Krivos v. Simmons

134 So. 727, 16 La. App. 421, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 143
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 20, 1931
DocketNo. 4041
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 134 So. 727 (Krivos v. Simmons) 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
Krivos v. Simmons, 134 So. 727, 16 La. App. 421, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 143 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

McGREGOR, J.

Smith Flour and Feed Company, engaged in a mercantile business at Delhi in Richland parish, secured a judgment against Roy - Simmons in Madison parish in the Sixth District Court. Mrs. Birdie Krivos, a resident of the state of Mississippi, is the holder and owner of a chattel mortgage note for $500, executed and granted by the said Roy Simmons on a Chevrolet coupe owned by him in Madison parish. This chattel mortgage is in perfect legal form and was duly .recorded in the chattel mortgage records of Madison parish. In ah effort to collect its judgment, Smith Flour and Feed Company secured a writ of fieri facias in Mad[422]*422ison parish and had the sheriff to seize this automobile. After this seizure, and upon an investigation of the chattel mortgage records of Madison parish, it was discovered that plaintiff in this suit, Mrs. Birdie Krivos, held a duly recorded chattel mortgage against the Simmons automobile as above stated. There was nothing to do but to promptly release the car from seizure. Subsequently, Smith Flour & Feed Company had the clerk of the Sixth District Court in Madison parish issue an alias writ of fieri facias addressed and sent to the sheriff of Richland parish in the Fifth District Court. - After receiving this writ, the sheriff of Richland parish was informed that the defendant, Roy Simmons, was in the - town of Delhi with the automobile, and he promptly seized it under the writ in his hands-. The seizure is recognized as legal and valid by all parties concerned and no attack has been made on it. As soon as Mrs. Krivos, the holder of the chattel mortgage in Madison Parish, learned that the automobile had heen seized in Richland parish she employed counsel at once to take the necessary steps to protect her interest and to have her lien on the automobile recognized as superior to that of the Smith Flour & Feed Company. She had a certified copy of her chattel mortgage sent to Richland parish and recorded in the chattel mortgage records in the courthouse at Rayville in the Fifth District Court. A suit was then filed by her at Rayville in the Fifth District Court in which Smith Flour & Feed Company, Roy Simmons and the sheriff of Richland parish were made defendants.

. The chattel mortgage note was past due and unpaid at the time of the seizure.-of -the automobile in Richland parish. Plaintiff’s petition sets forth the facts of the chattel mortgage and the seizure of the automobile practically as we have stated them. It is alleged that the defendant, the Smith Flour & Feed Company, had actual knowledge of the existence of the chattel mortgage and of its recordation in Madison parish, and that because of this knowledge. it was bad faith on its part to seize the automobile in Richland parish where it had not been protected by the recordation of a copy of the chattel mortgage. The legality of the seizure is -not attacked. On the contrary it is recognized as being valid, for the object of the suit is to have plaintiff’s chattel mortgage lien recognized as being superior to defendant’s lien arising out of the seizure under the writ of fieri facias. Plaintiff prays that the sheriff be ordered to. retain in his possession out of the proceeds of the sale of the automobile under the writ of fieri facias issued out of the Sixth District Court of Madison parish, a sufficient amount >to pay and satisfy her debt of $500, with interest and attorney’s fees and costs of court. She prays further that upon final trial of the case in the Fifth District Court in Richland parish there be judgment in her favor, recognizing and decreeing her lien and privilege by virtue of her chattel mortgage to be superior in rank to any lien and privilege on the said automobile arising from the seizure under the writ of fi. fa. issued out of the Sixth District Court of Madison parish. The suit was brought in the form of a third opposition and an order was signed by the clerk of the Fifth District Court of Richland •parish allowing it -to be filed and served as such and directing the sheriff to' hold in his hands out of- the' proceeds of the sale of the automobile the sum of $500 with interest, attorney’s fees and costs. All the [423]*423defendants waiye citation’ and acknowledge 1 service of the suit. An exception .of no cause or right of action was filed by Smith Flour & Feed Company. This exception was sustained by the lower court and from this judgment the plaintiff is prosecuting this appeal. [

The law, Code of Practice, art. 397, provides that third oppositions “must be made before the court which has granted the . order of seizure,”- but no objection was raised by any one on account of the suit being brought in the Fifth District Court of Richland parish instead of in the Sixth District Court of 'Madison parish. The exception of no cause or right of ac: tion is leveled at the fact that the seizure under the writ of fi. fa. was made prior to the - recordation of a 'copy of the chattel-mortgage in Richland parish, and that, therefore, -taking the petition as’ true, -the plaintiff’s - lien by virtue of hex chattel • mortgage is inferior to the lien arising from the prior seizure. Plaintiff and appellant cites us to no law or authorities to substantiate her position. It is her contention-that Smith Flour & Feed Company knew that she had a chattel "mortgage on the seized automobile in Madison parish, and - that because -of -that "knowledge it. was ’ precluded from seizing it anywhere outside of that parish. Counsel for plaintiff stresses the fact that section" 2 of Act No. 198 of 1918 (the chattel mortgage law) "provides that:"

“In order to affect third persons without notice, said instrument must be passed by notarial act and the original or a certified copy thereof, shall be recorded in the office -of .the Recorder of . Mortgages in the parish in which the mortgagor, is a resi- ; dent.” (Boldface type ours.) '

—(Sounders-- position ’in--its- final •’analysis ’ is that, if a third person has information that a- chattel mortgage has been executed in a given parish, he is bound by it, even though it may not be a notarial act and may not have been recorded at all. Sec-' tion 2 of the act must be read and interpreted in connection with section 4 of the same act, and also with Act No. 215 of 1910 (the registry act). Section 4 of the chattel mortgage law plainly provides that in order for a chattel mortgage to have any effect whatever as a lien it must be filed -for recordation. So that the most that section 2 of the act can mean is that if, through error or inadvertence, the act which punports to be a chattel mortgage is not a notarial act but is recorded, a person ■ who had actual knowledge of the intent and effort to grant a chattel mortgage could not take advantage of the. fact that the act was. defective as a notarial act.. Anybody else could take advantage of- • this fact and defeat the lien. In addition to the provision of section 4 of the chattel mortgage act, Act No. 215. of. 1910 (the .registry act) provides that all acts or instruments- - -of writing which import mortgage -or privilege shall be - effective from the date of filing for record. In the case of Booth Motor Company, Inc., v, Gamburg, 9 La. App. 60, 118 So. 854, 855, this court said:

“The benefits to accrue under the chattel - mortgage law do not come -into existence unless and until the act of mortgage is .filed , for record.”

. It has been definitely held that Act .No. 215 of 1910 .(the. registry act), applies equally to chattel mortgages as to other acts.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Spremich v. Somerfield
166 So. 630 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
134 So. 727, 16 La. App. 421, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krivos-v-simmons-lactapp-1931.