Dunckelman v. Central Louisiana Electric Co.

291 So. 2d 914, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 4429
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 12, 1974
DocketNo. 4434
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 291 So. 2d 914 (Dunckelman v. Central Louisiana Electric Co.) 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
Dunckelman v. Central Louisiana Electric Co., 291 So. 2d 914, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 4429 (La. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

HOOD, Judge.

Mrs. Anaise Dunckelman and Lonnie V. Dunckelman seek a declaratory judgment decreeing that they have a legal cause of action against defendant, Central Louisiana Electric Company, to rescind a conveyance they made to defendant of a right-of-way for an electric transmission line on the grounds of lesion beyond moiety. The trial judge rendered judgment sustaining an exception of no cause of action filed by defendant and dismissing the suit. Plaintiffs appealed.

The issue presented is whether the granting of a right-of-way for an electric transmission line constitutes the sale of an “immovable” as that term is used in LSA-C.C. art. 1862, and thus whether the granting of such a right-of-way can be rescinded on the grounds of lesion beyond moiety.

Plaintiffs executed a “servitude agreement” on November 27, 1972, by which they conveyed to defendant the “right, privilege and easement” to construct and maintain electric transmission lines on a strip of land, 100 feet wide and 2326 feet long, running diagonally across plaintiffs’ 105.39 acre tract of land in Natchitoches Parish. Plaintiffs allege that defendant paid them $2,140.00 for the right-of-way, and that that amount is less than one-half the market value of said' right-of-way. They demand a declaratory judgment decreeing that they “have a legal cause of action, in lesion beyond moiety, against the defendant” to rescind that conveyance.

The trial judge concluded that the “servitude agreement” constituted the sale of an “incorporeal immovable,” as distinguished from the sale of “immovable property itself,” that the sale of an incorporeal immovable is not subject to recision for lesion, and that plaintiffs thus have not alleged a cause of action for setting aside that sale.

We have concluded that the judgment rendered by the trial court is correct.

Article 1860 of the Louisiana Civil Code provides that “lesion is the injury suffered by one who does not receive a full equivalent for what he gives in a commutative contract,” and that “the remedy given for this injury is founded on its being the effect of implied error or imposition.” A person of full age and who is under no incapacity will not be relieved of his obligations under his voluntary contracts, on account of sitch an implied error or imposition, except in two cases. One such case is [916]*916where a partition is involved, and the other is where the sale of immovable property is involved, and the price given is less than one-half of the value of the thing sold. LSA-C.C. arts. 1861, 1862, 2589 and 2591. The instant suit does not involve a partition, so our concern here is whether the transaction between plaintiffs and defendant involved the sale of an immovable within the meaning of the cited articles of the Civil Code.

LSA-C.C. art. 1861 provides, in part, that:

“In sales of immovable property, the vendor may be relieved, if the price given is less than one-half of the value of the thing sold; but the sale can not be invalidated for lesion to the injury of the purchaser.” (Emphasis added).

The other cited articles of the Louisiana Civil Code provide:

“Art. 1862. Lesion can be alleged by persons of full age in no other sale than one for immovables, in which is included whatever is immovable by destination.” (Emphasis added).
“Art. 2589. If the vendor has been aggrieved for more than half the value of an immovable estate by him sold, he has the right to demand the rescission of the sale, even in case he had expressly abandoned the right of claiming such rescission, and declared that he gave to the purchaser the surplus of the thing’s value.” (Emphasis added).
“Art. 2591. If it should appear that the immovable estate has been sold for less than one-half its just value, the purchaser may either restore the thing and take back the price which he has paid, or make up the just price and keep the thing.” (Emphasis added).

Plaintiffs contend that the right-of-way which they granted to defendant is an immovable, and that they have alleged a cause of action for the rescission of the sale of that right-of-way on grounds of lesion. They base that argument largely on Articles 463 and 474 of the Civil Code, which provide that an incorporeal right, including a servitude, on an immovable estate, is considered as an immovable.

Defendant contends that the granting of the right-of-way by plaintiffs was not a. “sale” at all, that plaintiffs simply “created” or “established” a servitude on their, land in favor of defendant, and that since there was no sale the creation of the right-of-way is not subject to an action to rescind based on lesion. Defendant also contends that the right-of-way granted by plaintiffs is neither an immovable by nature nor an immovable by destination, but that instead it is an immovable by disposition of law. It argues that even if the transaction should be treated as a sale, LSA-C.C. art. 1862 does not authorize the rescission of the sale of an immovable by disposition of law, and that plaintiffs thus have failed to allege a cause of action.

All parties agree that the right-of-way which plaintiffs granted to defendant is a servitude. See Louisiana Materials Company v. Cronvich, 236 So.2d 510 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1970); St. Charles Land Trust, Achille Guibet v. St. Amant, 253 La. 243, 217 So.2d 385 (1969).

Servitudes which affect lands are classified as being either personal or real servitudes. LSA-C.C. art. 646. The right-of-way involved in this case, for the erection and maintenance of an electric transmission line, is not a real (or predial) servitude, since it was not established for the benefit of another estate, but it is a personal servitude, affecting or applying to plaintiffs’ property and running in favor of defendant.

Property is classified as being immovable if it is immovable by nature, immovable by destination or immovable by the object to which it is applied. LSA-C.C. art. 463. Things also are divided into corporeal and incorporeal, incorporeal things being those which are not manifest to the senses and [917]*917which are conceived only by the understanding of th'e parties. Servitudes are specifically designated as being incorporeal things. LSA-C.C. art. 460..

The servitude which plaintiffs conveyed to defendant is not an immovable by nature or an immovable by destination, but it is an immovable by disposition of law, that is, by the object to which it is applied. It also is an incorporeal right or thing.-. We agree with the trial judge, therefore, that the right-of-way involved here, for the construction and maintenance of an electric transmission line across plaintiffs’ property, is an incorporeal immovable.

Article 1862 of the Civil Code clearly authorizes the rescission of a sale on the grounds of lesion if the sale involves an immovable by nature or an immovable by destination. The parties to this suit disagree, however, on the question of whether an action to rescind based on lesion can be maintained where the thing sold is an incorporeal immovable, that is, a right which is designated as an immovable solely because of the object to which it is applied. The question presented is res nova in this state.

LSA-C.C. art. 1862 had no counterpart in the French Code. The substance of the present article first appeared as Article 1856 of the Code of 1825, which provided:

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Bluebook (online)
291 So. 2d 914, 1974 La. App. LEXIS 4429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunckelman-v-central-louisiana-electric-co-lactapp-1974.