First Nat. Bank of Vicksburg v. Drexler

184 So. 607, 1938 La. App. LEXIS 447
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1938
DocketNo. 5660.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 184 So. 607 (First Nat. Bank of Vicksburg v. Drexler) 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
First Nat. Bank of Vicksburg v. Drexler, 184 So. 607, 1938 La. App. LEXIS 447 (La. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

DREW, Judge.

This is an attachment proceeding in which plaintiff is seeking recovery on a promissory note alleged to be owned by and in the possession of plaintiff and to have been made by defendant!

Plaintiff is a national banking corporation, domiciled and doing business in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Defendant is a resident of Houston, Texas. Jurisdiction was acquired here by a writ of attachment under which defendant’s undivided interest in the succession of his alleged uncle, at the time in process of administration was seized.

Defendant filed a plea to the jurisdiction which was sustained by the lower court, and on appeal the judgment was reversed by this court. See 171 So. 151.

Plaintiff alleged it was the owner and holder in due course and for value received before maturity of the note sued on; that it is past due and unpaid; that the note was stamped “paid” through error of the petitioner, all of which will more fully appear by reference to the note which is attached to and made part of the petition. The attached note shows on its face that it was stamped paid on August 29, 1934. Also on its face is the notation in writing: .“Stamped paid in error. First National Bank & Trust Company, by E. S. Butts, Assistant Cashier. 8/29/34.”

Plaintiff alleged defendant is an absentee non-resident of the State of Louisiana, but has property situated in the jurisdiction of the court, and that petitioner is entitled to have a writ of attachment for the protection and preservation of its rights. It alleged that Thomas E. Drexler died in Franklin Parish, Louisiana, on September 7, 1935, and that his succession has been opened in that Parish; that he died testate and his will has been probated in the above referred to succession proceedings, and that Mrs. Katie Lum, a resident of Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, and Mrs. Eula Trezevant, a resident of Richland Parish, Louisiana, have been qualified as executrices of said will and succession; that the said executrices are seized and possessed of all the property and assets of the succession of Thomas E. Drexler; that an inventory has been filed showing the succession to be amply solvent and abundant assets to be distributed among the beneficiaries of said will; that defendant is one of the heirs, legatees and beneficiaries under the will of the decedent, defendant herein being a nephew of the deceased, Thomas E. Drexler, and as such is entitled to a undivided %8th interest in and to all the net assets of said succession; and that the Visth undivided interest of defendant is sufficient to pay the amount of his indebtedness to plaintiff, as is shown by the record and inventory in the succession proceedings, which are attached and made part of plaintiff’s petition. It alleged the necessity of a curator ad hoc to be appointed to represent the absentee defendant and the absentee executrix, Mrs. Lum. It alleged it was entitled to have the undivided interest of defendant in and to the assets of the succession attached, said interest more fully appearing by reference to the attached inventory.

Plaintiff prayed for orders, service, etc., as provided by law and set forth in detail in the petition and prayer; .and finally for judgment in the amount sued for against the' Jisth undivided interest of defendant in the succession; that the attachment be maintained and the interest of defendant be sold to satisfy plaintiff’s judgment.

The writ of attachment was issued as prayed for upon plaintiff furnishing bond in the amount of $250. The bond was signed by the Vice President and Cashier of the plaintiff bank with the New Amsterdam Casualty Company as surety.

The inventory attached to the petition shows a total appraisement of the succession property of $212,334.65. The writ of attachment commanded the sheriff “to take into his possession all the Yisth interest of the said T. E. Drexler Succession, his uncle, of which a certified copy of the inventory is attached to the petition.”

The return on the writ is as follows:

“Received this writ of attachment together with certified copies of same in of *610 fice Jan. 30, 1936, and on the same date proceeded to execute same by seizing the within described property and served said copies of writ on T. E. Drexler, by delivering one of said copies to C. W. Berry, Jr., curator ad hoc for defendant in person in Franklin Parish and posting the other copy on the front door of the court house room where the District Court is held in Franklin Parish.
“C. W. Berry, Sr., Dy. Shff.”

The notices of seizure, which were served in accordance with law, notified the ones to whom they were addressed that the sheriff had seized and taken into his possession the Jisth interest of the said T. E. Drexler Succession, as per copy of inventory attached to the petition.

After the plea to the jurisdiction had been disposed of by us adversely to defendant’s contention and the case remanded to the lower court for further proceedings, defendant filed an exception of no cause or right of action and a motion to dissolve the writ of attachment. The exceptions and motion were tried and overruled by the lower court.

Defendant then answered admitting that he signed as maker the note sued on but that it is stamped “paid”. He denied being indebted on said note; denied that he was a non-resident or that he had property-within the jurisdiction of the court. Defendant admitted that Thomas E-. Drexler died in Franklin Parish, Louisiana, and that his succession had been opened; admitted the will had been probated and the executrices appointed, as alleged by plaintiff; admitted the inventory had been filed in the succession proceedings but that it only shows the value and description of the property owned by the succession. Defendant alleged that plaintiff’s allegations that he was a nephew of the deceased and there-, fore a beneficiary, legatee and heir under the will are mere conclusions of the pleader and he therefore neither affirmed nor denied these allegations. He denied as written the allegation made by plaintiff that defendant’s Jisth undivided interest in and to the succession property was amply sufficient to pay his indebtedness to plaintiff; denied the necessity for the appointment of a curator ad hoc for defendant and the executrix, Mrs. Lum; and denied that plaintiff is entitled to a writ of attachment.

Further answering, defendant alleged there was no consideration for -his signing and executing the note sued on.

The lower court rendered judgment for plaintiff as prayed for, and defendant is prosecuting this appeal.

Defendant seriously urges here the exceptions and motion overruled below. The exception of no cause or right of action was tried below on the face of the petition. Defendant contends in support of his exception (1) that the allegation that the note had been stamped paid through error by petitioner was merely a conclusion which would not admit of proof of error in that it did not allege the circumstances or conditions under which it was marked paid through error, and since the note sued on is stamped paid by plaintiff on its face and no explanation is to be permitted under the pleadings, the note is, for the purposes of this suit, paid and plaintiff is without cause or right of action to sue on a paid note.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 So. 607, 1938 La. App. LEXIS 447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-nat-bank-of-vicksburg-v-drexler-lactapp-1938.