Edwards v. Standard Oil Co.

141 So. 513
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 3, 1932
DocketNo. 960
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 141 So. 513 (Edwards v. Standard Oil 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
Edwards v. Standard Oil Co., 141 So. 513 (La. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

ELLIOTT, J.

A. M. Edwards, Jr., ruled Standard Oil Company of Louisiana into court to show cause why it should not be compelled to vacate the property described as ‘‘one acre of ground more or less located on U. S. Highway No. 51 in Headright 59 T. 7 S., R. 7 E. —fronting 200 ft. on the U. S. Highway above mentioned, 200 ft. on Ponehatoula-Springfield highway, having a depth of 200 ft., and the buildings and improvements thereon or connected therewith, situated in the town of Ponchatoula in the Parish of Tangipahoa.” And why a contract of lease entered into by the parties concerning said property should not be canceled on account of the nonpayment of rent. The defendant resists and contends that the lease should not be canceled. From a judgment in favor of the plaintiff as prayed for, the defendant has appealed.

The defendant, contending that plaintiff (has a motive other than the collection of the rent due him, goes at length in its answer into the business relations existing between them prior to the institution Of the suit.

There is no conflict in the testimony concerning the facts of the case. A check for $35.19, the amount due July 15, 1931, on account of rent, was executed by defendant on July 10, 1931, placed in an envelope addressed to A. M. Edwards, Jr., City, hut the check did not reach Edwards until July 21, 1931, on which day he received it in an envelope which had been mailed at Ponchatoula, the 6th day after the rent was due.

The law provides that: “The contract of léase ' * * * (besides the rules in which it is subject in common with other agreements, and which are explained under the title: Of Conventional Obligations) is governed by certain particular rules, which are the subject of the present title.” Civ. Code, art. 2668.

Among the particular rules by which the contract is governed are the following:

“The lessee is bound: * * * To pay the rent at the terms agreed on.” Civ. Code, art. 2710.

“The lessee may be expelled from the property if he fails to pay the rent when it becomes due.” Civ. Code, art. 2712.

“The neglect of the * * * lessee to ful-fil his engagements, may also give cause for a dissolution of the lease, in the manner expressed concerning contracts in general, except that the judge cannot order any delay of the dissolution.” Civ. Code, art. 2729.

Among the rules to which the contract of lease is subject in common with other agreements, the Civil Code, art. 2:047, provides: “ * * * When the resolutory condition is an event, not depending on the will of either party, the contract is dissolved of right; but, in other cases, it must be sued for, and the party in default may, according to circumstances, have a further time allowed for the performance of the condition.”

The plaintiff claims the dissolution of the lease on the ground that the rent due July 15, 1931, was not paid when it became due.

Defendant, for reasons set out, in its answer denies this averment. In a latter part of its answer it avers that, if plaintiff did not receive the rent on or before it was due, such fact was not the result of defendant’s inability to pay the rent, or defendant’s desire to refuse to pay, or to arbitrarily delay the payment, but resulted solely from oversight on the part of an employee -of defendant or some unforeseen delay in the United States mail.

The provision that, when the resolutory condition is an event not depending on the will of either party, the contract is dissolved of right, but in other cases it must be sued for, and the party, in default, may, according to circumstances, have a further time allowed for the performance of the condition, was considered by the Supreme Court in Watson v. Feibel, 139 La. 375, 71 So. 585, Southport Mill v. Ansley, 160 La. 131, 106 So. 720, and -Standard Oil Co. of La. v. Milholland, 167 La. 707, 120 So. 59. But delay in the payment of rent due to -oversight and neglect is not a matter provided for in that article. In Southport Mill v. Ansley the subject of the decision was a promise to sell real estate, but the court said, by way of an addendum to the [514]*514deeree; that' the judge, under Civil Code, art. 2729, could not grant any delay in the dissolution of á lease.

The defendant cites us a number of decisions from other states, to which we have not access, said to bear on the question when a lessee will be given by the courts a further time in which to pay the rent, in case of failure due to oversight and neglect, but not willful and intentional, but the question is one that should be determined rmder the provisions of the Civil Code of this state as enforced by our jurisprudence.

In Sieward v. Denechaud, 120 La. 720, the court said, page 730, 45 So. 561, 564: “The right to dissolve a lease is subject to judicial control.” But the court in using this language had in mind resolutory conditions, other than those due to neglect, because the Civil Codé, art. 2729, is emphatic that, when the nonfulfillment, on the part of the lessor or lessee, is due to neglect, the judge cannot order any delay of the dissolution.

The defendant cites us a number of decisions of the Supreme Court of this state which it contends have bearing on the present case: In Brewer v. Forest Gravel Co., 172 La. 828, 135 So. 372, 373, the controversy involved a disputed responsibility for a severance tax. The defendant contended that the tax was due by the plaintiff, the owner of the property. It paid the taxes, but held the amount bach out of the rent. The plaintiff, owner of the property, contended that defendant owed the tax. Litigation resulted, and the owner prayed that the lease be canceled for nonpayment of the rent. The court said, in acting on the case: “In the present case defendant has not refused arbitrarily to pay the rent, but was in good faith in refusing to pay more than he thought was due according to the advice of his counsel.” Plaintiff’s demand for the cancellation of the lease was refused. There was no question of neglect in the case.

In Saxton v. Para Rubber Co. of Louisiana, 166 La. 866, 118 So. 64, the court said, in acting on the case: “It is quite true that the payment of the rent in accordance with the terms of the lease is one of the essential obligations of the lessee, and the failure of the lessee to properly discharge this obligation is a legal cause for dissolving the lease. But this presupposes that the lessor is desirous and willing that the lessee should pay his rent promptly, and will facilitate and not ¡hinder him in doing so; that the lessor is not endeavoring merely to entrap his lessee into a technical breach of the lease.” And in the case mentioned the court in effect held that the lessor had endeavored to entrap his lessee into a technical breach and refused to cancel the lease.

This plaintiff is endeavo-ring to take advantage of defendant’s oversight and neglect to pay, but he has not endeavored to entrap the defendant into a technical breach; consequently the situation is not the same.

Hemsing v. Wiener-Loeb Grocery Co., 157 La. 189, 102 So. 303, 304, was a suit in which the owner sought to cancel a lease on account of nonpayment of the rent when due. The fact showed that the lessee had timely executed and mailed a cheek to the owner in payment, but through inadvertence on the part of the lessee the check was signed, using a name that was different from the one in which he kept his account in the bank.

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Related

Edwards v. Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana
144 So. 430 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1932)

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141 So. 513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edwards-v-standard-oil-co-lactapp-1932.