Krotz v. Louisiana Const. Co.

45 So. 276, 120 La. 356, 1907 La. LEXIS 654
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 16, 1907
DocketNo. 16,643
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 45 So. 276 (Krotz v. Louisiana Const. 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
Krotz v. Louisiana Const. Co., 45 So. 276, 120 La. 356, 1907 La. LEXIS 654 (La. 1907).

Opinion

BREAUX, C. J.

Plaintiff, alleging that he is the owner of bonds for over $20,000, secured by mortgage on the land of the defendant company, sued for and obtained a rule against the company to show cause why a receiver should not be appointed to take charge of and administer its affairs.

He alleged that the Louisiana Construction Company was a foreign corporation, owning no property except certain real estate in the parish of Avoyelles; that he is a creditor of said company, and that the company is insolvent; that the officers of the company had mismanaged its affairs and abandoned the property. He further alleged that the company had no domicile in this state, and that there was no agent or officer of the company upon whom to serve citation.

After hearing relator’s demand was granted, judgment was rendered, and Mr. Wm. H. Peterman was appointed receiver.

At the time the rule nisi was issued Mr. T. H. Couvillon, attorney at law, was appointed curator ad hoc, and was directed to show cause in that capacity the next day after the rule was issued why a receiver should not be appointed in accordance with plaintiff’s petition.

In due time, the next day, Mr. Wm. R. Taylor, a resident of this city, through counsel, appeared and suggested that he is a creditor of the defendant company, and that, as such, he has an interest in opposing petition of plaintiff in accordance with which a rule nisi had issued, that he had not had sufficient time to prepare and file the proper intervention and opposition to the cause, and further suggested that the property is in the same condition that it was or had been for the past four or five years, and that there was no emergency requiring an immediate action in regard to the appointment of a receiver, and for this and other alleged reasons of a similar nature he asked for an extension of 10 days, to wit, the usual delay.

After this appearance of Wm. R. Taylor he did file a petition of intervention and opposition to the application of Chas. W. Krotz, the plaintiff here. He suggested in this opposition that under the original deed of trust or act of mortgage, given by the Avoyelles Company to secure the bonds of the company, which were assumed by the Louisiana Construction Company, the defendant, it was expressly stipulated and provided that no judicial action could be taken by a bondholder with a view of procuring the appointment of a receiver, the sale of the property of the company, or to take any legal steps for the purpose of liquidating its affairs without a written consent of a majority of the board, and that no individual bondholder has a right of action; that no service was made; that the appointment of the curator ad hoc was null and void; [359]*359that the application was made by plaintiff to obtain control to his (Taylor’s) prejudice; that the appointment can only be made at the instance of a majority of the bondholders, or at the instance of a bona fide creditor.

The curator ad hoc also appeared, and filed an answer, pleading a general denial. He substantially filed, as Taylor had filed, an opposition. The phrasing of the opposition was different, but the legal points urged by the curator ad hoc were substantially the same, except that he did not urge that his appointment was in the least a nullity.

Plaintiff and appellee, through counsel, suggests that the transcript filed by the appellant is not complete. The following explains the facts connected with the motion made by plaintiff and appellee to complete the transcript: On the 8th day of May, 1907, judgment was rendered appointing Peterman receiyer. On the 14th day of that month the Louisiana Oonstruction Company, the defendant, presented to the court a petition, which was filed, ashing for the removal of the case to the federal Circuit Court of the district. The usual allegations for the removal were made.

Defendant, in the motion for removal, stated that it is a citizen and inhabitant of Ohio, and that plaintiff is of Delaware.

The foregoing being the fact, it is evident that the motion for removal becomes a part of the proceedings, and shows that the disposition which defendant sought to make of the case in the state court. It further becomes a part of the cause and of the litigation between the parties. We will state, further, that it is a part of the record, for the motion for the appeal was granted on the 20th day of May, 1907; this being some days after the date of the last proceedings in the district court prior to the application for a removal.

If between the date of the judgment, while the cause is still pending in the district court, a motion is made in that court to remove the cause (such as that made in this case) which has bearing upon the issues, it may be embodied in the transcript, and the motion to consider the evidence offered as forming part of the transcript granted on appeal.

This preliminary question herein determined, we take up for decision the question relating to citation; that is, whether defendant has been cited, and if it has not been cited, whether it has waived citation.

No service:

After much had been said and alleged in regard to failure to serve papers on the defendant company, the defendant appeared in court and asked to remove the ease to the federal Circuit Court.

The defendant company must face the fact that this court has already decided that an application to remove the case to the federal court is in effect a waiver of citation.

The company in the case to which we refer had not brought itself into court by service. It brought itself into court when it joined in an application to remove the ease to the federal court. Union Iron & Foundry Co. v. Sonnefield & Emmins, 113 La. 436, 37 South. 20.

The company in the present case waived citation despite the fact that it has alleged in its application to remove, among other grounds (without the least alternative demand), that it had not been cited. The allegation of want of citation in the petition to remove did not do away with the waiver.

To illustrate: If a party to a suit pleads want of citation and payment of the debt (not in the other notice) for which he has been sued in one answer, it would be correct practice to hold him to the plea of payment.

We will state at this time that it does not appear that defendant had complied with Act No. 59, p. 83, of 1898. It had not appointed an agent in this state upon whom citation could be served.

We pass to the next ground urged by appellant, to wit:

[361]*361The judge of the district court did not have authority to make the rule returnable in less time than 10 days. The statute upon the subject requires return to be made within 10 days from the date of the order, unless circumstances require, in the judgment of the court, a shorter delay. Section 2, Act No. 159, p. 313, of 1898.

In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the judge deemed it advisable that a return should be made the day after the order was signed.

About this time in the proceedings a bill of exceptions was taken to the judge’s ruling.

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Related

Krotz v. Louisiana Const. Co.
45 So. 278 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1907)

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Bluebook (online)
45 So. 276, 120 La. 356, 1907 La. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krotz-v-louisiana-const-co-la-1907.