Smith v. Tiblier

374 So. 2d 685
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 21, 1979
Docket9963
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 374 So. 2d 685 (Smith v. Tiblier) 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
Smith v. Tiblier, 374 So. 2d 685 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

374 So.2d 685 (1979)

Marion R. SMITH
v.
Dr. and Mrs. Fernand J. TIBLIER.

No. 9963.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 10, 1979.
Rehearing Denied June 11, 1979.
Concurring Opinion September 21, 1979.
Writ Refused September 18, 1979.

*687 Fiasconaro & Fiasconaro, Joseph A. Fiasconaro, Jr., New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.

Sidney M. Bach, Gerald D. Wasserman, New Orleans, for defendants-appellees.

Morton H. Katz, Avram C. Herman, New Orleans, for intervenor-appellant.

Before LEMMON, GULOTTA and STOULIG, JJ.

GULOTTA, Judge.

A jury awarded to a seller of real property $500.00 in damages and $1,000.00 in attorney's fees plus costs in a case where purchasers signed a standard form real estate Agreement to Purchase property for the sum of $120,000.00 but refused to place the $12,000.00 deposit and refused to take title. The seller accepted the offer on the same day that the offer was made.

An intervention filed by the real estate agent for a commission and attorney's fees, as well as the purchasers' third party and reconventional demand against the realtor were dismissed in the trial court. Plaintiff-seller and intervenor appeal.

Because of the purchasers' failure to place a $12,000.00 deposit with seller's agent, plaintiff-seller seeks to invoke the following provisions of the Agreement to Purchase:

"... and failure to do so (place the deposit) shall not void this agreement but shall be considered as a breach thereof and seller shall have the right, at his option, to demand liquidated damages equal to the amount of the deposit or specific performance, and purchaser shall, in either event, be liable for agent's commission, attorney's fees and costs."

Plaintiff, seeking the $12,000.00 stipulated liquidated damages and increased attorney's fees, further relies on the following provisions of the agreement:

"In the event the purchaser fails to comply with this agreement within the time specified, the seller shall have the right to declare the deposit, ipso facto, forfeited, without formality beyond tender of title to purchaser; or the seller may demand specific performance."

Intervenor's claim for a commission and attorney's fees is based upon the recitation in the agreement that the "... commission is earned by agent when this agreement is signed by both parties and when the mortgage loan, if any, has been secured." Intervenor relies also on the following:

"Either party hereto who fails, for any reasons whatsoever, to comply with the terms of this offer, if accepted, is obligated and agrees to pay the agent's commission and all reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred by the other party, and/or agent in enforcing their respective rights."

We increase the amount of the damages to plaintiff-seller to the sum of $12,000.00 and increase the attorney's fees to the seller to the sum of $2,000.00. Intervenor is awarded an agent's commission in the sum of $6,800.00 and $1,000.00 in attorney's fees.

On November 21, 1976, Dr. and Mrs. Fernand J. Tiblier offered to purchase from plaintiff a residence in Orleans Parish for the sum of $120,000.00. The sale was conditioned upon the ability of the purchaser to borrow $96,000.00 at a stipulated interest over a twenty year term. The agreement obligated the purchasers to post a $12,000.00 deposit at the time of acceptance (November 21st) and further obligated the purchasers to make a good faith application to obtain a loan not later than ten (10) days after acceptance of the offer. On November 22, 1976 purchasers notified the seller of their intention not to accept title and of their desire to withdraw from the agreement. The seller refused to acquiesce and this suit followed.

Purchasers argue that because they were so intoxicated from alcoholic beverages at the time they signed the offer to purchase they were suffering from a "temporary *688 derangement of the intellect", and therefore, were incapable of entering into a valid agreement. The jury rejected their argument and we cannot say the jury erred.

It is clear from the testimony of the Tibliers, as well as the testimony of the real estate agent and sister and brother-in-law of the Tibliers, that the purchasers had been drinking intoxicating liquors on the afternoon the agreement was signed. Mrs. Tiblier stated that she had consumed approximately ten or eleven drinks between 1:00 p. m. and 8:00 p. m. on the day of the signing; that her "brain was dull"; that although she did not have "complete control", she did have "control" over herself; and that she was walking around. Mrs. Tiblier indicated further that she was not completely out of control but she certainly was not sober. This witness further added that she was told by the real estate agent that the offer was only a "test offer" without any hope of acceptance by the seller.

It is clear also from her testimony that Mrs. Tiblier was aware of the import of an offer to purchase. She stated that she had been employed as a teller at a homestead for a couple of years prior to her marriage.

Dr. Tiblier testified that on any Sunday afternoon he had a habit of consuming approximately twenty or twenty-five alcoholic beverages. (The agreement was signed on a Sunday evening.) He stated that at the time that he signed the Agreement to Purchase he was "bombed out"; that he had driven his automobile on the day of the signing and apparently had not lost all reason but had some control over his "functions". Dr. Tiblier further testified that he had purchased two other pieces of real estate on prior occasions and that he was a licensed real estate agent. He inferred, however, that because of his taking prescribed medication, together with the alcoholic beverages, his thinking was impaired to the extent that he did not know what he was doing when he signed the agreement.

Mrs. Tiblier's sister, who was present at the Tibliers' home on the afternoon the document was signed, testified that Dr. and Mrs. Tiblier were "drunk". She added that their eyes were glassy and their speech slurry. Mrs. Tiblier's brother-in-law generally corroborated the fact that the Tibliers were drinking on that afternoon, however, he testified that Dr. Tiblier had driven his automobile on that afternoon without incident.

The real estate agent who had obtained the offer to purchase was at the purchasers' home on the Sunday afternoon that the agreement was signed. She stated that she had been with the purchasers for approximately three hours in their home on the afternoon of the signing and the Tibliers did not give any indication of being intoxicated.

Whether or not the Tibliers were so intoxicated as to be incapable of contracting is a question of fact to be determined by a jury or judge. In our case the jury answered affirmatively to the interrogatory that the Tibliers "were legally capable of contracting, and their consent was legally given to the contract to purchase the property." From our consideration of the evidence we cannot say that the jury manifestly erred in its factual conclusion. Apparently, more weight was given to the testimony of the real estate agent than to the self serving testimony of the Tibliers and their relatives.

Further, we find no merit to the defendants' claim that because they were told by the real estate agent that the offer to purchase was a "test offer" which would not be accepted they were improperly induced by the agent to make the offer, and therefore, cannot be bound by its terms. Dr. and Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
374 So. 2d 685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-tiblier-lactapp-1979.