Landry & Passman Rlty., Inc. v. BEADLE, S., W. & A., INC.

303 So. 2d 761
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 7, 1975
Docket9972
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 303 So. 2d 761 (Landry & Passman Rlty., Inc. v. BEADLE, S., W. & A., INC.) 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
Landry & Passman Rlty., Inc. v. BEADLE, S., W. & A., INC., 303 So. 2d 761 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

303 So.2d 761 (1974)

LANDRY AND PASSMAN REALTY, INC.
v.
BEADLE, SWARTWOOD, WALL & ASSOCIATES, INC., et al.

No. 9972.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

October 14, 1974.
Rehearing Denied December 16, 1974.
Writ Refused February 7, 1975.

Donald C. Theriot, Baton Rouge, for appellant.

James F. Abadie, Baton Rouge, for appellee-plaintiff.

William H. Farris, and John T. Cooper, New Orleans, for defendants-appellees Beadle, Swartwood, etc.

James Wall, in pro per.

Before LANDRY, BLANCHE and NEHRBASS, JJ.

*762 LANDRY, Judge.

This appeal presents the single issue of whether a defendant in a concursus proceeding instituted pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. arts. 4651-4662, can recover, out of the deposit, an unliquidated claim under an alleged contract between claimant and another defendant, which contract is totally unrelated to the transaction which gave rise to the concursus proceeding. The trial court held such a claim could not be prosecuted to judgment in a concursus action. We affirm.

The facts are undisputed. Landry & Passman Realty, Inc. (Stakeholder), licensed real estate brokers domiciled in East Baton Rouge Parish, and defendant, Beadle, Swartwood, Wall & Associates (BS&W), a Louisiana corporation domiciled in Jefferson Parish, represented the vendors and purchasers, respectively, in two separate and unrelated real estate transactions. For convenience, the transactions are referred to as the Alford Transaction, which was consummated January 13, 1973, and the Matta Transaction, which was closed January 26, 1973.

Stakeholder and BS&W agreed to share all commissions accruing from the transactions, which commissions were collected by Stakeholder. The commissions from the Alford Transaction were handled agreeably between the parties concerned. Carson Davis, a domiciliary of Tangipahoa Parish, was a licensed real estate salesman employed by BS&W when both transactions were closed. BS&W's portion of the commission on the Matta Transaction amounted to $15,246.00. Before Stakeholder paid BS&W the commission due on the Matta Transaction, Davis made claim on Stakeholder for the sum of $4,573.80, which Davis claimed as his alleged 30% share of BS&W's 50% of the Matta commission. Davis also demanded payment of $11,700.00 claimed as BS&W's agent in the Alford Transaction. Stakeholder then filed this concursus impleading Davis, BS&W and James Wall, a BS&W stockholder domiciled in Orleans Parish. Wall answered disclaiming interest in the stake. Davis answered claiming the commissions allegedly owed him by BS&W from both transactions. BS&W answered conceding its indebtedness to Davis in the sum of $4,573.80 on the Matta Transaction, and also admitting Davis' right to litigate that claim herein. BS&W contested Davis' right to litigate his claim for the Alford Transaction commission in this proceeding. The trial court dismissed Davis' demand insofar as it claimed a commission from the Alford Transaction on the ground that said claim did not arise out of the transaction which generated this concursus.

Appellant places considerable reliance herein upon his pre-concursus demand upon Stakeholder wherein Appellant informed Stakeholder of Appellant's intent to attach the funds held by Stakeholder. It is obvious that in so doing, Appellant was attempting to bring this case within the ambit of certain Federal decisions upon which Appellant relies heavily. In numerous cases, all hereinafter considered, parties having secured claims, or having obtained garnishment or attachment of funds, were allowed to intervene in concursus or interpleader proceedings. For reasons hereinafter made manifest, we deem Appellant's antecedent demands of no consequence.

Concursus, a remedial procedure is set forth in LSA-C.C.P. arts. 4651-4662. The following pertinent language is found in Article 4651, above:

"A concursus proceeding is one in which two or more persons having competing or conflicting claims to money, property, or mortgages or privileges on property are impleaded and required to assert their respective claims contradictorily against all other parties to the proceeding."

Prior to enactment of the aforementioned rules governing proceedings of this nature, Act 123 of 1922 provided a similar but considerably more restrictive remedy. *763 Some of the provisions of Act 123, above, are still embodied in Articles 4653, 4654, 4655, 4658 and 4659, above. However, Article 4652, above, whose source is Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 22(1), reads as follows:

"Persons having competing or conflicting claims may be impleaded in a concursus proceeding even though the person against whom the claims are asserted denies liability in whole or in part to any or all of the claimants, and whether or not their claims, or the titles on which the claims depend, have a common origin, or are identical or independent of each other.
No claimant may be impleaded in a concursus proceeding whose claim has been prosecuted to judgment. No person claiming damages for wrongful death or for physical injuries may be impleaded in a concursus proceeding, except by a casualty insurer which admits liability for the full amount of the insurance coverage, and has deposited this sum into the registry of the court."

Appellant correctly argues that where our laws are patterned on Federal law, our courts may look to the Federal jurisprudence in the interpretation and application of such laws. Kay v. Carter, 243 La. 1095, 150 So.2d 27; Cousins v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, La.App., 258 So.2d 629.

Appellant also properly contends that concursus may appropriately be invoked to avoid multiple liability and also to prevent multiple litigation or double vexation upon a single liability. Louisiana Intrastate Gas Corp. v. Muller, La., 290 So. 2d 888. We add, however, that the primary purpose of concursus is to protect the stakeholder from multiple liability from conflicting claims and from the vexation attending involvement in multiple litigation in which the stakeholder may have no direct interest. We deem it elementary that in the vast majority of cases, as in this instance, the stakeholder is an innocent third party possessing funds or property admittedly belonging to or owned by another, but being claimed by two or more other parties asserting conflicting claims thereto.

As interpreted by prior jurisprudence, Act 123 of 1922 contained two limitations which greatly restricted use of the interpleader action provided for therein. Under the 1922 Act, only a stakeholder, that is one admitting liability and claiming no interest in the deposit, could bring an interpleader action. Secondly, the 1922 Act required that claimants' rights or title have a common origin. See Introduction, LSA-C.C.P. Title X, Vol. 9 LSA-C.C.P., pages 356-358; See also, Official Revision LSA-C.C.P. art. 4652.

Relying on Article 4652, above, which provides that contesting claims need not have a common origin, and also on numerous Federal cases, Appellant maintains he has a right to assert his claim herein despite the fact that it arises from a source completely unrelated to the transaction which generated the deposited funds.

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Bluebook (online)
303 So. 2d 761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landry-passman-rlty-inc-v-beadle-s-w-a-inc-lactapp-1975.