Food Town, Inc. v. Town of Plaquemine

174 So. 2d 833, 1965 La. App. LEXIS 4361
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 12, 1965
DocketNo. 6352
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 174 So. 2d 833 (Food Town, Inc. v. Town of Plaquemine) 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
Food Town, Inc. v. Town of Plaquemine, 174 So. 2d 833, 1965 La. App. LEXIS 4361 (La. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

REID, Judge.

This suit was filed by Food Town, Incorporated against the Town of Plaque-mine, Louisiana, Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the Collector of Revenue of the State of Louisiana, to compel the three defendants to issue retail package liquor and beer permits for the sale of these beverages at a location denominat-' ed 903 Fort Street in the Town of Plaque-mine.

The Town of Plaquemine first filed exceptions of prematurity, exception of jurisdiction ratione materiae, no right and no cause of action, res judicata, and prescription which exceptions were overruled by the District Judge. Plaintiff filed a supplemental and amended petition alleging in substance that it had received notice from the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control and from the Collector of Revenue, State of Louisiana, advising them in writing that issuance of liquor license and beer permit were being withheld.

Defendant, Town of Plaquemine filed exception to jurisdiction ratione materiae and exception of prematurity to the supplemental and amended petition, which exceptions likewise were overruled by the District Judge. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board of the State of Louisiana joined in the exception pleading res judi-cata filed by the Town of Plaquemine, which was one of the exceptions overruled.

Defendant, Town of Plaquemine, then filed answer in the nature of general denial, pleading notice of the withholding of the license by the attorney for the Town of Plaquemine to the attorney for plaintiff and denying that the premises sought to be licensed was more than 300 feet from Plaque-mine High School property. The two remaining defendants filed answers in the nature of general denial and denied that the premises sought to be licensed was more than 300 feet from the Plaquemine High School property. The case was tried on the merits and the Judge, without assigning written reasons, rendered judgment in favor of defendants, rejecting plaintiff’s demands and dismissing this suit at its costs. Plaintiff appealed herein from this judgment and none of the three defendants took any appeal or filed an answer to the appeal of the plaintiff.

Plaintiff first argues that in as much as there was no appeal taken or answer filed to [835]*835Its appeal by defendants that all the exceptions had been abandoned and none of them is at issue before this Court.

The Town of Plaquemine contended that they did not abandon their exceptions because they were filed with full reservation of all their rights and they urged them very strongly in their . Brief. It is therefore necessary that we first take up the disposition of these exceptions. LSA-C.C.P. art. 2133 covers this situation and reads as follows :

“An appellee shall not be obliged to answer the appeal unless he desires to have the judgment modified, revised, or reversed in part or unless he deT mands damages against the appellant. In such cases, he must file an answer to the appeal, stating the relief demanded, not later than fifteen days after the return day or the lodging of the record, whichever is later. The answer filed by the appellee shall be equivalent to an appeal on his part from any portion of the judgment rendered against him and of which he complains in his answer.”

In addition this Court has passed on this proposition in several cases. The case of Fryou v. T. Aucoin and Sons et al., 5 So.2d 193 reads in part as follows:

“The defendant Albert N. Aucoin did not appeal from the judgment as rendered against him and neither did- he answer the appeal taken by the plaintiff. All other defenses raised by him therefore, and which were rejected by the judgment of the lower court, cannot be considered on this appeal. An ap-pellee may, without appeal on his part, answer the appeal taken by the appellant and pray for a reversal of the judgment on the points which he thinks were wrongly sustained. Code of Practice Article 888. ‘But if the appel-lee, on the appeal of the other party, neglect to pray that the judgment be reversed on those points which are prejudicial to him, he shall not after-wards be allowed to appeal, but the judgment shall remain irrevocable for or against him.’ Code of Practice Article 889.”

The case of John Myers Implement Company v. DeBoer, La.App., 9 So.2d 832 sustains this proposition in the following words:

“Defendants did not answer the appeal in order to re-urge their exception and we take it they have abandoned the same.”

See Vice v. Assumption Parish Police Jury, La.App., 135 So.2d 108; Alfonso v. Alfonso, La.App., 160 So.2d 294.

In view of the fact that the defendants did not take an appeal or answer the appeal re-urging these exceptions they have abandoned same and cannot now urge them in this Court.

Plaintiff in his Brief sets out two questions which are before this Court for decision, which questions are as follows:

“FIRST: Since the Town of Plaque-mine failed to make a decision on the plaintiff’s application and notify the Collector of Revenue and the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control in writing of its decision within 35 days and the Collector of Revenue and the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control failed to notify the plaintiff in writing within 40 days from the date of applications are the defendants estopped (because of prescription) to deny the permits to the plaintiff, and, therefore, under a mandatory duty to issue the permits to the plaintiff because of their failure to act timely; thus pre-termitting any issue as to measurement.
“SECOND: If the defendants are not under a mandatory duty to issue the permits to plaintiff because of estoppel by prescription, were the premises sought to he licensed by the plain[836]*836tiff on October 8,1963 (measuring' 7.55 feet in width between parallel lines by a depth of 20.0 feet) located more than 300 feet away from the nearest point of the property line of the grounds of the Plaquemine High School, measured as a person walks using the middle of the sidewalk, from the nearest point of the property line of the school land to the nearest point of the particularly described premises to be licensed for the sale of liquor and beer.”

We will take these matters up in this order.

There is no question but what the Town of Plaquemine failed to make a decision and notify the Collector of Revenue and the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control in writing of its decision within 35 days and that the Collector of Revenue and Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control failed to notify plaintiff in writing within 40 days from the date of the application as required by law. Plaintiff contends that these defendants therefore were under mandatory duty to issue these permits because of this failure. We cannot agree with' this contention because regardless of the fact that the defendants failed to act timely there is still a prohibition against locating a liquor or beer establishment within 300 feet of a school or church. If the premises sought to be licensed were within the 300 feet they could not be licensed under any circumstances and the defendants could not be compelled to violate the law by issuing the permits.

This Court in the case of Vice v. Assumption Parish Police Jury, 135 So.2d 108 had a similar situation to pass on. In this case the application for beer permit was tardy and the Lower Court sustained the plea of prescription.

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State v. Placid Oil Company
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Food Town, Inc. v. Town of Plaquemine
178 So. 2d 653 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
174 So. 2d 833, 1965 La. App. LEXIS 4361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/food-town-inc-v-town-of-plaquemine-lactapp-1965.