Manuel Tire Co., Inc. v. JW Herpin, Inc.

620 So. 2d 526, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2348, 1993 WL 212686
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 16, 1993
Docket92-1148
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 620 So. 2d 526 (Manuel Tire Co., Inc. v. JW Herpin, 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
Manuel Tire Co., Inc. v. JW Herpin, Inc., 620 So. 2d 526, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2348, 1993 WL 212686 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

620 So.2d 526 (1993)

MANUEL TIRE CO., INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
J.W. HERPIN, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 92-1148.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 16, 1993.

*527 Michael Voorhies Matt, Eunice, for Manuel Tire Co., Inc.

Paul Joseph Hebert, Abbeville, for J.W. Herpin, Inc.

Mary Elizabeth Arceneaux, Baton Rouge, for Louisiana Bankers Assn.

Before DOUCET, KNOLL and COOKS, JJ.

KNOLL, Judge.

This is a security device case involving the prescriptive period of a collateral chattel mortgage note. Manuel Tire Company, Inc. (Manuel Tire) appeals[1] the dismissal of its petition for executory process filed against J.W. Herpin, Inc. (Herpin). The trial court ruled that the collateral chattel mortgage note was prescribed. Thus it enjoined the seizure and sale, and found that Herpin was entitled to $1,000 damages and attorney's fees of $1,000 from Manuel Tire for its wrongful issuance of a writ of seizure and sale.

Manuel Tire contends on appeal that the trial court was manifestly erroneous in: (1) finding that the collateral chattel mortgage note was prescribed for lack of acknowledgment within five years after its execution; and, (2) enjoining the seizure and sale of Herpin's property and in awarding Herpin damages and attorney's fees. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.

FACTS

In early 1986, Manuel Tire sold its tire business and inventory located in Kaplan, Louisiana to Herpin for $86,194.21. From *528 the record it appears that this was a credit sale. Herpin executed a collateral promissory ("ne varietur") note dated April 12, 1986, in the amount of $100,000 payable on demand to Manuel Tire, properly paraphed for identification with an act of mortgage. To secure payment of the "ne varietur" note, Herpin executed a chattel mortgage on the movable property and inventory Herpin purchased from Manuel Tire. The "ne varietur" note was properly paraphed for identification with the chattel mortgage and was delivered to Manuel Tire. Appearing in the chattel mortgage was the following language:

"Mortgagor [Herpin] has made and subscribed promissory note dated and payable to the order of Manuel Tire Co., Inc., in the sum of $100,000.00, due and payable on demand, bearing interest at the rate of twelve (12%) percent per annum from date until paid. Mortgagor declares that the note herein described and this mortgage securing it are not given or issued in evidence of any specific debt, but are intended and shall be used as collateral to secure payment of any indebtedness now existing or hereafter to arise on the part of the Mortgagor, and specifically to secure future loans made by Mortgagor to secure which the within described note may at any time be pledged to the said Manuel Tire Co., Inc. and said Mortgagor is specifically authorized to pledge, without the necessity of any authentic act, said mortgage note to secure such indebtedness."

No hand notes[2] were executed at any time by Herpin to Manuel Tire. Rather, all transactions between Herpin and Manuel Tire were on open account, payable on terms of 30, 60 or 90 days after delivery.

The record shows that Herpin defaulted on its monthly payments. As a result, Manuel Tire filed a suit on open account against Herpin on October 11, 1991. At the time of trial, the suit on open account was still pending.[3] On October 21, 1991, Manuel Tire filed a petition for executory process to enforce the chattel mortgage that Herpin executed to secure the note.

When the sheriff seized Herpin's movable property on October 27, 1991, Herpin sought an injunction to arrest the seizure and sale and petitioned the court to award it damages for the wrongful issuance of the writ of seizure and sale. In support of its petition for an injunction and damages, Herpin alleged that "the debt secured by the mortgage [was] not legally owed, [was] extinguished and [was] otherwise legally unenforceable because the indebtedness is prescribed and/or no loan was ever made...."

After conducting a contradictory hearing, the trial court granted Herpin's request for an injunction, finding that the note was prescribed because Herpin had not signed a written re-acknowledgment of the note within five years after its execution. It also awarded Herpin $1,000 damages and $1,000 attorney's fees.

PRESCRIPTION OF NE VARIETUR NOTE

Manuel Tire contends that the trial court erred as a matter of law in finding that the "ne varietur" note was prescribed. Relying on LSA-R.S. 9:5807, it argues that no written re-acknowledgment was required because Herpin's payment of principal and interest on the open account, an obligation secured by the pledged "ne varietur" note, interrupted prescription. It further argues that the trial court's reliance on Bank of New Orleans v. H.P.B., Jr. Development, 427 So.2d 486 (La.App. 5th Cir.1983), was misplaced because that case was factual distinguishable.

*529 To the contrary, Herpin, relying on the Bank of New Orleans case, argues that the trial court correctly found that a written re-acknowledgment was necessary to preserve the mortgage in favor of Manuel Tire. Herpin further argues that payment it made on its open account with Manuel Tire did not interrupt prescription because these were not payments on other promissory notes secured by the "ne varietur" note.

From the outset, we must determine if it was possible for Manuel Tire to use the collateral chattel mortgage to secure Herpin's indebtedness, present and future, on open account.

A collateral mortgage is defined in LSA-R.S. 9:5550 as "... a mortgage that is given to secure a written obligation, such as a collateral mortgage note, negotiable or nonnegotiable instrument, or other written evidence of debt, that is issued, pledged, or otherwise used as security for another obligation." An obligation is defined in Civil Code Article 1756 as "... a legal relationship whereby a person, called the obligor, is bound to render a performance in favor of another, called the obligee. Performance may consist of giving, doing, or not doing something."

In the act of collateral mortgage, Herpin specifically stated that the "ne varietur" note

"... herein described and this mortgage securing it are not given or issued in evidence of any specific debt, but are intended and shall be used as collateral to secure payment of any indebtedness now existing or hereafter to arise on the part of the Mortgagor, and specifically to secure future loans made by Mortgagor to secure which the within described note may at any time be pledged to the said Manuel Tire Co., Inc. and said Mortgagor is specifically authorized to pledge, without the necessity of any authentic act, said mortgage note to secure such indebtedness." (Emphasis added.)

Under the codal definitions, we find that Herpin could have granted a collateral chattel mortgage to secure its open account, i.e., an obligation or series of obligations that Herpin had or would have to pay to Manuel Tire for purchases made. Likewise, it is clear that the mortgage document was not restricted to loans made by Herpin to Manuel Tire which were evidenced by a promissory note.

The next question we must address is whether Herpin's payments on its open account with Manuel Tire interrupted prescription on the "ne varietur" note.

In Kaplan v. University Lake Corp., 381 So.2d 385, 390-91 (La.1980), the Louisiana Supreme Court cited with approval from M. Nathan & G. Marshall, The Collateral Mortgage, 33 La.L.Rev.

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Bluebook (online)
620 So. 2d 526, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 2348, 1993 WL 212686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manuel-tire-co-inc-v-jw-herpin-inc-lactapp-1993.