Fox v. McKee

31 La. 67
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 15, 1879
DocketNo. 7108
StatusPublished

This text of 31 La. 67 (Fox v. McKee) 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
Fox v. McKee, 31 La. 67 (La. 1879).

Opinions

DeBlanc, J.

This suit is brought by plaintiffs to dissolve two leases from them to defendant, of certain properties owned by them in Algiers, and made for the space of five' years, one from the 1st of August 1876, ■the other from the 1st of January 1877. The cause alleged to obtain [68]*68that dissolution is that defendant has repeatedly failed to comply with his obligations .as a lessee, and to pay — at,the dates fixed by his,contract. —the instalments of( the rent agreed upon. . ; ...

At the date of the institution of this suit, there was due but one, instalment of three hundred dollars, for the quarter which ended .on the-31st of August 1877. . .

In their petition, filed on the 3d of October 1877, plaintiffs allege that, they had good reason to-believe that their lessee would, remove from, the rented premises the property and effects subject,to their lien, and they accordingly prayed: ...

1. That said property' and effects be provisionally seized .to ¡secure-their claim.

2. That the two contracts of lease be dissolved.

3. That McKee be condemned to pay them the rent then due, and alt other and further sums, at the rate of three hundred dollars by quarter, as long as he will retain possession of their property, and — besides—five-per cent for attorney’s fees, in conformity to one of the stipulations contained in each of the leases.

The provisional seizure applied for was ordered and executed, and! the property seized bonded by McKee, who excepted to the proceedings directed against him, on the grounds:

1st. That plaintiff could not, in one action, sue upon two separate- and distinct leases of two pieces of property.

2d. Nor provisionally seize property on leased premises, in a suit, where separate premises were rented under separate leases, etc., etc.

The exceptions were overruled, and the defendant answered, reserving his right to urge the same exceptions :

That he leased the batture property described in plaintiff’s petition:-

1st. For landing boats and timber;

2d. For building steam-ways for hauling boats and other watercraft, out, and repairing them.

3d. That his steam-ways cost him four thousand dollars.

4th. That he never -violated the lease, but had tendered the rent, money sued for, viz $300, to one Vincent, the authorized agent to receive-the same, who declined to accept it;

5th. That the $300, for the rent due August 31st, 1877, the very amount sued for, and which was tendered to Vincent, was deposited with the sheriff.

Thus far as answer; defendant then claims, in reconvention, damages in the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, for this:

1st. That David R. Fox, the agent of these plaintiffs did not quiet the defendant in the undisturbed possession of the property leased, [69]*69from the unlawful infringement by one George Shorey, on the rights of McKee to the property leased.

2d. For the unlawful provisional seizure, obtained by plaintiffs, in "this suit.

3d. For not defending McKee against the suit of Shorey vs, McKee.

4th. Because McKee has not been able to enjoy the use of 'the' property leased, and the general misconduct of plaintiffs' who combined" to break the léase without legal cause or right.

Judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff:

1st. Dissolving the leases.

2d. Evicting Wm. McKee of the leased property, and putting plain-' tiffs “ in corporeal possession thereof.”

3d. For nine hundred dollars, with five per cent interest per annum, on $300, from September 1st, 1877, until paid ; and like interest on like sum from the 1st December, 1877, until paid ; like interest on like •sum from 1st March, 1878, until paid, and

4th. For “such other sums as may become due and owing at the-rate ■of ‡300 per quarter,” “ as long as the defendant remains in possession.”

5th. • Condemning defendant to pay five per cent attorney’s fees on six thousand dollars.

6th. Recognizing plaintiff’s lien and privilege as landlord on the property herein provisionally seized.

In the record filed in this court, we have found sixty-six mentions •of sixty-six objections urged during the course of the trial, against the Introduction of evidence, and which testify of the zeal and vigilance with which this case was prosecuted and defended.

Defendant’s exceptions to the form of plaintiff’s action were properly overruled. Though based on different leases, that action in those parts which are excepted to, does not contain inconsistent demands,' contrary to or exclusive of each other, and the provisional seizure' ordered by the court was executed on none but the property and effects ■subject to the lien resulting from the two leases. O. P. 148-151. - '

Have plaintiffs shown sufficient cause for the dissolution of the leases ? They have: it is true that, when this litigation commenced, defendant was owing but one instalment of the rent, but it is also true that he had not been very punctual in paying the others. The payment of the rent, not by fractions, not after repeated demands or the institution of a suit to recover it, but at the date fixed by the contract, and in its entirety, is — on the part of the lessee, an obligation which he can neither avoid nor postpone; and if — through negligence or for want of' funds — he fails to comply with that obligation, his failure justifies the dissolution of the contract.

Rev. C. C. 2046 — 10 L. R. 22 — 1 A. 422 — 14 A. 432.

[70]*70Can the plaintiffs claim the dissolution of the leases, and — besides' —that defendant be condemned to pay them from and after that dissolution, in accordance with the terms fixed in the leases for the payment of the rent, from quarter to quarter, until delivery.of the leased premises, a sum corresponding to that which the lessee had- to pay during the existence of the dissolved contracts ? They can not: as remarked by Mr. Justice Slidell — the organ of this court in “ Sign vs. Lloyd” — that, relief is given by our Code in a single case: if the lessee makes another use of the thing than that for which it was intended, and if any loss is thereby sustained by the lessor, the latter may obtain the dissolution of the lease. The lessee — in that case — shall be bound to pay the rent until the thing is again leased out, etc. Immediately succeeding this article ■ of the Code is the following: “ The lessee may be expelled from the tenement, if he fails to pay the rent when it becomes due.” But no provision is made as to loss, by delay in re-letting.

C. C. 2681 (2711) 2682 (2712) — 1st. A. p. 421, 422, 423.

The court further said: “ It is to be remarked that, whatever apparent equity there may be in the view presented by the plaintiffs’ counsel, the omission to provide such relief as he asks cannot be considered as accidental. Our Code — in the great mass of its provisions — follows the Code Napoleon. That Code contains an express provision on this subject, which the compilers of our Code have thought proper to omit, * except in a special case.”

1 A. p. 422.

There is, in the two acts of lease a clause which we hereby transcribe :

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Bluebook (online)
31 La. 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fox-v-mckee-la-1879.