Karmgard v. SOUTHLAND MORTG. & TITLE CO.

341 So. 2d 1109, 1977 La. LEXIS 4942
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 24, 1977
Docket58177
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 341 So. 2d 1109 (Karmgard v. SOUTHLAND MORTG. & TITLE 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
Karmgard v. SOUTHLAND MORTG. & TITLE CO., 341 So. 2d 1109, 1977 La. LEXIS 4942 (La. 1977).

Opinion

341 So.2d 1109 (1977)

Mrs. Virginia West KARMGARD
v.
SOUTHLAND MORTGAGE AND TITLE COMPANY.

No. 58177.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

January 24, 1977.

*1110 C. Ellis Henican, Jr., Joseph P. Henican, III, Henican, James & Cleveland, New Orleans, for plaintiff-applicant.

Franklin V. Endom, Jr., Polack, Rosenberg, Rittenberg & Endom, New Orleans, for defendant-respondent.

CALOGERO, Justice.

Plaintiff Mrs. Virginia West Karmgard has been unsuccessful so far in her suit for the recovery of interest collected by the defendant lender, Southland Mortgage and Title Company, on the ground that the interest was subject to forfeiture because of usury. 331 So.2d 118 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1976). We granted writs to review the judgment of the Court of Appeal which affirmed the trial court's dismissal of plaintiff's suit. 334 So.2d 220 (La.1976).

Defendant, Southland Mortgage and Title Company, advanced plaintiff Mrs. Karmgard $35,000 on October 31, 1972. She signed a promissory note, and, as security executed a collateral (second) mortgage on certain improved real property (a motel in New Orleans) and its movable contents. Her negotiable hand note provided for the payment of a principal sum of $41,300 with interest at the rate of eight percent per annum payable only after maturity and the following schedule of twelve consecutive monthly payments:

Installments 1 through 5       $    700.00 each,
Installment 6                   18, 200.00,
Installments 7 through 11           350.00 each,
Installment 12                  17, 850.00.

The first installment came due on November 31, 1972.

Departing temporarily from the historical chronology, we note that the discounted or capitalized interest on the face of the note was exactly two percent per month on the anticipated unpaid principal balance. Two percent of $35,000 equals $700, and $700 was payable each of the first six months, with half of the principal ($17,500) due at month six along with the $700 interest payment for that month (the month six payment was an $18,200 balloon). For the seventh through twelfth months it was anticipated that a second $17,500 portion of the principal would remain outstanding, so the note provided for six $350 monthly payments (each exactly two percent of $17,500), for months seven through twelve, the twelfth being coupled with the $17,500 remaining principal (that twelfth payment was an $18,200 balloon). A "Federal Disclosure Statement"[1] relative to plaintiff's loan reflects an annual percentage interest rate of 25.75%. The obvious reason why two percent per month on the unpaid principal balance is equivalent to a 25.75% annual percentage rate, rather than 24%, is the compounding effect of commencing payment one month after date of execution, rather than having the full principal and interest fall due at the end of the year.

Although she received no additional cash advance (or loan), plaintiff signed a second note dated October 31, 1973 for a principal sum of $43,400 with interest from maturity at eight percent per annum. This note provided for twelve consecutive monthly payments: eleven payments of $700 each and a final balloon payment of $43,400.[2]*1111 From date of execution of the first note until a final payout of the second note, Mrs. Karmgard made payments totaling $50,400. She brought this suit for the recovery of all interest paid, a total of $15,400, the sum she paid in excess of the $35,000 principal amount borrowed, alleging that because usurious interest was charged and collected, in violation of Louisiana Civil Code Article 2924, she is entitled to the recovery of all interest as provided in La.R.S. 9:3501.[3]

The legal issues in this case revolve around the amount of interest charged and collected on the two notes (a total of $15,400), whether all such interest was capitalized in the respective notes, and if not, whether interest collected, in addition to the capitalized interest, exceeded permissible nonusurious interest of eight percent per annum. Louisiana law permits recovery of discounted or capitalized interest, regardless of amount, included within the face amount of the note, provided such obligation shall not bear interest at more than eight percent per annum from maturity until paid. La.C.C. art. 2924; Thrift Funds of Baton Rouge, Inc. v. Jones, 274 So.2d 150 (La.1973).

The capitalized interest in note number one is simple to determine. It was $6,300, i. e., face amount of $41,300 less $35,000 advanced. The capitalized interest in note number two is not so simple to ascertain. The computation of that amount depends upon what principal amount was due at execution of the second note. If all payments prior to execution of the second note were credited to the face amount of the first note and the remaining balance (on that first face amount) constituted the consideration or fictional advance incident to the second note's execution, then there would be no usury charged or collected incident to either note, regardless of what portion of the second note's face amount may have constituted newly capitalized interest, and even, for instance, should that sum have exceeded the 25.75% per annum (or two percent per month) which was charged on the first note. On the other hand, if one or more of the payments prior to execution of the second note were credited to non-capitalized interest, it is likely that such interest charges were usurious.

Thus, determination of the capitalized interest (and, correspondingly, the balance due on the first note's face amount) upon execution of the second note is important to the resolution of the case.

The Court of Appeal found that the trial court had erred in excluding evidence as to an oral modification at month six during the term of the first note. It had been alleged that defendant agreed not to call the note due upon non-payment of the first balloon, but agreed instead to accept increased payments of interest during months seven through eleven, interest which had not been capitalized in the face amount of the note, and which, because it exceeded eight percent per annum, was purportedly usurious.

While we are able, in part at least, to resolve the case without relying upon parole evidence (as will be shown hereinafter) we do note that whether the evidence is properly directed toward an oral agreement relative to supplemental interest charges incident to payment extension (an agreement entered after signing of the note), or simply toward proof, absent agreement, tending to establish actual interest charges collected, parole evidence is admissible. It is, of course, true that conventional interest which cannot exceed eight percent must be fixed in writing, and that testimonial proof of the agreed-upon conventional *1112 interest at variance with that written expression is not admissible. La. C.C. art. 2924.[4] However, this proscription does not bar proof, of whatever, character, tending to show historically just what occurred as to interest charge and collection.

Before recounting plaintiff's parole evidence, which incidentally the Court of Appeal found "unrealistic and impractical" and thus not borne out, we will recite herein the payment history relative to the payment of the two notes in question.

There is no essential inconsistency between plaintiff's exhibit number five, a payment history statement obtained from defendant's collection agent Mr. Plaia before the litigation was instituted, and defendant's answer to interrogatories. Taken together, these documents[5] reveal the following:

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341 So. 2d 1109, 1977 La. LEXIS 4942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/karmgard-v-southland-mortg-title-co-la-1977.