Elnaggar v. Fred H. Moran Const. Corp.

468 So. 2d 803, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9121
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 16, 1985
Docket84 CA 0213
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 468 So. 2d 803 (Elnaggar v. Fred H. Moran Const. Corp.) 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
Elnaggar v. Fred H. Moran Const. Corp., 468 So. 2d 803, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9121 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

468 So.2d 803 (1985)

Hameed A. ELNAGGAR and Kathleen Jordan Elnaggar
v.
FRED H. MORAN CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, et al.

No. 84 CA 0213.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 16, 1985.

*804 Robert R. Rainer, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant Hameed A. Elnaggar and Kathleen Jordan Elnaggar.

J. Arthur Smith, III, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee Fred A. Moran, individually, The Meadows Development Corp. and John H. Schaeffer.

Before GROVER L. COVINGTON, C.J., and LOTTINGER, JOHN S. COVINGTON, JJ.

JOHN S. COVINGTON, Judge.

This is a redhibition action. Plaintiffs bought a residence on August 20, 1981 from Fred H. Moran Construction Corporation. The property was shown the plaintiffs by Fred H. Moran, an officer of the corporation. On June 4, 1981 the corporation and plaintiffs entered into an Agreement to Purchase. Plaintiffs' original petition, filed March 8, 1982, alleged a litany of "facts [which] constitute redhibitory vices and defects entitling them to judgment against the defendants decreeing a diminution of the purchase price in the sum of $120,138.50". The defendants named in the original petition were the corporation, Mr. Moran, The Meadows Development Corporation (Meadows), and John H. Schaeffer. The individuals Moran and Schaeffer and the Meadows corporation filed an Exception of No Cause of Action which was maintained on April 30, 1982; plaintiffs were given fifteen days from April 30 to amend the petition to set forth with specificity a cause of action.

Plaintiffs' First Amending and Supplemental Petition, filed May 17, 1982, alleged as Moran's personal liability representations which he purportedly made to plaintiffs that there were no plans to develop the open acreage abutting the rear property line of the lot and plaintiffs would be able to buy at least two acres for $10,000 to $12,000 per acre when plaintiffs' home in Colorado was sold. Plaintiffs "on three occasions told MORAN they were willing and ready to finalize the purchase of the property adjacent to Lot 33 as committed by him". They further alleged that Mr. Moran was an incorporator, director, and agent for service of process of Meadows and that Meadows, as owner or agent of the owner of the abutting undeveloped acreage, submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission to develop the land as a densely packed subdivision comprising small lots and small houses and that Moran "appeared individually and as agent for the MEADOWS CORPORATION AND SCHAEFFER, urging that the proposed Parterre Subdivision be approved". The foregoing allegations, plus the alleged representation that the abutting property would provide plaintiffs "the privacy of a park" constitute, in plaintiffs' view, "a misrepresentation *805 as to a material fact, the principal motive of plaintiffs in purchasing Lot 33, of which he had knowledge, and as to a principal quality of Lot 33".

Meadows' and Schaeffer's alleged liability is based on the alleged representations of Moran whom plaintiffs characterize as their agent whose representations bind them.

The First Supplemental Petition seeks rescission of the sale and in the alternative sums of money to repair and/or correct alleged redhibitory vices as well as damages for, inter alia, loss of convenience and enjoyment of the privacy of a park on the abutting property.

Defendants Moran, Meadows, and Schaeffer filed several responsive pleadings to the First Supplemental Petition, including an Exception of No Cause of Action. Before the hearing on the Exception of No Cause of Action was held plaintiffs filed their Second and Third Supplemental Petitions on August 20, 1982 and April 19, 1983. The purpose of the Third Supplemental Petition was to charge liability on the part of John H. Schaeffer as the designer of the house, including indoor brick and masonry planter boxes which were allegedly "defective, faulty and negligent[ly] design[ed]" causing cracks in the slab, exterior and interior walls and ceiling. Schaeffer filed an Exception of Prescription to plaintiffs' Third Supplemental Petition.

The Trial Court conducted a hearing on June 30, 1983 on the myriadfold motions and exceptions; testimony and documentary evidence were considered by the Court. The Exception of No Cause of Action was maintained as to Moran and Meadows but overruled as to Schaeffer and the supplemental amending petitions were dismissed at plaintiffs' costs. The Exception of Prescription filed by Schaeffer was taken under advisement as was the Exception of Prematurity filed by Moran, Meadows, and Schaeffer. On October 12, 1983 the Court overruled the Exception of Prematurity as to all Exceptors and maintained Schaeffer's Exception of Prescription. On December 3 and 6, 1983 Judgments on Motions and Exceptions were signed. Plaintiffs devolutively appealed.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Plaintiffs-appellants assign as errors the Trial Court's maintaining the Peremptory Exception of No Cause of Action as to Moran, individually, and Meadows Development Corporation and its maintaining the Peremptory Exception of Prescription as to Schaeffer.

ISSUES

The issues presented are:

1. Whether the First and Second Supplemental and Amending Petitions state a cause of action against Moran, individually;

2. Whether the petitions referred to in the first issue state a cause of action against Meadows Development Corporation; and

3. Whether plaintiffs' cause of action, if any existed, against Schaeffer in his role as designer-architect, has prescribed.

PERSONAL LIABILITY OF MORAN

The thrust of plaintiffs' attempt to hold Moran personally liable is that Moran made representations that they could purchase two or more acres of abutting land to assure them of the privacy they obviously valued greatly. They argue that because Moran was an officer of Fred H. Moran Construction Corporation, from which entity they bought their home, and also an officer and agent for Meadows Development Corporation, which sought official approval for it to develop the acreage abutting plaintiff's home into a subdivision of homes to contain significantly less living area than plaintiffs' home, which contains over 5,000 square feet of living area, Moran is liable for diminishing the value of their property and the deprivation of a park-like setting so essential to their desire for privacy as reflected by their pleadings. Plaintiffs assert that at the time Moran allegedly told them two or more acres of the abutting land could be purchased by *806 them for $10,000 to $12,000 per acre he knew that neither he nor the Moran Corporation owned the land and that the Meadows Development Corporation and/or John Schaeffer owned it and planned to develop it into a densely packed subdivision of single-family dwellings, the truth of their assertion being evidenced by Moran's appearing on behalf of Meadows at the Planning Commission's meetings at which the proposed development was being studied and actively seeking Commission approval.

It is axiomatic that "an exception of no cause of action must be determined in the light of the well pleaded averments of plaintiff's petition, all of which must be accepted as true" (Barnett v. Develle, 289 So.2d 129, 138 (La.1974)) but courts "are not bound to accept the plaintiff's conclusions of law". Austin v. Succession of Austin, 225 La. 449, 73 So.2d 312, 315 (1954).

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Bluebook (online)
468 So. 2d 803, 1985 La. App. LEXIS 9121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elnaggar-v-fred-h-moran-const-corp-lactapp-1985.