Le Blanc v. Guy

128 So. 715, 14 La. App. 162, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 411
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 2, 1930
DocketNo. 3760
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 128 So. 715 (Le Blanc v. Guy) 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
Le Blanc v. Guy, 128 So. 715, 14 La. App. 162, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 411 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

DREW, J.

Plaintiff instituted this suit against defendant in the enforcement of a contract of lease for the year 1929, and to recover certain property claimed by plaintiff in the possession of defendant. Writs of provisional seizure were issued to enforce his lessor’s lien, 'and sequestration to enforce his claim of ownership.

Plaintiff leased to defendant under verbal contract his farm for the year 1929, as he had previously done in 1928 and 1927. The rental for 1927 was a cash rental of $200; the defendant paid part of this rent; and plaintiff cai’ried him for the balance. Under the 1928 agreement, plaintiff was to receive one-fourth of the crop, and he received that portion for that year, with the exception of the potato crop, which was sold by defendant, and plaintiff credited with his one-fourth on the account defendant kept of his dealings with plaintiff. Under the 1929 contract, plaintiff was to receive one-fourth of the cotton, corn, and potatoes and one-half of the cane.

[164]*164During the month of August, or the early part of September, 1929, plaintiff notified defendant that he did not expect to lease the place to him for the following year, and, as usual, when lessor and tenant decide to part ways, the trouble began. Defendant picked and ginned and sold two bales of cotton without the knowledge or consent of plaintiff, and also moved some bee equipment and hogs and beehives from plaintiff’s place to another place not owned by plaintiff, which will hereafter be spoken of as the “Lake Place.”

On September 13, 1929, plaintiff instituted this suit claiming a lessor’s lien on the crop grown on the place and all other movable property situated thereon, alleging that defendant • had removed and disposed of two bales of cotton, and had gathered two other bales which he was preparing to dispose of without accounting to plaintiff for his one-fourth; that he had good reason to believe that defendant would remove and dispose of all the property on the place on which plaintiff had a lessor’s lien. He sets out in his petition the number of bales of cotton grown on the place as five, and the number of bushels of potatoes to be 120, and corn to be 300 bushels and the sugar cane 100 tons. He had issued a writ of provisional seizure, and had seized thereunder all the movable property, together with the crops then on his place and the property that had been moved to the Lake place. 'He claims the ownership of 55 pieces of bee equipment that had been removed to the Lake place and half interest in 20 head of hogs that had been removed to the Lake place, and five beehives and 40 pounds of wax foundation. He alleges, in conformity with article 275 of the Code of Practice and Act No. 190 of 1912, that he is ■ the owner of said property, and that it lies within the power of defendant to part with, conceal, and dispose of said property, and that a writ of sequestration is necessary to protect his rights in the premises and under said writ seized the above-described property.

He further sets up an open account against defendant for balance due on 1927 rent, and other items he alleges he has furnished to defendant, and prays for judgment against defendant declaring plaintiff to be the owner of the property seqtiestered on the Lake place and for recognition of his lessor’s lien and privilege on the crop and other movables seized under the writ of provisional seizure, and that he be entitled to one-fourth of the cotton, corn and potatoes, and one-half of the sugar cane grown on the place in the year 1929, for the maintaining of both writs, and for judgment on the open account in the amount of $88.25, less a credit of $21.60.

Defendant filed a motion to dissolve the writ of provisional seizure, but the record does not disclose that it was ever tried or passed on by the lower’ court, except in the trial on the merits. We are therefore bound to assume that it was referred to the merits, and we will treat it as such. Defendant answered, admitting the quantum of the crop, as alleged by defendant, and admitted the contract of lease, with the exception that he alleges that plaintiff was to furnish fertilizer for the cane and pay half the expense of gathering it, and to furnish a mill to make it into syrup; he denied that he had removed any of the crop and that any of the property removed to Lake place was the property of plaintiff; he further alleges that plaintiff after entering into the contract, notified him that he wanted his part of the cotton in the seed, and that he had weighed out one-fourth and left it in the [165]*165house for plaintiff. He alleges that plaintiff violated his agreement by not furnishing fertilizer for the cane and failed to furnish mill to grind the cane, and should not be entitled to half the cane and that the agreement should be reduced to one-fourth of the cane. He alleges that he tendered plaintiff a full bale of cotton prior to filing of the suit, which was refused by plaintiff. He sets up an account against plaintiff extending over the years 1927, 1928, and 1929, amounting to $12.75 more than the account of plaintiff against him, and prays in reconvention that he have judgment against plaintiff in that amount and dissolution of the writs of provisional seizure and sequestration, and for damages in the sum of $50 for dissolving the writs. By amended answer, he sets up an additional item of $25 for orchard he had planted on plaintiff’s place; $38.40 for honey taken by plaintiff; $4 for garden fence wire; $5 for labor in building said fence; $100 for loss of hogs seized by failure to sell or kill them while fat; and asking that the amount of attorney’s fees for dissolving the writs be increased to $100.

On these issues the case went to trial in the lower court, and judgment was rendered rejecting plaintiff’s demands on the open account and rendering judgment in favor of defendant in reconvention in the sum of $12.73. Plaintiff was recognized as the owner of, and entitled to one-fourth of, the cotton, corn, and potatoes and one-half the cane; granting to defendant judgment against plaintiff for the expenses of providing a mill, and one-half of the expense of saving the cane. Held that all hogs removed to the Lake place, with the exception of six partnership hogs, belonged to defendant, and that defendant was the owner of all other property removed to the Lake place. Further held that plaintiff should elect whether he would keep the 25 fruit trees planted by defendant and the wire around the garden, and, if he did elect to keep them, he must pay to defendant $25 for the trees and $4 for wire, otherwise defendant could remove same; that his decision must be made within thirty days. Rejected demands of defendant for honey alleged to have been taken by plaintiff and for damages alleged to have been caused by sequestration of the hogs as of nonsuit; reserving to defendant the right to sue for any damages caused him by this suit; dissolving the writs of provisional seizure and sequestration and awarding damages to defendant in the sum of $50 as attorney’s fees.

From this judgment, defendant has appealed.

PROVISIONAL SEIZURE

Although defendant in his answer denied that he had removed any of the property off the place, after plaintiff had proved conclusively that he had removed, ginned, and sold two of the five bales of cotton, and that defendant’s son had told him that he intended removing two more, he admitted that he had sold two bales of cotton and gotten the money for them, that he did so without consulting plaintiff, and did not attempt to account to him for any part of the money.

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

Related

Matter of Succession of Vice
385 So. 2d 554 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 So. 715, 14 La. App. 162, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/le-blanc-v-guy-lactapp-1930.