Globe Indemnity Co. v. Ætna Casualty & Surety Co.

192 So. 234, 193 La. 721, 1939 La. LEXIS 1225
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 1, 1939
DocketNo. 33956.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 192 So. 234 (Globe Indemnity Co. v. Ætna Casualty & Surety Co.) 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
Globe Indemnity Co. v. Ætna Casualty & Surety Co., 192 So. 234, 193 La. 721, 1939 La. LEXIS 1225 (La. 1939).

Opinions

LAND, Justice.

(1) On December 18, 1928, Mrs. Annie Norman Pecastaing departed this life in the Parish of Ouachita, intestate, leaving a surviving husband, Cyrille Pecastaing, and several minors. Decedent also left a separate estate, and her undivided half interest in community, acquired during the marriage.

On October 9, 1929, an inventory of the property of the minors was taken. The separate property, which is not involved in this case, was appraised at $4,000, and the undivided half interest of the minors in the community property at $10,000.

On October 10, 1929, the surviving spouse of decedent, and the father of the minors applied to the District Court of Ouachita Parish to be appointed and confirmed as natural tutor of his minor children.

Instead of recording a certificate of the clerk of the amount of the minors’ property according to the inventory on file in his office, and thereby creating a legal mortgage in favor of the minors for the amount therein stated on all the immovable property of the tutor, as provided by Articles 321 and 322 of the Revised Civil Code, Cyrille Pecastaing was permitted by the Court to substitute an indemnity bond for $10,000.00, in lieu of the legal mortgage, under Act 223 of 1920, as amended by Act 68 of 1924 and by Act 283 of 1926, and Act 106 of 1924.

On October 10, 1929, Cyrille Pecastaing filed this bond, executed by him,- as principal, in his capacity as natural tutor of the minors, and signed by defendant, Aetna Casualty & Surety Company of Plartford, Conn., as surety. On the same day, letters of tutorship were issued to him, and he took the oath as natural tutor.

(2) On October 17, 1929, a judgment was rendered by the District Court of *825 Ouachita Parish, ordering, adjudging and decreeing that the undivided half interest in the property belonging to the minors be adjudicated 'and conveyed to Cyrille Pecastaing, natural tutor and father of the minors, for the price of $6,000, with legal interest thereon from date until paid.

It was further ordered, adjudged and decreed “that the property remain specially mortgaged for the payment of the above price of adjudication, and all interest thereon, but the said Cyrille Pecastaing, who is tutor for the said minors, may cause the cancellation of said mortgage on executing a tutor’s bond in lieu thereof, in accordance with law, for the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars.”

It was further ordered, adjudged and decreed “that this decree and conveyance shall take effect from and after the acceptance and ratification of same in all its parts by the said Cyrille Pecastaing, by authentic act to be filed and recorded with and made part of this decree.”

On October 17, 1929, the petition, affidavit, and judgment granting the special mortgage, and the acceptance and ratification of same in all its parts by Cyrille Pecastaing by authentic act, was filed and recorded in the Clerk’s Office, in Conveyance Book 191, page 549, and in Mortgage Book 154, page 368.

On October 17, 1929, Cyrille Pecastaing, natural tutor, presented a petition to the District Court of Ouachita Parish alleging “That this Honorable Court has fixed the bond at the sum of $10,000 Dollars, and petitioner desires to substitute the surety bond herewith presented for the security given by the aforesaid legal and special mortgages; and, upon approval of said surety bond by this Honorable Court, that he is entitled to an order, ordering and directing the Clerk of Court of the Parish of Ouachita, State of Louisiana, to cancel and erase the security for which said bond is substituted.”

The bond of $10,000 was substituted as security, not for a legal mortgage, but for a special mortgage. No inscription of certificate of inventory was recorded in the Mortgage Book, but the special mortgage was recorded.

Accordingly, on October 22, 1929, judgment was rendered by the District Court for Ouachita Parish, approving the bond for $10,000, and ordering the Clerk of Court and Ex-officio Recorder of Mortgages to cancel and erase the special mortgage from the records.

As shown by entry made by deputy clerk on October 22, 1929, on back of this judgment, the special mortgage was released and cancelled.

This is the “Natural Tutor’s Bond” for $10,000, dated October 18, 1929, and executed by Cyrille Pecastaing as principal, and signed by plaintiff, Globe Indemnity Company, as surety.

(3) On May 11, 1931, Hon. Percy Sandel, then Judge of the District Court for the Parish of Ouachita, signed the following order;

“The Court having been informed of the fact, which, if proven, would necessitate the removal of the tutor of the minors, *827 Francis, Lewis, Georgia and Cyrille, Jr., Pecastaing; '
“It is ordered, in accordance with Article Í016 of the Revised Code of Practice of Louisiana, that Peter Pecastaing, under-tutor of said minors, be and is hereby appointed and directed to institute and prosecute the proper action for the removal of Cyrille Pecastaing, from the tutorship of said minors.”

The under-tutor filed a petition alleging:

“That Cyrille Pecastaing, a resident of the City of Monroe, was duly appointed by order of this court ■ rendered on the 10th day of October 1929, Tutor of the above named minors; that upon being appointed, as aforesaid, and after having complied with the requisites of law, the said Tutor assumed the complete administration and control of the said minors’ property.
“Petitioner avers that the administration of the said Tutor has been unfaithful, and that he has been guilty of notoriously bad conduct therein in that he has squandered and wasted the minors’ property, has sold and disposed of some of the property of his deceased wife without making mention of the same in the succession of his said wife, to the detriment of his said children; that as a result of the unfaithfulness of his administration and his notoriously bad conduct he has been forced to file bankruptcy proceedings, listing therein no assets; that the said Tutor is therefore incompetent to administer the property of the said minors with faithfulness and fidelity, and should be removed from his said office of Tutor.”

On the same day, May 11th, 1931, that the order was signed by the court for proceedings to remove the natural tutor, a copy of the petition for removal was served upon the natural tutor in person.

On June 4, 1931, the default entered in open court was confirmed, and the natural tutor was removed by the following judgment:

“This cause having been regularly filed and served and put at issue by default heretofore entered in open court, and two clear judicial days having elapsed without said default having been set aside by answer or otherwise, the plaintiffs having proven their demands in open court, the law and the evidence being in favor of plaintiffs and against the defendant:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

DeFrances Marble and Tile Company v. Coxe
148 So. 2d 83 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 So. 234, 193 La. 721, 1939 La. LEXIS 1225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/globe-indemnity-co-v-tna-casualty-surety-co-la-1939.