Landreneau v. Granger

401 So. 2d 634, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 4237
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1981
DocketNo. 8291
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 401 So. 2d 634 (Landreneau v. Granger) 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
Landreneau v. Granger, 401 So. 2d 634, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 4237 (La. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

GUIDRY, Judge.

Plaintiff, Celeste Landreneau, widow of Clifford J. Granger, instituted this suit against defendants, Luther Charles Granger (plaintiff’s son) and Roland Smith (plaintiff’s son-in-law) seeking a declaratory judgment decreeing that a power of attorney and management contract executed by the above parties is revocable at the will of the principal. Plaintiff also seeks judgment requiring defendants to render a full accounting to plaintiff of their management of her properties. The trial court, without assigning written reasons for judgment, concluded that the agreement in dispute was not revocable and rendered judg[635]*635ment in favor of the defendants denying to plaintiff all relief sought.1 Plaintiff appeals from that judgment.

The facts of the instant case are undisputed. On February 25, 1978, shortly after the death of her husband, Mrs. Lan-dreneau and the defendants executed an agreement entitled, “Power of Attorney and Management Contract”, wherein plaintiff appointed defendants to be “her true and lawful agents and mandataries.” The aforesaid agreement, in pertinent part, provided that the defendants were empowered:

“1. To receive and grant acquittance for all monies and properties payable to her, and to that end to endorse and negotiate checks, and bills of exchange made payable to her, or to the said succession or the said decedent;
2. To pay, settle, and compromise all obligations due by her or the said succession, and, to that end, to withdraw monies from any bank or other depository;
3. To grant agricultural leases for a period not in excess of three (3) years on terms determinable solely by the said mandataries;
4. To grant oil, gas, and mineral leases, grant mineral servitudes, sell royalty interests, grant mineral exploration privileges, execute for them unitization and pooling agreements, and sell timber on terms determinable solely by the manda-taries;
5. To incur obligations for the maintenance, upkeep, and improvement of the said property, not including the construction of buildings thereon;
6. To grant rights-of-way and servi-tudes for pipelines, telephone, telegraph, and electric transmission poles, canals, streets, sidewalks, passage, drain, and view;
7. To institute and defend such actions as the management of her properties may require to be instituted or defended;
8.Generally, to conduct, manage, and transact all her affairs and business related to the saúd property, in her place and stead, subjeLt ip the following limitations: - .
1. The mandataries\ñh< have~ no power to alienate or mértgage‘Nike said properties, except as above expreslS^t^. given.
2. The mandataries shall act jointly and concurrently in the exercise of their powers hereunder, and no act of one alone shall be effective without the concurrence or subsequent ratification of the other, but one may delegate his authority to the other.
3. This mandate is irrevocable, being coupled with an interest, the Agents undertaking to manage the said properties as prudent administrators for a period of -20- years, in return for which the Principal \ elinquishes control thereof to the extent hereinabove stated and limits her dominion over same as follows:
a. The Principal can neither alienate nor mortgage any of her property without the concurrence of the Agents.
b. The Principal can incur no indebtedness, however, secured, in excess of $1.000.00 without the concurrence of the Agents.”

The power of attorney and management contract by particular provision, affects:

“1. All of the properties acquired by her from the Succession of Clifford J. Gran-ger and their former community, whether directly or by virtue of donations thereof from other parties at interest.
2. All of the Principal’s immovable properties, however acquired.”

Some 16 months subsequent to the signing of the agreement, plaintiff decided that she desired to undertake the management of her own affairs and property and notified defendants through their legal counsel of her decision to revoke the aforesaid mandate agreement. Defendants’ failure to re[636]*636spond to plaintiff’s demand iresulted in the filing of the instant suit. Defendants answered plaintiff’s petition alieiging that the mandate was valid ah<^ enííorceable and could not be reyokefL j^ov.-'-the will of the principal (plaintiff/ herein). We observe that tjj&Vrial recolrd contains extensive tes-li-Bifony pertaining 'to the manner in which plaintiff’s affairs were managed by defendants pursuant to the disputed agreement. This testimony was admitted over objection of plaintiff’s counsel as being irrelevant and immaterial to the issue of revocability or non-revocability of tiré agreement. We conclude that such testimony was clearly inadmissible on that issue, however, such error was harmless.

The principal issue presented on appeal is whether or not the disputed power of attorney and management contract is revocable at the will of the principal.

The Louisiana Civil Code provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Article 3027 provides:
“The procuration expires:
By the revocation of the attorney.
By the attorney’s renunciation of the power.
By the change of condition of the principal.
By the death, seclusion, interdiction or failure of the agent or principal.
But the powers of attorney by public act or by writings under private signature, or by letter, to transfer on the books of stock corporations, bonds or shares of stock in said corporations, shall be irrevocable, and shall not expire by the death, seclusion, interdiction or failure of the principals, where the said bonds or shares of stock have been previously sold to the persons holding the said powers of attorney, for value received, and said facts are set forth in such powers of attorney.”
Article 3028 provides:
“Except in the case of irrevocable powers of attorney, as described in the preceding article, the principal may revoke his power of attorney, whenever he thinks proper, and if necessary, compel the agent to deliver up the written instrument containing it, if it be an act under private signature.”

Generally, mandate agreements are revocable at the will of the principal except in those special instances of irrevocable powers of attorney as provided in LSA-C.C. Art. 3027. See LSA-C.C. Art. 3028; Francis v. Bartlett, 121 So.2d 18 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1960); Neiman-Marcus Company v. Viser, 140 So.2d 762 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1962); Alphonse Brenner Company, Inc. v. Dickerson, 283 So.2d 849 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1973); Bown v. Holland, 392 So.2d 726 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1980).

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
401 So. 2d 634, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 4237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landreneau-v-granger-lactapp-1981.