 1962
DocketNo. 608
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 145 So. 2d 41 (Dauzat v. Bordelon) 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
Dauzat v. Bordelon, 145 So. 2d 41, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2378 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

TATE, Judge.

This is a suit to foreclose a mortgage securing a note in the amount of $1540. The defendant’s answer pleaded that no consideration had been given for the note and that it was signed through error and [42]*42misrepresentation.1 The plaintiffs foreclosure suit was dismissed, and he appeals.

The oral evidence was not transcribed. However, a stipulation of facts was entered into by the parties subsequent to the trial, and our learned trial brother, in his reasons for denying a new trial, fully stated the pertinent facts and his reasons for judgment as follows:

“This entire transaction started out when Nelson Bordelon, the father of the defendant herein, wished to borrow $3,000 from the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Alexandria, Louisiana and induced Wilfred Dauzat [the plaintiff herein] to sign as endorser on the note.

“As security to Dauzat for his endorsement on the $3,000 Guaranty note, Nelson Bordelon executed a $1500 note secured by a mortgage on a piece of property owned by Nelson Bordelon and also made a note in the sum of $1500 and attempted to secure this note by giving a mortgage on a piece of property [The Day Street lot] owned by Richard J. Bordelon, his son, and the defendant herein. The mortgage on Richard Bordelon’s property was not signed by Richard but was signed by Nelson Borde-lon. [NOTE: However, the stipulation of facts shows that Nelson Bordelon, the father, owned the Day Street lot at the time he executed the mortgage on it to< Dauzat. This mortgage was not recorded, however, until after Nelson Bordelon sold the lot to his son, Richard, the present defendant.]

“Sometime after the execution of the mortgage on Richard Bordelon’s property Richard Bordelon wished to make a sale of the property and because this mortgage acted as a cloud on the title he wished to have it removed. Before Dauzat would consent to the erasure of this mortgage he forced Richard Bordelon to execute a new note and new mortgage on a piece of property owned by Richard Bordelon. It is on this new note and mortgage that Wilfred' Dauzat seeks to recover judgment. At the time of the execution of the note and mortgage by Richard Bordelon the old $1500 note given by Nelson Bordelon was turned over to Richard Bordelon.

[The stipulation of facts amplifies the circumstances surrounding this transaction as follows: The prior mortgage on the Day Street property (executed by Nelson Bordelon in favor of the plaintiff Dauzat) was “recorded after the transfer [of the lot by the father] to Richard J. Bordelon. Subsequently, Richard Bordelon proposed to sell the Day Street property and in setting up negotiations for it discovered that the mortgage held by Dauzat had been recorded. This, of course, stopped the sale Richard Bordelon had started negotiations on. Dauzat was approached about cancel-ling this mortgage and ultimately the Day Street property was sold to Dauzat rather than the proposed buyer that Richard had originally negotiated with.” A certified copy of the sale of the Day Street lot from the defendant Richard J. Bordelon to the plaintiff Dauzat is in the record; as sole consideration for such sale, it shows the assumption by Dauzat of a first mortgage in the amount of $6,227 on the property.]

“Richard Bordelon contends that the note is completely null and void and that the mortgage securing the note is likewise null and void all for the failure of consideration. Dauzat contends that there was consideration given in that at the time of the execution of the second note the old note signed by Nelson Bordelon was turned over to Richard Bordelon and this was the consideration. It is contended that since Richard Bordelon was given this $1500 note executed by his father that Dauzat gave up something of value to Richard Bordelon [43]*43and this constitutes the consideration. By no stretch of imagination can it be said that Richard Bordelon has profited at all in the transaction. It is no profit to give a person a note for $1500 and receive in exchange therefor another note in a like amount. It is of no consideration that the invalid mortgage on Richard Bordelon’s property was erased * * *.

“The Court does not feel that this note of Nelson Bordelon given to Richard Bor-delon was given to Richard Bordelon for the purposes of collection. The note was given in order that it could be turned over to the Clerk of Court for the mortgage to be erased. The only way for the mortgage to be erased is for this note to be surrendered to the Clerk of Court. When Richard Bordelon then surrenders this note to the Clerk of Court to have the mortgage erased he certainly cannot collect on the note.

“Wilfred Dauzat has not given up any consideration whatsoever. The $1500 note that he gave to Richard Bordelon was only to secure a portion of the $3,000 note to the Guaranty Bank & Trust Company. When Nelson Bordelon failed to pay the Guaranty Bank & Trust Company at the time the note became due, Wilfred Dauzat as an endorser was called upon by the Guaranty Bank and paid the note off. At the time of this transaction the Guaranty Bank & Trust Company assigned all of its right, title and interest to Wilfred Dauzat, therefore Wilfred Dauzat still holds the only thing of value that he had in the very beginning. Wilfred Dauzat can execute upon this $3,000 note against Nelson Bordelon. This $3,000 note is the original obligation and it is still possessed by Wilfred Dauzat. Therefore, he lost nothing when he gave the $1500 Nelson Bordelon note to Richard Bordelon.” [Italics ours.]

Succinctly, then, the issue is whether valid consideration for the present note now sued upon was furnished by the plaintiff Dauzat’s surrender to the new note’s maker of the earlier Nelson Bordelon note, in exchange for the present note in approximately the same amount signed by the defendant Richard Bordelon (Nelson’s son).

The trial court held that the surrender and cancellation of the old note did not, under the circumstances shown, constitute consideration for the new note. With some regret, we must differ from our learned trial brother.

Our Negotiable Instruments Law provides that “Every negotiable- instrument is deemed prima facie to have been issued for a valuable consideration; and every person whose signature appears thereon to have become a party thereto for value,” LSA-R.S. 7:24. It further provides that “Value is any consideration sufficient to support a simple contract. An antecedent or preexisting debt constitutes value; and is deemed such whether the instrument is payable on demand or at a future time,” LSA-R.S. 7:25.

As noted at 10 C.J.S. Bills and Notes § 149, pp. 603-604: “The exchange of another instrument or evidence of indebtedness for a bill or note is sufficient consideration to support the latter, unless the paper or instrument exchanged is for some reason void or illegal or unenforceable. Hence, a bill or note has been held supported by consideration when there has been given in exchange therefor another bill or note whether executed or drawn by payee or a third person * * (Italics ours.)

Further, “A check or note given by a son to pay his father’s debt is supported by valid consideration [Citations omitted.],” Hale v. Fornea, La.App. 1 Cir., 79 So.2d 124, 126; and, “a note given to pay a third person’s debt is supported by valid consideration * * *; [Citations omitted.],” Quaintance v. Cook, La.App. 1 Cir., 92 So.2d 504, 506.

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Bluebook (online)
145 So. 2d 41, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dauzat-v-bordelon-lactapp-1962.