Davenport v. Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc.

230 So. 2d 764, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5604
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 6, 1970
DocketNo. 11328
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 230 So. 2d 764 (Davenport v. Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc.) 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
Davenport v. Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc., 230 So. 2d 764, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5604 (La. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

This is an action upon a promissory note and upon its assumption of payment by the defendant Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff against Thelma Calvin, one of the makers of the note, for $13,463.04, and against the defendant Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc., on its assumption, for $8,450.00, only the later prosecutes an appeal.

The primary defense is that there was a failure of consideration for Lemon Tree’s assumption of the obligation. This defendant also asserts as errors the court’s failure to dissolve a writ of attachment, wherein certain of its assets were attached, and to award damages allegedly sustained for a wrongful attachment, or to assert jurisdiction, after the appeal, to test the sufficiency of the attachment bond.

Attention will be first directed to the procedural questions presented by appellant. We find no merit in the motion to dissolve the attachment. The trial court found that defendant’s president, who represented defendant as counsel, made statements to the effect that the trial of this case would be delayed through dilatory tactics beyond the vacation period of the court, and that, when plaintiff eventually obtained judgment, such judgment would in effect be an empty formality as, by then, there would be no assets out of which the collection could be made. The motion to dissolve the attachment was therefore properly overruled.

Defendant, however, complains of error committed relative to the order of proof on the trial of the motion to dismiss the attachment. This, we find harmless as no prejudice resulted therefrom inasmuch as all the evidence presented by both plaintiff and defendant was in the record and considered by the court in its action in sustaining the attachment. The court, moreover, required plaintiff to sustain his burden of proof warranting the attachment by a reasonable preponderance of the evidence.

Defendant further complains that the trial court failed to take jurisdiction of its motion to test the sufficiency or solvency of the attachment bond furnished by plaintiff as a prerequisite to issuance of the writ. This motion was filed after defendant had perfected its appeal from the judgment on the merits of the case. The judgment maintained the attachment.

A trial court has jurisdiction under LSA-C.C.P. Art. 5123 to test generally the sufficiency and validity of judicial bonds. However, after an appeal has been perfected, the testing of the sufficiency and validity of an attachment bond is not one of the prerogativés reserved to the trial court. The authority retained by trial courts with respect to bonds relates to the testing of the solvency of sureties on appeal bonds. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 2088(5).

Appellant cites Citizens Bank v. Hudson, 5 La.App. 194 (2d Cir. 1926), for the rule that a defective attachment bond must be corrected in the court of original jurisdiction and cannot be considered by the appellate court under Act No. 112 of 1916. This, of course, was under a prior law and, though that may have been the holding of the court, the court nevertheless stated:

“The sole ground which the defendant urges here for the reversal of the judgment is that the attachment should have been dissolved for the reason of the defect in the attachment bond, which is in the record and shows upon its face the defect presented in the motion to dissolve.
“We are of the opinion that the defendant by appealing from the judgment [766]*766rendered on default must be presumed to have waived his motion to dissolve the writ of attachment, and that this court must consider the cause as if no suggestion had been made before the trial court as to the insufficiency of the bond.
“The fact that a defective bond was filed did not invalidate the attachment; it only furnished a ground upon which the attachment may have been dissolved after certain preliminary proceedings as provided by law (Act No. 112 of 1916) had been taken, and the defect, although apparent on the face of the record, cannot be considered by this court.”
5 La.App. 194, 195.

The important facts material to the primary issue as disclosed by the record may be briefly reviewed. Eddie Davenport, plaintiff-appellee, signed, as an accommodation maker for Dr. John C. Calvin, Jr., and Callie Loche Calvin, a note dated July 22, 1966, for $18,726.00, payable to the First National Bank of Ruston. To secure Davenport for the obligation assumed by him through his signature on the note, Dr. John C. Calvin, Jr., pledged unto Davenport a mortgage note executed by Calvin July 22, 1966, covering a lot in Grambling, Louisiana, the improvements of which consisted of a brick store building.

In a deed dated December 27, 1967, defendant Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc., acquired from Dr. John C. Calvin, Jr., Callie L. Calvin, and Grambling Urban Development, Inc., of which Calvin was president, in addition to the lot already mentioned, certain described realty in Morehouse and Richland Parishes as well as a quantity of movables consisting of fixtures and grocery store and market equipment such as scales, cash registers, a meat counter, a frozen food box, frozen storage, a vegetable box, a meat saw, sheer, grinder and block, and an adding machine. The price was recited to be $35,725.00, of which $2,-300.00 was paid in cash. The balance was represented by defendant Lemon Tree’s assumption of certain obligations of Dr. John C. Calvin, Jr., which included $8,450.00 of the mortgage note as recited in the assumption agreement and which was pledged to plaintiff, Davenport.

Following this transaction, Dr. John C. Calvin, Jr., and Callie Loche Calvin were adjudicated bankrupts April 17, 1968. Discharges followed in due course. The First National Bank of Ruston thereupon demanded of Davenport payment of the note which he had signed as comaker with the Calvins. On payment of the amount then remaining due, $13,463.04, the note was transferred to Davenport who thereafter instituted this action.

During the pendency of the proceedings as originally instituted, an agreement was entered into by and between defendant Lemon Tree and College Town Food, Inc., wherein defendant agreed to sell and College Town Food, Inc., agreed to buy the aforesaid lot and store building for a price of $30,000.00, conditioned upon the prospective purchaser’s obtaining a loan from the Small Business Administration. It was contemplated that plaintiff would be paid through this transaction.

The intended purchaser engaged the services of a local attorney to examine the title to the property on its behalf as well as on behalf of the Small Business Administration. In the course of this examination a survey of the lot and the improvements was made. This survey revealed that the store building was not entirely located upon the lot. That fact was testified to by the surveyor. The lot has a 40-foot frontage and a depth of 74 feet. The building, 40 feet in width and 72 feet in length, was erected back 8.6 feet from the street and therefore extended 6.6 feet beyond the west boundary of the lot. The north side of the building extended 11.7 feet beyond the north boundary line. Had the building been properly located on the lot, the overhanging eaves would have extended beyond the property lines.

With this information, that the title to the property was defective, Lemon Tree [767]

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Related

Bell v. Badger Dredging, Inc.
420 So. 2d 1197 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
Davenport v. Lemon Tree of Ruston, Inc.
233 So. 2d 249 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
230 So. 2d 764, 1970 La. App. LEXIS 5604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davenport-v-lemon-tree-of-ruston-inc-lactapp-1970.