Malone v. Pierson

165 So. 501
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 5, 1936
DocketNo. 5129.
StatusPublished

This text of 165 So. 501 (Malone v. Pierson) 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
Malone v. Pierson, 165 So. 501 (La. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

DREW, Judge.

This is a suit brought under Act No. 270 of 1926, commonly known as the Bulk Sales Law.

Petitioner alleged the W’s Drug Company, Inc., is indebted unto him in the sum of $317 for services rendered by him as a clerk between the dates of May 19, 1932, and July 6, 1933. He further alleged that J. T. Pierson, Jr., and A. T. Cox purchased from the W’s Drug Company, Inc., all the furniture and fixtures owned by said drug company. Petitioner further alleged the sale was not made in the ordinary course of business, but was a bulk sale of all the furniture and fixtures owned by the said drug company.

The only allegations in the petition as to failure to comply with the Bulk Sales Law are contained in articles 3 and 6, which are as follows:

“3. Now shows that neither J. T. Pier-son, Jr., nor A. T. Cox, vendees, nor W’s Drug Company, Inc., vendor, complied with or attempted to comply with the provisions of Act No. 270 of 1926 of the Louisiana Legislature, commnoly known as the Bulk Sales Law. * ' * *
“6. That J. T. Pierson, Jr., and A. T. Cox, the vendees, executed their promissory note in the sum of $1500.00, in representation of the purchase price of the furniture and fixtures, bought by them of W’s Drug Company, Inc., without first complying with the provisions of Act No. 270 of 1926, and without seeing that any *502 part of the purchase price should go to petitioner, as a creditor of the vendor, or to any other creditors of the vendor, according to the dignity of their several claims, and that by their failure to so do, they have made themselves liable to your petitioner and all the other creditors of W’s Drug Company, Inc., the 'vendor, ■ as receiver, for the fair value of all the property so transferred to them.”

Plaintiff prayed for judgment holding Pierson and Cox liable to all the creditors of the W’s Drug Company, Inc., as receivers, for the fair value of all the property transferred to them; that $1,500 be recognized as a fair value of all the property so transferred; and that his claim of $317 be recognized.

To this petition defendants filed an exception of no cause or right of action, which exception was tried and overruled by the lower court. Answer was then filed, reserving all rights under the exception, and the case was tried on its merits, resulting in judgment for plaintiff against Pierson and Cox, as receivers for the creditors of W’s Drug Company, Inc.', for the amount prayed for. Judgment was likewise rendered in favor of Pierson and Cox and against W’s Drug Company, Inc., as warrantor, in a like amount.

The defendants and the warrantor all appealed to this court.

This case was before this court once previously. The minutes of the court then in the record failed to show what was shown by the filings in the record, and, due to this apparent deficiency in the minutes, we remanded the case, with instructions that the minutes be completed.^ We did this because the- minutes showed the exception of no cause or right of action was first tried and overruled, then a rehearing granted, the exception again tried and submitted to the court, but did not show any disposition of it by the court. See decision, 163 So. 773, rendered by this court on the 6th day of November, 1935.

The record has been returned to us in open court by counsel for both plaintiff and defendants, with certain additions made to the minutes by the clerk, and, by agreement and admission in open court, both counsel declared the exception was overruled on rehearing, and we were requested to dispose of the case unde'r that agreement, without further argument.

The defenses set up in the answer and the case on its merits are unnecessary to be discussed here, due to the fact that we are of the opinion that the exception of no cause of action should have been sustained.

Act No. 270 of 1926 provides that all transfers in bulk and otherwise, than in the ordinary course of trade, etc., shall be void as against the creditors of the trans-feror, unless in conformity with the act. Section 2 of the act provides for the preliminaries to the transfer, and reads as follows :

“(a) That the transferor and the transferee shall, at least ten days before the completion of any such transfer, or the payment of any consideration therefor, make a full and detailed inventory showing the quantity, and, so far as possible with the exercise of reasonable diligence, the cost price to the transferor of each article to be included in the'sale.
“(b) That the transferee shall demand of and receive from the transferor, or if the transferor be a corporation, then from the president, vice-president, secretary or managing agent thereof, a written statement sworn to substantially as hereinafter provided, of the names and addresses of all the creditors of the said transferor to whom the said transferor may be indebted,, together with the amount of indebtedness, due and owing, and to become due and owing by said transferor to each of said creditors ; and the transferor shall furnish such statement to the transferee which shall be-verified by an oath to the following effect:
“State of Louisiana 1 “Parish of- JSS:
“Before me - personally appeared (transferor or agent, as the case may be) who, being by me first duly sworn upon, his oath, doth depose and say that the foregoing statement contains the names of all the creditors of the (the name of trans-feror) -, together with their addresses. and. that the amount set opposite each of their respective names is the amount now due and owing and which shall become due and owing by (transferor) -to such. creditors, and that there are no creditors holding claims due or which shall become due for or on account of goods, wares, merchandise or fixtures, or equipment used or to be used in the display, manufacture, care or delivery of any goods, wares or merchandise, including movable store and 'office fixtures, horses, wagons, automobile trucks and other vehicles or other goods, and chattels of the transferor’s business purchased upon credit or on account of *503 money borrowed to carry on the business of which said property is a part other than as set forth in said statement, and the facts set oüt in this affidavit are within the personal knowledge of said affiant.
“Sworn and subscribed to before me this-day of-, 192 — .
“Title of Officer taking oath.

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Bluebook (online)
165 So. 501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malone-v-pierson-lactapp-1936.