Sliman v. McBee

300 So. 2d 585
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 11, 1974
DocketNo. 4653
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 300 So. 2d 585 (Sliman v. McBee) 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
Sliman v. McBee, 300 So. 2d 585 (La. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

FRUGÉ, Judge.

■ On March 20, 1973, Florence Joseph Sli-man, instituted this suit to rescind the sale by her to Hal D. McBee and Marilyn Sli-man McBee, dated March 28, 1968. The basis of the rescission was nonpayment of the purchase price. The suit also asked that the purchasers be discharged from the unpaid portion of the purchase price, and further asked for judgment against the purchasers for the amount received by them from the sale of portions of the property over and above the amounts paid to the seller. The St. Landry Bank and Trust Company as the holder of mortgages on the property placed thereon by the defendants was made a party defendant in the present case. The bank answered alleging various defenses. The purchasers did not answer. The plaintiff took a preliminary default against these defendants, and on January 10, 1974, the District Court granted judgment decreeing that the petition of Florence Joseph Sliman be dismissed with full prejudice and accordingly there be judgment in favor of the defendants herein rejecting all demands at the costs of the plaintiff. From this judgment, the plaintiff perfected an appeal. The District Court decision is affirmed.

By act of sale dated March 28, 1968, Florence Joseph Sliman, the widow of Joseph Sliman, sold to Hal D. McBee and Marilyn Sliman McBee certain described property in the Indian Hill subdivision within the City of Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. The act of sale contained the following language :

“It is agreed between the parties that the notes hereinabove described shall be and remain a personal obligation of the makers and their heirs, but no lien shall exist on the lots herein sold securing payment of said note.”

There was no mortgage which accompanied this act of sale, nor was the act of sale filed in the mortgage records of the Clerk of Court.

On March 28, 1969, Florence Joseph Sli-man filed a lawsuit against the McBees in which she alleged that she was entitled to a vendor’s privilege for the purchase of the property herein in question. She further alleged that she was entitled to have the sale cancelled and erased from the conveyance records of the Clerk of Court for the Parish of St. Landry. In a supplemental petition in that lawsuit, Mrs. Sliman realleged that she was entitled to a cancellation of the sale of the property herein in question, and she again prayed for judgment cancelling and rescinding the sale of the property.

By act of compromise dated November 6, 1969, Mrs. Sliman entered into a compromise agreement with Hal McBee and [587]*587Marilyn McBee which resolved the differences that had resulted in the above lawsuit and provided for payment of three of the four notes which had been given by the McBees to Mrs. Sliman as part of the consideration in the original sale. As part of the compromise agreement, all parties agreed to dismiss the lawsuit which had been filed by Mrs. Sliman. A judgment of dismissal with prejudice was signed on November 18, 1969.

In September of 1970, the McBees mortgaged the property in question and in connection therewith, they executed three mortgage notes in the total amount of $68,800.00. After the McBees had defaulted in their payments, St. Landry Bank and Trust Company filed suit on these three mortgage notes against the McBees. An intervention was filed by Mrs. Sliman, in which she alleged that Mr. and Mrs. Mc-Bee had defaulted in their payments to her on the notes referred to in their compromise agreement, for judgment against the McBees for the unpaid balance on the notes and for recognition by the Court that her vendor’s lien was superior in rank to the three mortgages held by the St. Landry Bank and Trust Company. Judgment was rendered in favor of the bank on all the notes held by the bank, which had been secured by the mortgage on the property in question. Mrs. Sliman got a money judgment on the notes which hád been signed by the McBees and given to her as payment for the property in question in the original sale. The trial court specifically ruled that Mrs. Sliman had no privilege or lien other than a judicial mortgage obtained on the amounts due on the notes, and the trial court specifically recognized that the St. Landry Bank and Trust Company mortgages outranked the right of Mrs. Sliman. That decision was appealed in the case of St. Landry Bank and Trust Company v. McBee, 284 So.2d 155 (La. App. 3rd Cir., 1973), in which this court affirmed the decision of the trial court. As stated earlier the present suit was instituted to rescind the original sale for nonpayment of the purchase price. The plaintiff has appealed from an adverse judgment.

The trial judge gave no written reasons for his decision in this matter; therefore, we must look to the entire record to determine the correctness of his decision. The defendant bank in this case argued that under the terms of the original act of sale between Mrs. Sliman and the McBees, the McBees’ only obligation to Mrs. Sliman was their personal obligation on the notes which they executed in her favor when she sold them the property in question. The defendant argued that the following language in the original act of, sale not only waived any rights to a lien which the vendor might have, but also waived any rights the vendor might have to rescind the sale for nonpayment of the purchase price:

“It is agreed between the parties that’ the notes hereinabove described shall be and remain a personal obligation of the makers and their heirs, but no lien shall exist on the lots herein sold securing payment of said notes.”

By virtue of the language in the act of sale, the defendant argued, the only right which Mrs. Sliman retained was the right to sue on the notes.

The defendant further argued that the compromise entered into by Mrs. Sliman and the McBees settled in favor of the McBees the question of whether Mrs. Sli-man could rescind the sale. The defendant argued that the compromise left only the right to sue on the notes as the legal remedy available to Mrs. Sliman. The argument was that part of the original suit brought by Mrs. Sliman against the Mc-Bees was for rescission of the sale and that the compromise of that suit and the subsequent judgment with prejudice to the plaintiff, Mrs. Sliman, in that action decided the issue of the right to 'rescind the sale.

The plaintiff argued in her original brief that under Louis Werner Saw Mill Co. v. [588]*588White, 20S La. 242, 17 So.2d 264 (1944), the failure of the vendee to pay the purchase price is a dissolving condition and is an event which gives the vendor an absolute right to sue for dissolution of the sale. The plaintiff further argued that by retaining the credit portion of the consideration, i.e., the notes given for the purchase price, she had retained the right to rescind the sale for nonpayment of the purchase price.

The plaintiff argued in her rebuttal brief that in essence the defendant’s arguments with reference to the compromise and subsequent judgment "in the initial suit constituted an exception of res judicata. She argued that our jurisprudence requires an identity of parties when an exception of res judicata is raised. She further argued that res judicata is inapplicable in the present case because the present suit is for rescission of the sale based on nonpayment of the purchase price while in the original suit she sought to rescind the sale for error. The compromise ended her right to rescind the sale on the basis of error but not on the basis of nonpayment of the purchase price.

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Related

Sliman v. McBee
303 So. 2d 175 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
300 So. 2d 585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sliman-v-mcbee-lactapp-1974.