Fontenot v. Manuel

281 So. 2d 156
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1973
Docket4220
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 281 So. 2d 156 (Fontenot v. Manuel) 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
Fontenot v. Manuel, 281 So. 2d 156 (La. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

281 So.2d 156 (1973)

Dulan W. FONTENOT, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Edison MANUEL, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 4220.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 29, 1973.
Rehearing Denied August 15, 1973.

*157 Tate & Tate by Donald Tate, Mamou, Andrew J. Vidrine, Church Point, for plaintiff-appellant.

Fusilier, Pucheu & Soileau by A. Gaynor Soileau, Ville Platte, Robert F. DeJean, Jr., Opelousas, for defendant-appellee.

Before FRUGÉ, MILLER and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

MILLER, Judge.

Plaintiff Dulan W. Fontenot appeals the judgment invalidating his option to purchase immovable property from defendant Edison Manuel. The option was held invalid for want of valuable consideration. We reverse, order specific performance and award damages.

The facts of the case are rather complicated, but were well summarized by the trial court as follows:

"This suit, tried during separate years, and submitted after an extended period of time, was instituted by Dulan W. Fontenot against Edison Manuel seeking damages and specific performance, compelling sale of a certain lot and building known as the Lodge, situated in the Parish of St. Landry, Louisiana.

"The facts are these:

"(1) Joseph W. Fontenot, his mother, and his sister, were the owners in indivision of a certain lot located (near) the *158 City of Eunice, Louisiana, upon which stood a commercial establishment known as the Lodge. This lot was the approximate west one-half of a larger tract comprizing one (1) acre, the east one-half belonging to Joseph W. Fontenot, individually.
"(2) On July 1, 1965, Joseph W. Fontenot completed and opened, on his individual property, a nightclub known as the Purple Peacock. He sold, on October 6, 1965, a one-half interest in that property to plaintiff, Dulan W. Fontenot. (Dulan Fontenot is not related to Joseph Fontenot.) Subsequently, on January 2, 1966, Dulan W. Fontenot acquired the remaining interest of Joseph W. Fontenot in that property.
"(3) In addition to his holdings in the Lodge property, Joseph W. Fontenot, with his mother and sister, owned Fontenot Building and Lumber Supply Co. of Mamou, Louisiana.
"(4) During the year 1965, Joseph W. Fontenot and Dulan W. Fontenot, partners in and co-owners of the Purple Peacock, being in need of funds for their establishment, sought and borrowed of Edison Manuel, the sum of $1,500.00. Dulan W. Fontenot had requested the funds of Manuel, however, Manuel indicated to him that he would not make the loan to Dulan but to Joseph W. Fontenot. In due course, Manuel, a lessee of the Fontenots (Joseph, his mother, and his sister) who leased the Lodge, lent the $1,500.00 in the form of pre-paid rentals for 10 months on the Lodge .... Accordingly, repayment of this sum to Fontenot Building and Supply Co. was begun by the owners of the Purple Peacock.
"(5) On February 4, 1966, Joseph W. Fontenot, his mother, and his sister, sold the Lodge property to Edison Manuel. Joseph W. Fontenot, in need of finances at that time, attempted to sell this property to Manuel for $7,500, however, Manuel said he would give no more than $5,000.00. On being informed that it would take at least $6,000.00 to rid the property of an outstanding encumbrance, an agreement was struck whereby Manuel would pay $6,000.00, the understanding being that the sum of $1,050.00 still owed to him in advance rent would be repaid. On being told by Joseph W. Fontenot that he desired to retain an option to repurchase, it was agreed that the consideration of advance rent to be repaid would be recited as the consideration for the option. At this time, Joseph W. Fontenot and Dulan W. Fontenot had repaid Fontenot Building and Supply Co. the sum of $450.00.
"(6) On February 5, 1966, an option was given by Edison Manuel to Joseph W. Fontenot, solely, for the recited consideration of $1,050.00, supposedly evidenced by a note, to repurchase the property within three (3) years, payable in seven installments of $150.00, each, and the repurchase price of $6,000, with interest at the rate of 8% from date of option to execution thereof, if exercised.
"(7) On February 12, 1966, this option was assigned by Joseph W. Fontenot to Dulan W. Fontenot for the recited consideration of $500. The original option was unavailable, therefore a copy was recorded.
"(8) On trial of the merits, plaintiff presented the testimony of Joseph W. Fontenot. He admitted on cross-examination and re-direct examination that the attorney and notary who had prepared the option indicated his concern over its validity because of the consideration recited for the granting of the option. There was in fact no note as recited in the option. Too, the recited consideration of $1,050.00 was an obligation which Joseph W. Fontenot had agreed to pay to Edison Manuel, regardless of the recitations contained in the deed translative of title to Manuel in the purchase of the Lodge. In short, Manuel was still to collect the balance due him on the prepaid rent.
*159 "(9) Payments totaling $750 had been made by Dulan W. Fontenot to Edison Manuel in the same manner as the Purple Peacock had paid Fontenot Building and Supply Co., save for lapses in a payment, and it is claimed by Dulan W. Fontenot that this was payment on the option and not on the existing debt to Manuel. The payments, however, represented by checks, were in the Court's opinion the repayment of the pre-paid rent, which amount was the existing balance due Manuel in pre-paid rent at the time he purchased the Lodge. Too, the evidence is to the effect that when Dulan Fontenot purchased the remaining interest of Joseph W. Fontenot, he assumed some outstanding debts of the Purple Peacock.
"Considering the evidence, the Court finds that the option is invalid for want of valuable consideration, and that the assignee thereof stands in the shoes of his assignor, hence, his action for specific performance and damages must fall."

We find manifest error in the conclusion set forth at paragraph numbered 8; that ". . . the recited consideration of $1,050.00 was an obligation which Joseph W. Fontenot had agreed to pay to Edison Manuel, regardless of the recitations contained in the deed translative of title to Manuel in the purchase of the Lodge. In short, Manuel was still to collect the balance due him on the prepaid rent." A like reference in paragraph number 9 is erroneous.

The February 4, 1966 deed by which Joseph Fontenot, his mother and his sister conveyed the Lodge to Edison Manuel recited a consideration of "... $6,000.00... cash in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and other valuable consideration, consisting of the pre-payment by Edison Manuel of the existing lease which he has on said property for the term of said lease." (Emphasis added.) This language states that part of the consideration paid for the Lodge by Manuel (to Joseph Fontenot, his mother and his sister) was a cancellation of Manuel's prepayment (of $1,050, representing seven monthly rentals) on his lease of the Lodge property.

We agree that Manuel was "still to collect" the $1,050 balance due him on the prepaid rent, but the new obligation to pay $1,050 was incurred by virtue of the February 5, 1966 option agreement which was signed at the same time the deed was executed. The option was granted ". . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
281 So. 2d 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fontenot-v-manuel-lactapp-1973.