Hampton v. Hibernia Nat. Bank

598 So. 2d 502, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 1015, 1992 WL 72697
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 8, 1992
Docket23405-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 598 So. 2d 502 (Hampton v. Hibernia Nat. Bank) 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
Hampton v. Hibernia Nat. Bank, 598 So. 2d 502, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 1015, 1992 WL 72697 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

598 So.2d 502 (1992)

Glenn T. HAMPTON, Sr., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
HIBERNIA NATIONAL BANK, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 23405-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

April 8, 1992.

*503 Glenn T. Hampton, Sr., in pro. per.

Joseph P. Titone, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee.

Before HIGHTOWER, BROWN and STEWART, JJ.

STEWART, Judge.

Defendant, Hibernia National Bank, filed a peremptory exception of prescription asserting that, pursuant to LSA-C.C. art. 3492, prescription had run prior to the date that plaintiff, Glenn T. Hampton, Sr., filed suit. The trial court sustained the exception. Hampton appeals asserting that the liberative prescriptive period had not run and, in the alternative, that art. 3492 does not apply. We affirm in part, reverse in part and remand.

FACTS

Plaintiff, Glenn T. Hampton, Sr., filed suit in proper person against defendant, Hibernia National Bank (Hibernia), on August 8, 1990. The petition alleges the following facts: On July 17, 1986, Hampton borrowed $7,595.82 from Shreveport Bank and Trust, and agreed to repay the loan in 90 days or on October 15, 1986.[1] The loan proceeds in the amount of $7,000 were deposited in Hampton's Shreveport Bank and Trust checking account.

Hibernia later acquired ownership of Shreveport Bank and Trust including ownership of its notes receivable. On or about July 15, 1988, plaintiff opened a checking account with Hibernia's Summer Grove Branch, where the branch manager asked Hampton to visit another branch and pay the balance of $2,891.12 owed on the 1986 loan. On or about July 19-20, 1988, Hibernia deducted $2,891.12 from Hampton's checking account as a set-off against the balance due on his 1986 loan. Hampton's brother executed a note payable to Hibernia to renew all existing loans, including Hampton's 1986 loan on which Hampton had paid interest only as the note matured each 90 days. Prior to the deduction, Hibernia had agreed to accept $5,000 as full payment of Hampton's 1986 loan.

The petition further alleges that Hampton is entitled to a refund of the $2,891.12 which was deducted in error from his checking account. Hampton requested $3,000 as punitive damages, along with interest, attorney's fees, and costs of court.

Hibernia filed a peremptory exception of prescription asserting that the August 1990 filing was more than one year after Hampton's November 1988 actual and/or constructive knowledge of the alleged erroneous deduction. During the April 26, 1991 hearing on the exception, Hibernia presented testimony and other evidence which indicated that, as early as November 1988, Hampton had actual knowledge that Hibernia had deducted the funds from his checking account. Hampton did not appear at the hearing on the exception. The trial court sustained Hibernia's exception and dismissed Hampton's action. Hampton appeals.

DISCUSSION

We shall first address the nature of Hampton's action(s) as characterized in the pleadings, and then determine whether prescription has run under LSA-C.C. art. 3492.

The nature of a cause of action must be determined before it can be decided which prescriptive term is applicable. State Department of Highways v. City of Pineville, 403 So.2d 49, 54 (La.1981). The character of an action disclosed in the pleadings determines the prescriptive period applicable to that action. Starns v. Emmons, 538 So.2d 275 (La.1989).

It is well-settled that in certain circumstances the same acts or omissions may constitute breaches of both general duties and contractual duties, and may give rise to both actions in tort and actions *504 in contract. In such cases, the applicable prescriptive period is determined by the character which plaintiff gives his pleadings and the form of his action.

Stephens v. International Paper Co., 542 So.2d 35, 38 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989) (citation omitted). Courts may analyze the allegations in a petition and the damages sought to determine whether the action sounds in tort or in contract and therefore which prescriptive period applies. See Starns, supra. The classification of the source of that obligation is essential. See State Department of Highways, supra.

There is no doubt that Hampton alleges that Hibernia is obligated to him for the repayment of the money deducted as a set-off and for damages arising from the deduction. What is not clear is the source of this alleged obligation. Examination of the pleadings yields two possible sources: (1) the alleged tortious act of conversion and (2) the alleged compromise agreement (contract).

Allegations of Tort

Hampton alleges that Hibernia wrongfully deducted $2,891.12 from his checking account and that Hibernia repeatedly denied his requests for reimbursement.

The tort of conversion is committed when one wrongfully does any act of dominion over the property of another in denial of or inconsistent with the owner's rights. Security Home Mortgage Corp. v. Bogues, 519 So.2d 307 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1988); See also, Holland v. First National Bank of Crowley, 398 So.2d 186 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1981). Any wrongful exercise or assumption of authority over another's goods, depriving him of the possession, permanently or for an indefinite time, is a conversion. Quealy v. Paine, Webber Jackson & Curtis, Inc., 475 So.2d 756 (La. 1985). However, when the owner gives another permission to take possession of his property he must terminate that permission by requesting return of the property before continued possession by the non-owner will constitute a conversion. Security Home Mortgage Corp., supra; Miller v. Harvey, 408 So.2d 946 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1981).

Of course, in case of a wrongful dispossession, the owner of a movable may prefer to claim damages under the law of delictual obligations rather than restoration of his possession.
Delictual actions based on unlawful interference with the ownership or possession of movables are sometimes designated in Louisiana practice as actions for "conversion." Despite this denomination, these delictual actions are not identifiable with the common law tort of conversion which is an intentional wrong giving rise to strict liability for the recovery of the value of a chattel. One is justified in stating that the common law tort of conversion is not a part of the Louisiana law of delictual obligations.

Yiannopolous, Property, 37 La.L.Rev. 317, 330 (1977) (footnotes omitted). Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of one year. This prescription commences to run from the day injury or damage is sustained. LSA-C.C. art. 3492.

Hampton alleges facts which indicate that Hibernia wrongfully exercised authority over his deposited funds and that this act was inconsistent with his rights. These allegations are delictual in nature and therefore subject to the one year prescriptive period under LSA-C.C. art. 3492.

Hampton makes two arguments asserting that his action had not prescribed under LSA-C.C. art. 3492. First, in his "Addendum Number One (1) to Appeal," Hampton asserts that, by deceit and misrepresentation, counsel for Hibernia led him to believe that Hibernia would reimburse the deducted funds after Hampton submitted to Hibernia an affidavit regarding Hibernia's promise to accept $5,000 as full payment of the 1986 note. Hampton claims that he did not realize he had just cause to sue for damages until after the affidavit, dated January 19, 1990, was submitted to Hibernia.

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Bluebook (online)
598 So. 2d 502, 1992 La. App. LEXIS 1015, 1992 WL 72697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hampton-v-hibernia-nat-bank-lactapp-1992.