J. PEREZ, SA v. Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc.

139 So. 2d 247, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1755
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 1962
Docket517
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 139 So. 2d 247 (J. PEREZ, SA v. Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc.) 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
J. PEREZ, SA v. Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc., 139 So. 2d 247, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1755 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

139 So.2d 247 (1962)

J. PEREZ, S.A., Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
LOUISIANA RICE GROWERS, INC., Defendant and Appellant.

No. 517.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 8, 1962.
Rehearing Denied March 30, 1962.
Certiorari Denied April 30, 1962.

*248 Pugh, Buatt & Pugh, by Lawrence G. Pugh, Sr., and Lawrence G. Pugh, Jr., Crowley, for defendant and appellant.

Edmund M. Reggie, Crowley, for plaintiff and appellee.

Before SAVOY, CULPEPPER and HOOD, JJ.

HOOD, Judge.

Plaintiff, J. Perez, S.A., a Cuban corporation, instituted this suit against Louisiana Rice Growers, Inc., a Louisiana corporation domiciled at Crowley, Louisiana, for the sum of $21,568.65, plus legal interest and costs. As a basis for its demands plaintiff alleges that it purchased four different lots of rice from defendant during the year 1958, and that at the time those purchases were made defendant agreed to refund to plaintiff a part of the amount paid for said rice, the aggregate amount of these alleged refunds being the sum demanded in this suit. Plaintiff contends that it paid to defendant the full amount which it obligated itself to pay for the rice, but that the refunds which defendant agreed to make to plaintiff have not been paid, and that plaintiff accordingly is entitled to recover the amount of said refunds from defendant.

Defendant admits that it sold rice to plaintiff at the times alleged and that plaintiff has paid to it the amounts which it agreed to pay for the rice, but defendant denies that it agreed to refund to plaintiff any part of the purchase price. In the alternative, defendant alleges that if its manager agreed to make any such refund to plaintiff, such an agreement was made without the knowledge or consent of the officers of defendant corporation, and that his actions in that respect were ultra vires, fraudulent, null and void and of no effect.

The defendant filed an exception of no cause and no right of action, which was overruled. It then filed an answer, and in due course the case was tried on its merits. Judgment was rendered by the trial court in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for the full amount claimed, and defendant has appealed from that judgment.

Defendant contends primarily that the trial court erred in overruling the exception *249 of no cause and no right of action. As one ground for this exception, defendant contends that the plaintiff corporation was doing business within the State of Louisiana at the time this suit was filed, but that it had not complied with the laws of this State for doing so, and that it accordingly is prohibited by LSA-R.S. 12:211 from maintaining this action in a Louisiana court. The evidence shows that although plaintiff purchased considerable quantities of rice from Louisiana rice mills, yet it maintained no office, warehouse or place of business in this State, and it had no officers, agents or employees located in the State of Louisiana.

Whether or not a foreign corporation is, in legal contemplation, doing business in Louisiana is a mixed question of both law and fact which must be determined on the basis of the particular facts relating to its operations. Quaker Hill, Inc. v. Guin, La.App. 2 Cir., 95 So.2d 370; Equitable Discount Corporation v. Dickinson, La.App. 2 Cir., 106 So.2d 800; J. R. Watkins Co. v. Floyd, La.App. 1 Cir., 119 So.2d 164. In our opinion the purchase of goods within the State by a foreign corporation, even if occurring at regular intervals, will not in and of itself justify the conclusion that the corporation is doing business within the State. See 12 A.L.R.2d 1439 and 1445; Reynolds Metal Co. v. T. L. James and Co., La.App.Orl., 69 So.2d 630; Quaker Hill, Inc. v. Guin, supra; R. J. Brown Co. v. Grosjean, 189 La. 778, 180 So. 634, 635. Under the facts presented here, we conclude that plaintiff was not doing business within the State of Louisiana, and that it accordingly is not prohibited under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 12:211 from maintaining this action.

Defendant further alleges as a basis for its exception of no right or cause of action that plaintiff did not allege in its petition that "defendant did actually receive the fair market price for its rice after paying the kick back money." No authorities have been cited to support the argument that defendant is entitled to receive the fair market price for its rice, regardless of the amount which it agreed to accept under the contract, and we know of no such authority. It is not essential to plaintiff's case that it prove that defendant received the fair market price for its rice, and accordingly it was not necessary for plaintiff to include allegations to that effect in order for his petition to state a cause of action.

In our opinion, the trial court correctly overruled the exception of no cause and no right of action filed by defendant.

The evidence establishes that during the early part of the year 1958 plaintiff agreed to buy from defendant and that defendant, through its general manager, agreed to sell to plaintiff four lots of rice. These rice sales were negotiated through a brokerage firm known as Commerce Brokerage and Storage Company, a Louisiana corporation domiciled in Crowley. Lance McBride was then the general manager of defendant corporation and he was also the president of and a stockholder in this brokerage firm. All of the negotiations for the sale of this rice were between Gustavo Perez, representing the plaintiff corporation, and Lance McBride, representing the brokerage firm and defendant corporation. At the time the sale of these lots of rice were negotiated, written contracts, or agreements confirming the sales, were entered into between plaintiff, on the one hand, and Commerce Brokerage and Storage Company, on the other. All of the contracts relating to the sale of these four lots of rice were then assigned by Commerce Brokerage and Storage Company to defendant, and defendant thereupon delivered the rice to plaintiff and received payment of the purchase price from plaintiff.

The evidence further shows, however, that two separate written contracts, or agreements confirming the sale, were executed by plaintiff and Commerce Brokerage and Storage Company in connection with the sale of each of the four lots of rice. The two contracts relating to the sale of each of these lots of rice were identical in every *250 way, except that the price to be paid for the rice was different in each of the two contracts, and one of the contracts provided for a refund to plaintiff while the other did not. Plaintiff relies upon the four contracts which provide for a refund of a part of the purchase price to plaintiff, which contracts we will refer to as the "refund contracts." Defendant relies upon the other set of contracts which do not provide for any such refund, and which contracts we will refer to as the "no-refund contracts." Plaintiff contends that the refund contracts reflect the true intent and agreement of the parties, while defendant contends that the no-refund contracts show the actual agreement of the parties with reference to these sales.

The first set of contracts between plaintiff and Commerce Brokerage and Storage Company, being the "refund contracts" upon which plaintiff relies, are described as follows:

(1) Contract No. 8-58, dated February 26, 1958, for 4,901 pockets of rice, at a price of $9.85 per hundred pounds net, C.I.F. Havana, Cuba, accompanied by a "letter of credit" for $10.50 per hundred pounds net.

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Bluebook (online)
139 So. 2d 247, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1755, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-perez-sa-v-louisiana-rice-growers-inc-lactapp-1962.