Firemen's Ins. v. Hava

78 So. 486, 143 La. 94, 1918 La. LEXIS 1617
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedApril 1, 1918
DocketNo. 22681
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 78 So. 486 (Firemen's Ins. v. Hava) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Firemen's Ins. v. Hava, 78 So. 486, 143 La. 94, 1918 La. LEXIS 1617 (La. 1918).

Opinion

O’NIELL, J.

In 1894, after Mrs. M. E. 1-Iava had become the wife of Dr. Adrian F. Hava, she bought a certain house and lot in New Orleans in her own name. The deed, containing the recital that the property was purchased with the paraphernal funds and as the separate property of Mrs. Hava, was signed by her husband to authorize her. Thereafter, Alfred F. Livaudais loaned to Dr. Hava $2,600, for which the doctor gave his promissory note dated May 20, 1912. Subsequently Dr. and Mrs. Hava separated, but were not divorced. The house and lot bought by Mrs. Hava was advertised and offered for sale for delinquent taxes, and in May, 1914, Livaudais purchased one-eleventh interest in the property at the tax sale for the amount of the taxes due. He had the house insured by the Firemen’s Insurance Company against loss by Are. It was destroyed or damaged by Are in October, 1915. The loss was adjusted at $2,393; and the amount was placed by the insurance company in the hands of its attorney to be paid to the person or persons entitled to it.

On the 2d of May, 1916, Mrs. Hava sued Livaudais for a partition of the property and a division of the insurance money. She prayed to be recognized as entitled to ten-elevenths of the cash in the hands of the attorney of the insurance company, to have the real estate sold at public auction, and to be declared entitled to ten-elevenths of the proceeds. She was not authorized by her husband to institute the suit, but prayed that the judge authorize her. The case was allotted to division E of the civil district court. Livaudais excepted to the plaintiff’s proceeding without the authorization of her husband, who was within the jurisdiction of the court.

On the 24th of May, 1916, the Firemen’s Insurance Company Aled a petition in court, praying that Dr. and Mrs. 1-Iava and A. F. Livaudais be cited to answer and show to whom the insurance money should be paid. The suit was allotted to division A, and on motion of Mrs. Hava it was ordered consolidated with her partition suit in division E. Thereafter Mrs. Hava Aled a supplemental petition, praying that her husband be cited to show cause why she should not be authorized to prosecute her suit.

In answer to the suit of the Firemen’s Insurance Company, Mrs. Hava alleged that ten-elevenths of the insurance money de[257]*257posited by tbe company into tbe registry of the court was her separate property, and she prayed to be allowed to withdraw her part of the fund.

In answer to the suit of Mrs. Hava, Livaudais admitted that the property belonged to Mrs. Hava and him in indivisión; that he had purchased one-eleventh interest at the tax sale, and that Mrs. Hava owned the remaining ten-elevenths interest, as set forth in her petition; that ten-elevenths of the $2,393 insurance money was held for the benefit of Mrs. Hava and one-eleventh for him, by the attorney of the insurance company. He admitted that the property could not be divided in kind, and declared he had, and could have, no objection to the partition prayed for by the plaintiff:. Therefore, submitting the matter to the court, he prayed that a partition be decreed, and that the court direct the manner in which it should be effected. Then, assuming the position of plaintiff:' in reconvention, he alleged that Mrs. Hava was- indebted to him in the sum of $343.37 and interest on the various disbursements from their dates, respectively, for taxes which he had paid on the entire property, ten-elevenths of which amounted to $290.73, and for insurance premiums which he had paid, ten-elevenths of which amounted to $52.63. He prayed for judgment against Mrs. Hava for the $343.37, with interest on each payment from its date and with recognition of a lien on the insurance money and on the proceeds of the sale to be made of the real estate.

In answer to the suit of the insurance company, Livaudais prayed that the insurance money deposited in court be divided between Mrs. Hava and him according to the answer he had filed in her suit for a partition.

Thereafter Dr. Hava answered both the petition of Mrs. Hava to be authorized to prosecute her partition suit and her original petition praying for a partition. Instead of authorizing his wife to prosecute the suit, he alleged that the property belonged to the community existing between him and his wife, and prayed that judgment be rendered in his favor, declaring him entitled to the insurance money and recognizing him alone to be entitled to institute suit for a partition of the property.

Judgment was rendered in the consolidated cases as follows, viz.: Mrs. Hava was declared entitled to ten-elevenths and A. F. Livaudais one-eleventh of the insurance money deposited in the registry of the court. The real estate was ordered sold at a public auction to effect a partition. Mrs. Hava was condemned to pay Livaudais the $343.37 claimed in his reconventional demand, with legal interest as prayed for, in reimbursement of ten-elevenths of the payments made by Livaudais for taxes and insurance on the property. The amount deposited by the insurance company into the registry of the court was declared to be the extent of liability of the insurance company, and the latter was discharged from further liability. The costs were ordered paid by the mass; that is, out of the funds to be divided between Mrs. Hava and Livaudais.

Dr. Hava prosecuted an appeal from the judgment, but did not have Livaudais cited as appellee, nor did the latter appear in the case on appeal for any purpose whatever. The only question considered on the appeal— being the only question at issue between the appellant, Dr. Hava, and appellee, Mrs. Hava — was whether the property belonged to the community or was the separate, paraphernal property of Mrs. Hava. The judgment, declaring the property to be the separate property of Mrs. Hava, was affirmed, on the ground mainly that Dr. Hava was es-topped from contesting his wife’s title by his admission in the deed that the property was purchased with Mrs. Hava’s separate, [259]*259paraphernal funds and became her separate property. See Firemen’s Insurance Co. v. Hava et al., 140 La. 638, 73 South. 708.

In the meantime, that is, after Mrs. Hava had filed her partition suit, but before Livaudais answered it, he filed suit against Dr. Hava on the note for $2,600, and obtained judgment by confession, in division A of the civil district court. And, having come to the belief that the property that stood in the name of Mrs. Hava was in reality bought with community funds, and therefore belonged to the marital community between Dr. and Mrs, Hava, Livaudais obtained a writ of fi. fa., and had ten-elevenths of the insurance money in the registry of the court seized to satisfy his judgment of $2,600 against Dr. Hava.

Mrs. Hava then filed a petition in the original consolidated cases in division E of the civil district court, and obtained a writ of injunction to prevent a disposition of her ten-elevenths interest in the funds in the registry of the court, to satisfy the judgment against her husband. She alleged that the fund, being the proceeds or avails of the insurance on her separate, paraphernal property, belonged to her separately; that Livaudais, by purchasing one-eleventh interest in the property for taxes assessed in her name, had thereby acknowledged her title to the property. She pleaded that the question of her title to ten-elevenths of the property and of the fund in the registry of the court became res judicata by the judgment rendered in the partition suit.

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Related

Rice v. Davidson
89 So. 600 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1921)
Hava v. Chavigny
80 So. 197 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1918)

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Bluebook (online)
78 So. 486, 143 La. 94, 1918 La. LEXIS 1617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/firemens-ins-v-hava-la-1918.