Jefferson v. Stringfellow

86 So. 774, 148 La. 223, 1920 La. LEXIS 1701
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 29, 1920
DocketNo. 22814
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 86 So. 774 (Jefferson v. Stringfellow) 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
Jefferson v. Stringfellow, 86 So. 774, 148 La. 223, 1920 La. LEXIS 1701 (La. 1920).

Opinion

DAWKINS, J.

Plaintiffs seeks to recover certain undivided interests in the following [225]*225described property, situated in the parish of De Soto, to wit:

“The south half of section seventeen; the west half and the west half of the east half and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty (20); the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section twenty-one (21); the east half of the northeast quarter of section twenty-nine (29); the east half of the east half of the east half of the east half of section nineteen (19), all in township fifteen (15), north, range thirteen (13), west, Louisiana Meridian, containing one thousand eighty (1,080) acres, more or less, with the buildings and improvements thereon.”

Isaac Jefferson sues as dative tutor for the minors, Hall, Hart, Russell, and Blanchard Maxey, claiming for each of them an undivided one-fortieth interest, and as tutor also for the minors Emma and Lillie Brayboy, alleging the ownership of an undivided one-fiftieth each in said property. The other plaintiffs are Bertie Brayboy Raymond, a married woman, joined by her husband, who claims also a one-fiftieth, and Daler Maxey Davis, joined by her husband, and claiming a cme-tenth interest in said lands.

A plea in abatement was filed by defendants as to the demands of Daler Maxey, upon the ground, as alleged by defendants, that there was pending between them and her a possessory action involving the same property, and that she should not be allowed to prosecute this petitory action until that issue was determined. This exception was tried and ■ sustained, and the suit was, as to Daler Maxey, postponed until the termination of the possessory action:

Thereafter, defendants answered, denying the material allegations of the petition, and in the alternative, reconvened for improvements, some called in warranty their vendors, and all prayed that plaintiffs’ demands be rejected, but, in event of eviction, for judgment in reconvention for their improvements and for further judgment against their war- , rantors; and defendants Stringfellow & Harmon asked, in event the foreclosure proceedings were annulled, for judgment reserving their right to proceed upon the mortgage note, and for the taxes paid.

Defendants also pleaded the exception of no cause of action, which was overruled.

Later, plaintiffs filed an amended petition in which it was set out that the one-fifth interest of Russell Maxey, deceased, former husband of Daler Maxey Davis and father of Blanchard, Hall, Hart, and Russell Maxey, Jr., was acquired prior to the marriage of said Russell and Daler Maxey, and, in event it should be found that the same was the separate property of Russell Maxey, then the interests of the said minors would be a one-twentieth instead of a one-fortieth each, .and prayed for judgment accordingly.

Defendants also pleaded the prescription of five years under article 3542 of the Revised Civil Code, and certain judgments of the district court of Caddo parish and of the court of appeals, Second circuit, as res judicata of the issues now involved.

There was judgment for the defendants, and plaintiffs appeal.

The Facts.

November 17, 1899, Frierson Bros., a commercial partnership, domiciled and doing business in De Soto parish, sold to Billie Brayboy, Henry Brayboy, Jennie Morris, Chestnut Morris, and Harrison Morris, in indivisión, 1,080 acres of land in said parish for the price of $1,240, which was represented by the joint (not solidary) note of said vendees for that amount, due November 1, 1900, and in the act of sale a vendor’s lien and mortgage upon the property was retained. The act was passed before Frierson, notary public, who, it is alleged, was also one of the vendors and signed the same as such before affixing his official signature as notary. While the act of sale and mortgage, as above [227]*227set out, was dated November 17, 1899, the note representing the purchase price bore date November 11th of the same year.

On October 2, 1901, Harrison Morris, one of the purchasers above named, sold his un- , divided one-fifth interest in the land to Russell Maxey, Sr., for the price of $260, evidenced by one note for that sum secured by vendor’s lien and mortgage. All of the five purchasers had been trading with Frierson Bros., for some years, and, on the same day that Harrison Morris sold to Maxey, the former paid up his account in- full, and a credit of $287.20 was entered upon the back of the note of $1,240 held by Frierson Bros, as the purchase price of the whole tract. This credit was accompanied by Harrison Morris’ signature on the note, and he at the same time turned over to Frierson Bros, the $260 note which he had received from Russell Maxey. Not long after the property was purchased from Frierson Bros., the exact date not appearing from the record, one of the vendees, Henry Brayboy, died, leaving five minor children, three of whom, to wit, Emma, Lillie, and Bertie Brayboy, are plaintiffs in this case.

Thereafter the four original vendees, and Maxey, who had acquired the interest of Harrison Morris, continued to do business with Frierson Bros, until May 24, 1904, when they induced Stringfellow & Harmon to buy the notes and take over the financing of their farming operations as Frierson Bros, had been doing. Stringfellow & Harmon paid for the notes so acquired the sum of $1,484 cash, the same having been sent to .a bank in Shreveport, La., where the latter lived, and the purchase price collected by the bank. It was understood that all payments made to Stringfellow & Harmon should be applied to the supply accounts of the several parties liable on the notes, and any balance should be credited on the mortgage indebtedness due for the property.

This arrangement went along until the spring of 1907. In the meantime, Russell Maxey had died on August 31, 1905, leaving certain minor children named as plaintiffs herein, and the timber on the land had been, on October 28, 1905, sold to one Lloyd for $1,000, and from which there was placed upon the note for $1,240 a net Credit of $656.05.

It appears that some of the owners were meeting their accounts and having something left to apply upon the purchase price of the land, and others were not even paying their accounts in full. This caused dissatisfaction, and an appeal was made by at least some of them to have their interests separated, so that each might pay upon his own part. As above indicated, two of the five owners had died, leaving minors; but after a discussion among all concerned, including the mothers and relatives of said minors, it was agreed that Stringfellow & Harmon should foreclose the original mortgage of November 17, 1899, buy in the property, and thereafter deed over to the respective parties their proportionate parts whenever they should each pay therefor, or a sufficient amount to justify String-fellow & Harmon, at their discretion, in making the conveyance.

Accordingly, foreclosure proceedings were prepared by S. C. Fullilove, attorney at Shreveport, son-in-law of Stringfellow and brother-in-law of Harmon, who had been consulted by both sides in regard to working out a solution of the matter along the line above indicated, and taken to De Soto parish, where the property was situated, for execution. He had first signed the name of his firm as attorneys for Stringfellow & Harmon to the petition for foreclosure; but, on discussing the matter with C. W.

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Bluebook (online)
86 So. 774, 148 La. 223, 1920 La. LEXIS 1701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jefferson-v-stringfellow-la-1920.