J. B. McCrary Co. v. Town of Winnfield

40 F. Supp. 427, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2955
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedAugust 23, 1941
DocketCiv. A. No. 2887
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 40 F. Supp. 427 (J. B. McCrary Co. v. Town of Winnfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J. B. McCrary Co. v. Town of Winnfield, 40 F. Supp. 427, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2955 (W.D. La. 1941).

Opinion

PORTERIE, District Judge.

The plaintiff, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Georgia, sues the Town of Winnfield, a municipal corporation chartered and existing under the laws of the state of Louisiana, alleging that it is the owner of an ordinary judgment against the town in the sum of $10,315.85 with legal interest thereon from March 10, 1928, until paid, and that the judgment was rendered by this court on November 17, 1931; plaintiff alleges further that the judgment is recorded in the mortgage records of Winn parish, wherein the Town of Winnfield is located, and that the judgment, from which no appeal was taken, has long since become final.

It is alleged that by the use of the process of this court, twenty-two acres of land belonging to the town were sold on July 11, 1936, and brought a price of $3,000 as a credit on the judgment.

Plaintiff alleges that it has made repeated requests and demands on the Town of W'innfield, through its mayor and town council, for payment of the balance due on the judgment, or for an arrangement to retire the judgment in some manner, but without avail; that vague promises have been made by the defendants over a period of the past seven years to retire the judgment, but that as a matter of fact the town and its governing authorities have made no bona fide effort to pay the balance due, or any part thereof; on the contrary, have no intention of paying and will take no action unless forced to do so; that the defendants have given various excuses for not paying the judgment, claiming that they could not provide for payment of same in the budget, that they had reached their limit of taxation, that they had no surplus revenues from which to meet the obligation, and that their revenues are barely sufficient to meet the usual and necessary operating expenses of the town.

Petitioner shows that about in the year 1935, at which time this judgment remained unpaid, the town voted the sum of $4,000 as a contribution to the Works Progress Administration for the building of a new city hall. The trial of the case on this point disclosed that in the year 1935, a tornado hit the town and practically destroyed the former city hall, and that the Works Progress Administration contributed the like amount of $4,000 in order to build a new city hall. The city hall is in the business district and the evidence is that the mayor and members of the town council thought it well to construct a two-story building and to use the front part of the lower floor as two stores, to be rented to private individuals. The evidence at the trial disclosed that the amount of $4,000 was raised by the town through new revenue from the authorization of the sale of whiskey for three years at this period.

The city hall is a two-story brick building, on the upper floor of which are the offices of the mayor and the members of the council, and also a large recreation hall which, the trial disclosed, is for the free use of all local civic and patriotic organizations. The local organizations required an entrance charge to the functions held, some of which were dances, but all the revenue was for the organization giving the benefit, dance, or entertainment, not a cent being received by the town. The rear part of the first floor is used for the fire engine room, a jail, and a warehouse for sundry small articles belonging to the town.

The two front stores have been rented for several years and are now yielding to the town $110 per month, and it is plaintiff’s most urgent contention that since this is a venture by the Town of Winnfield outside of a purely governmental function, the revenues from this venture are subject to seizure and should become an exception to the general rule that the property of a municipality is not subject to execution, title thereto being in the public.

Petitioner alleges further that the town at one time was the owner of the light and waterworks plant; that consequently the town was engaged in a private enterprise; that the rights of the town under its lease of this plant to the Gulf Public Service should be declared subject to seizure in satisfaction of this judgment.

[430]*430By subsequent amended petition, plaintiff shows that the Town of Winnfield is the owner of a certain described piece of real property (giving itemized description) ; that this piece of town property has been leased for residential purposes by the town, and therefore is private property; and contends that all the rights of the town in said lease, and the property itself at the expiration of the lease, are both subject to seizure and sale under petitioner’s judgment.

The aggregate prayer of the petition is for (original petition) “judgment herein declaring that certain two-story brick building known as the city hall in Winnfield, Louisiana, to be subject to seizure and sale under execution in satisfaction of petitioner’s judgment; and in the alternative that the revenues from said building be declared subject to seizure, and that the defendants herein be required to apply same to the payment of petitioner’s judgment; that further judgment be rendered herein against the said town declaring all of its rights under any. lease, contract or other agreement affecting its utilities to be subject to seizure.

“Petitioner further prays that the defendants herein be required in their next annual budget to budget the balance due your petitioner on its judgment as above set forth, and to set apart all funds above the necessary and usual charges of operating the city government to be applied on petitioner’s judgment, and that any surplus now, or hereafter, remaining in the treasury of the Town of Winnfield to be paid to petitioner until such time as its judgment, with interest and costs, be paid in full.

“Petitioner further prays that said defendants herein be required to assess, levy, and cause to be collected a property tax in said town in an amount within the constitutional limits which will either pay said judgment in full, or such balance as may be left after the credits, if any, are obtained from other sources above' mentioned.” and (amended petition) “ * * * judgment herein declaring the property described in paragraphs two, three' and four of the above supplemental and amended petition to be subject to seizure and sale under execution in satisfaction of petitioner’s judgment against said Town of Winnfield, in the manner and to the extent set forth in the preceding paragraphs of the above supplemental and amended petition.”

In paragraph 2 of the amended and supplemental petition plaintiff states that “if the Court holds that the entire building above described (city hall) is not subject, to seizure, then in that event petitioner should be allowed to seize and sell that part of the building used for commercial or private purposes; and in the alternative, if the Court should hold that neither said building nor any part thereof is subject to seizure and sale under petitioner’s judgment, then in that event petitioner is entitled to the right of occupancy of the portions of said building used as stores or for other commercial purposes, or which are not used in a governmental capacity; and/or the right to occupy, lease, rent, or otherwise control and dispose of the use and occupancy of such portions of said building, and to collect the rents and revenues derived therefrom under any existing leases now in force, or which might hereafter be made, and to make contracts with reference thereto; and to seize and sell at public sale the rights and interest of the Town of Winnfield above described in the portions of said building above mentioned.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 F. Supp. 427, 1941 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2955, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-b-mccrary-co-v-town-of-winnfield-lawd-1941.