LaFleur v. Foret

213 So. 2d 141
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 29, 1968
Docket2411
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 213 So. 2d 141 (LaFleur v. Foret) 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
LaFleur v. Foret, 213 So. 2d 141 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

213 So.2d 141 (1968)

Kearnie J. LAFLEUR, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Carol FORET, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 2411.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

July 29, 1968.

*142 Preston N. Aucoin, Ville Platte, for plaintiff-appellant.

Tate & Tate, by Paul C. Tate, Mamou, for defendant-appellee.

Before TATE, HOOD, and CULPEPPER, JJ.,

TATE, Judge.

This suit arises from the sale of a home. The deed conveyed the home lot "together with all buildings and improvements thereon and thereto appertaining". The question is whether window-unit airconditioners, certain outbuildings, and certain accessories passed with the sale.

Plaintiff Lafleur, the seller, sues to recover the two window air-conditioners, which the defendant Foret, the buyer, refuses to let him have. The buyer Foret reconvenes to pray that the seller return to him several items removed from the premises after the sale, being principally some dog houses and a chicken shed. Under the trial and appellate pleadings[1], the ownership of all of these items is at issue.

The primary legal issue to be determined is whether the air-conditioners and other accessories are immovable property which passed with the sale of the soil, or whether instead they remained movable property which the seller had the right to take with him after he sold the premises. For, in the absence of a clear contractual intent otherwise, the sale of an immovable (the tract of land) includes all movables that have become immobilized by reason of some relationship with it[2].

Under Louisiana law, property (things) may be classified as movable or immovable. La. Civil Code Art. 461. Immovables include not only those things immovable by nature (i.e., that cannot be removed from one place to another), such as lands and buildings, Civil Code Art. 464, and components of such immovables (such as fruit crops growing on the land until cut), Civil Code Arts. 465, 469. Immovables also include those things which the law classifies as immovables because of their relationship to an immovable by nature, such as attachments, accessories, cattle, etc. Civil Code Arts. 467, 468, 469.

1. The Window Air Conditioners.

The precipitating cause of this litigation was the controversy over the air-conditioners. Because the chief argument is concerning them, we will first discuss the application *143 of immobilization principles to them.

The evidence shows that two window airconditioners were installed by the plaintiff Lafleur before he sold the property. Their installation is relatively simple:

The air-conditioners themselves are not attached to the premises, but a rack is attached to the window-sill by two removable screws. The air-conditioners are then slid into the racks and screwed to them, the window is closed, and an electric cord from the conditioners is plugged into a wall outlet. To remove the air-conditioners, the rack is unscrewed, and the air-conditioners and rack are lifted away. The sole residue of their presence is then two small screw holes in the window sill.

The defendant buyer contends that these air-conditioners became immobilized by reason of three principles: (a) that they became immobilized by destination because permanently attached to the premises, La. Civ. Code of 1879, Arts 468(2)-469[3]; (b) that they became immobilized by destination because placed on the tract of land for its service and improvement, Civ. Code Art. 468(1) (see footnote 3); or (c) that they became immobilized by nature as components of an immovable, because attached to the building by the owner for the use or convenience of the buildings, Civ. Code Art. 467.[4]

We hold that the air-conditioners did not become immovables by nature or by destination under the cited Code articles, for the following reasons:

(a) Permanent Attachment:

The last paragraph of Art. 468 provides: "All such movables as the owner has attached permanently to the tenement or to the building are likewise immovable by destination." Article 469 explains that permanent attachment occurs if the movables are "affixed to the same with plaster, or mortar, or such as can not be taken off without being broken or injured, or without breaking or injuring the part of the building to which they are attached." See Footnote 3 above for full text.

Permanent attachment is not present under the facts. The units are easily removable without damaging them or their supporting frames; removal of the two screws is all that is necessary. The only possible injury to the building is the presence of two screw holes which will remain after removal of the units. This is de minimis and insubstantial damage, much less injury than that occasioned in prior cases in which courts have held that damage *144 was so minor that no permanent attachment, and thus no immobilization under CC Arts. 469 and 468(2), occurred.[5]

(b) Service and Improvement of the Tract

C.C. Art. 468 also provides: "Things which the owner of a tract of land has placed upon it for its service and improvement are immovables by destination. * * *." Then follows an illustrative itemization (see Footnote 3 above), which clearly covers agricultural destinations, as well as movables placed in service of an industrial destination.

Within the industrial immobilization principle are included movables placed to service and improve a manufacturing establishment.[6] Thus, a movable placed in service of an industrial destination can become immovable, even though that destination is not a "tract of land", but a building. This conclusion is supported by the specific reference in Art. 468, as examples of things which can be immobilized, to the types of manufactures then existing (sawmills, sugar refineries etc.). Reference to the existing manufactures at the time of the Code's adoption has been determined to be sufficient authority to extend coverage to more modern manufacturing establishments.

The apparent anomaly of allowing immobilization of movables servicing buildings when Art. 468 refers to "tracts of land" is explained by reference to the French text of the article in the code of 1825. There, the word "fonds" corresponds to "tract of land." Fonds, with no English synonym, refers to landed property and can encompass more than tracts of land. This expanded meaning has been accepted since the French text of that article is authoritative and shows the true intent of the drafters.[7]

Our prior jurisprudential applications leave open whether commercial (non-industrial, non-manufacturing business establishments) and residential destinations are included under Art. 468—that is, whether movables which the owner places in service of a residence or a commercial building can become immovables, as in the case of agricultural and industrial destinations.

Though the exact question was not discussed, cases have indicated that these destinations are not allowed[8] while others have indicated otherwise[9].

*145 Of course, the facts of this case do not concern a commercial destination, but rather a residential destination of the air conditioners. But, it may be pointed out that both commercial and residential destinations are permitted under an expansive interpretation of corresponding articles of the French Civil Code[10].

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213 So. 2d 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lafleur-v-foret-lactapp-1968.