Oby ex rel. George v. Champagne

451 So. 2d 674, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 8884
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 30, 1984
DocketNo. 83 CA 0757
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 451 So. 2d 674 (Oby ex rel. George v. Champagne) 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
Oby ex rel. George v. Champagne, 451 So. 2d 674, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 8884 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

SAVOIE, Judge. .

Defendant, Lloyd P. Champagne, appeals from a judgment in favor of plaintiff, Griffin M. Oby, on a promissory note.

On December 4, 1972, Champagne purchased a tract of land from Griffin M. Oby for $97,500.00. For a portion of the price, a promissory note in the amount of $34,-612.50 payable December 4, 1974, was executed on that date representing the balance owed to Griffin M. Oby.

Subsequently, Griffin M. Oby became feeble-minded and interdiction proceedings were instituted against him on January 3, 1974. Mrs. Betty Scott George was approved by the court as provisional curator subject to her providing bond. Letters of provisional curatorship were issued to Mrs. George after she complied with the requisites of law.

About January 2, 1975, Champagne tendered two checks totalling $26,477.85 as payment in full for the note. The checks were not accepted and were eventually returned.

On February 19, 1975, a suit was filed on behalf of Griffin M. Oby through his provisional curator, Mrs. George, against Lloyd P. Champagne for $13,865.24, together with interest and attorney fees, as the balance due on the promissory note. Champagne filed an answer asserting that the tract had been represented to him as containing 3.54 acres with the sale price being [676]*676$27,500.00 per acre; and that as the tract actually contained only 3.14 acres, a difference of $11,000.00, there was a failure or partial failure of consideration. Champagne further asserted that $26,477.85 had been paid and, thus, the debt was fully paid and extinguished. A request for admissions was filed with the answer, but was never answered by plaintiff.

Plaintiff filed a supplemental and amending petition on November 2, 1977, alleging that the principal amount of the note, $34,-612.50, was still due. An answer was filed on October 9, 1979, denying the allegations of the amended petition.

Griffin M. Oby died on November 29, 1977. Succession proceedings were instituted November 22, 1978. One of his daughters, Yvonne Oby, was subsequently named administratrix.

Champagne tendered another check in the amount of $26,477.85 on September 11, 1978, unconditionally. This check was accepted.

On February 14,1983, a motion to substitute plaintiff was filed with the court. The motion requested that Miss Yvonne Oby, as succession administratrix, be substituted as plaintiff in the stead of Mrs. George. The court granted the request.

After trial on the merits, judgment was rendered in favor of Griffin M. Oby, through his provisional curator, Betty Scott George, and against Lloyd P. Champagne in the amount of $34,612.50 with interest at the rate of 7.5% from December 4, 1972, together with attorney’s fees at 10% on both principal and interest, subject to a credit in the amount of $26,477.85 paid September 11, 1978. From this judgment,, defendant, Champagne, appeals.

On appeal, defendant raises six (6) assignments of error:

“1. The trial court erred in failing to sustain Champagne’s exception of no right of action or want of interest in the plaintiff to institute and prosecute this civil action.

“2. The trial court erred in failing to hold that plaintiff had admitted the truth of the matters of fact set forth in Champagne’s request directed to plaintiff for failure of plaintiff to respond for more than seven (7) years after the request was made by Champagne to the plaintiff.

“3. The trial court erred in failing to find there had been a lack or failure of consideration in the giving of the promissory note representing a portion of the sale price for the tract of land purchased by Champagne from the plaintiff on account of its diminution in size.

“4. The trial court erred in failing to give credit to Champagne on the debt owed the plaintiff for the payment of $26,477.85 on January 2, 1975 rather than on September 11, 1978.

“5. The trial court erred in failing to give Champagne credit for an additional sum of $649.22 Champagne paid in plaintiff’s behalf for the balance owing on a sewer assessment encumbering the tract of land Champagne purchased from plaintiff.

“6. The trial court erred in failing to permit Champagne to file an amended and supplemental answer following trial after evidence was introduced at trial without objection concerning the payment of the $649.22 sewer assessment.”

I.

On the day of trial, defendant filed an exception of no right of action which was overruled by the trial court. Defendant argued that Mrs. George had no right as the original plaintiff to file this suit in her capacity as provisional curator of Griffin M. Oby, but, in any event, her authority expired when Oby died on November 29, 1977. Defendant also argued that Yvonne Oby had no right as substituted plaintiff to pursue the suit in her capacity as adminis-tratrix of the Griffin M. Oby succession. The basis for the exception is that neither Mrs. George nor Miss Oby had ever received court authorization to institute the suit.

The trial judge noted in his written reasons that no judgment of interdiction had been obtained and that Mrs. George had no court authorization when she originally [677]*677filed this suit in 1975. Oby was declared an interdict in September, 1977. The amended and supplemental petition was filed by Mrs. George on November 4, 1977, more than thirty days after Oby was declared an interdict on September 23, 1977, at which time a curator should' have been appointed pursuant to C.C.P. 4550. Further, the succession record makes no mention of the court granting the administra-trix authority to institute suit on the promissory note. The trial judge ruled that both Mrs. George, as provisional curator, and Miss Oby, as administratrix, did have a right to institute the suit even though neither had received court authorization to do so.

The purpose of the peremptory exception of no right of action is to provide a threshold device for terminating a suit brought by a plaintiff who has no legal interest to do so. Allstate Credit Plan Houma, Inc. v. Weidenbacher, 234 So.2d 774 (La.App. 1st Cir.1970). Thus, the question is whether either Mrs. George or Miss Oby had a right or interest to institute and prosecute this suit.

The Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 4549, provides that the provisional curator shall continue to serve until his appointment is terminated by the court or until a curator has been appointed. Neither has occurred in this case.

A similar situation arose in Leveige v. Greenhouse, 194 So.2d 475 (La.App.3rd Cir.1967), where the court stated that under the Code articles, the provisional curator has not only the right, but the duty, to institute suit to preserve the interdict’s property. The court concluded that although the provisional curator should have had court authorization to file suit, she did have the capacity to institute the suit and prosecute it to its conclusion. Accordingly, we find that Mrs. George had the right to institute suit on the note.

Likewise, Miss Oby was the proper legal representative of the succession with the attendant duty to protect the property and rights of the estate. Therefore, she, too, had a right to be involved as plaintiff in the suit.

Having concluded that both the provisional curator and the succession ad-ministratrix had a right or interest in the suit, the appropriate exception is one of want of authority.

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Related

Horrell v. Horrell
808 So. 2d 363 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
Oby ex rel. George v. Champagne
457 So. 2d 15 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
451 So. 2d 674, 1984 La. App. LEXIS 8884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oby-ex-rel-george-v-champagne-lactapp-1984.