Succession of McCall

72 So. 818, 140 La. 88, 1916 La. LEXIS 1852
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 30, 1916
DocketNo. 21596
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 72 So. 818 (Succession of McCall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Succession of McCall, 72 So. 818, 140 La. 88, 1916 La. LEXIS 1852 (La. 1916).

Opinions

O’NIELL, J.

Richard McCall died on the 15th of May, 1913, and his succession was regularly opened in the parish of Ascension, the parish of his domicile, and was administered by the testamentary executor. The property of the succession in the parish of Ascension consisted of MeManor plantation, which was appraised at $85,000, and five horses, appraised at $250. The succession also owned, in the parish of Iberville, a tract of swamp land containing 1,980 acres, which was appraised at $3,960, and another tract of land containing 159.80 acres appraised at $319.60. The total appraised value of the property of the succession, therefore, amounted to $89,529.60.

There was a crop of sugar cane growing on MeManor plantation when Mr. McCall died, which the executor cultivated and harvested, but the proceeds of the crop scarcely paid the cost of its cultivation, harvesting, and marketing.

The succession being insolvent, the widow renounced the community, and the son and only heir renounced the succession.

There was a mortgage on MeManor plantation to secure a debt of $25,000, due by the deceased to the mother of the testamentary executor, and a mortgage on the 1,-980 acres of swamp land in Iberville parish in favor of Putnam & Norman, Limited, the present appellants, securing a note signed by Richard McCall and held by Putnam & Norman, Limited, for $6,000, dated the 12th of March, 1913, and payable on the 2d of January, 1914, bearing interest at 8 per cent, from maturity.

On the 29th of December, 1913, about seven months after the death of Mr. McCall, the executor presented a petition to the judge of the district court, and obtained an order for the sale of the tract of 1,980 acres of swamp land in the parish of Iberville, to pay the debts of the succession. On the same day, the mother of the executor proceeded via executiva to foreclose her mortgage on MeManor plantation, and obtained from the court an order for a writ of seizure and sale. The swamp lands situated in the parish of Iberville were advertised in a newspaper published in the parish of Ascension to be sold on the 7th of February, 1914, under the order of sale obtained by the executor to pay the debts of the succession.

It must be observed that the order of court obtained by the testamentary executor to sell the swamp land in Iberville parish to pay the debts of the succession, and the order of seizure and sale obtained by the executor’s mother to sell MeManor plantation in the foreclosure of her mortgage, were obtained only four days before the day of maturity of the mortgage note held by Putnam & Norman, Limited. On the next day after the maturity of the note of $6,000, held by Putnam & Norman, their attorneys, in the city of New Orleans, prepared a petition to foreclose the mortgage on the swamp land in Iberville parish by executory proceedings. One of the attorneys of Putnam & Norman, Limited, then went to Donaldsonville, the parish seat of Ascension parish, on the 4th of January, to obtain certain information from the record of the succession of Richard McCall, to be embodied in his petition for the executory proceedings which he had prepared to file in the district court of the parish of Iberville; and he was surprised to learn that the executor had obtained an order to sell the swamp land in Iberville parish, and that the mother of the executor had obtained an order for the seizure and sale of MeManor plantation to satisfy her mort[91]*91gage. Tile attorneys of Putnam & Norman, Limited, then proceeded by a rule on the executor to show cause why the order of sale of the swamp land situated in the parish of Iberville should not be rescinded. The rule was filed on the 7th of January, 1914, and contains the following allegations, inter alia, viz.:

“That the object of the said Emile Legendre, testamentary executor, in obtaining an ex parte order of sale in the succession, without notice to petitioner, just two days before petitioner’s mortgage became due, was to attempt to subject the property specially mortgaged to secure petitioner’s claim to the payment of succession charges, including executor’s commissions, and that the action of the said Emile Legendre in the premises was not only prejudicial to petitioner’s rights as holder of a special mortgage under the pact de non alienando, but was also discriminatory in this: That the said Emile Legendre did not obtain a similar order of sale in the succession for the McManor plantation, belonging to the estate. That the said McManor plantation was likewise subject to a special mortgage, not held, however, by petitioner, but held (in part) by Widow Anais Armant Legendre, the mother of tlie said Emile Legendre, the executor. That the said Emile Legendre did not make any attempt to have the said McManor plantation sold in the succession, but, on the contrary, on the very day on which he obtained an order for the sale in the succession of the property mortgaged to petitioner, the said Emile Legendre permitted his mother to sue out executory process outside the succession on her special mortgage on McManor plantation, as will appear by reference to the proceedings on file on the docket of this honorable court, entitled Widow 'Anais Armant Legendre v. Emile Legendre, Executor, filed December, 29, 1913.
“That the result of the course adopted by the executor, if permitted to stand, would be to permit the McManor plantation, which constitutes the bulk of the assets of this succession, to escape entirely from any responsibility for the costs, and charges of the succession, including executor’s commissions, and to saddle' all of those costs, charges, and expenses upon the propei-ty subject to petitioner’s mortgage, which is relatively of little value, as will appear by reference to the inventory in the succession proceedings, and which would therefore be entirely consumed by those costs, charges, and expenses, leaving nothing whatsoever to pay petitioner. That this result would be an unfair discrimination against petitioner and in favor of the Widow Legendre, the mother of the testamentary executor, the more unwarranted in law because petitioner has proceeded with the utmost diligence, immediately upon the maturity of the note which he holds, while the notes held by the Widow Legendre have been long past due.
“That any such result would be, as expressly declared by the Supreme Court of this state, a deprivation of petitioner’s contract rights, since the debtor’s heirs and his creditors cannot, by the death of the debtor, acquire greater rights, privileges or immunities than he himself possessed ; and such a result would, amount to an impairment of the obligation of petitioner’s contract with the debtor, and to a taking of petitioner’s property without due process of law, in violation of the Constitution of this state and of the United States.
“That under all the circumstances above detailed, and under the repeated decisions of the Supreme Court, the ex parte order granted to the executor upon his application, without notice to petitioner, on December 28, 1913, directing the sale of the property subject to petitioner’s special mortgage in the succession proceeding^, was granted without notice to or knowledge in the court of all the circumstances or all the rights of petitioner, and should be set aside, annulled, avoided, and vacated.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Freedman v. Succession of Carmouche
141 So. 843 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1932)
Twomey v. Papalia
77 So. 479 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
72 So. 818, 140 La. 88, 1916 La. LEXIS 1852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-mccall-la-1916.